Indoor Conditions Study and Impact on the Energy Consumption for a Large Commercial Building

This study is focused on the analysis of indoor conditions for a new commercial building that will be constructed in an East-European country. Based on the initial HVAC design parameters the surface of the building was divided in thermal zones that were studied using dynamic simulations. The article provides interesting insights of the building indoor conditions (summer/winter comfort), humidity, air temperature, mean operative temperature and energy consumption using hourly climate data. A dynamic variation of the PMV (Predicted Mean Vote Index) was obtained for different thermal zones of the building (retails stores, mall circulation, corridors) and in most of the cases the acceptable values of plus/minus 0.5 are exceeded. Among the most important energy efficiency measures it is mentioned a decrease of the heating set point temperature, increase of the walls and roof thermal resistance and the use of a heat recovery on the ventilation system. In this work it is demonstrated how simple measures can enhance the indoor conditions and reduce the energy consumption for this kind of construction