ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING MODEL: A Case study for Proposed SL ARMY Headquarters

Abstract

The Sri Lankan Tri forces Headquarters with Ministry of Defence office complex are schedule to be located in one place at Akuregoda Baththaramulla. This building complex will be one of the largest office complexes in Sri Lanka and to be accommodated for different nature functions except routine official duties. Therefore more attention has been given to improve the architectural view of the entire complex. In the mean time less attention has been given for energy optimizations issues. When the proposed design is thoroughly studied, many possibilities are available to improve energy efficiency of entire complex with some simple modifications. In order to optimize the energy use for illumination system and HVAC system, this case study has been done for selected building area of the total complex. The part of the building complex is selected to do the research and selected area is developed as a separate building model. The research is mainly based on the finding of best wall to window ratio to optimize the energy consumption for illumination system and HVAC system of the selected building model. The calculation stages are done, maintaining the initial building parameters in human comfort zone as ASHRAE stranded and sun path over the location. The best orientation of the building model is obtained according to the north alignment. Then the condition of the building model is improved as an energy efficient model by replacing illumination system with LED luminaire, window glass with energy efficient low-e window glass and developing a building envelop. Financial evaluation is done to all proposed building models with compare to the existing design for energy consumption. Then the lighting power density (LPD) is calculated for each building model and made a comparison with the maximum LPD values published by Sustainable Energy Authority. The research methodology can be practiced in designing stage of any kind of a building to improve the energy efficiency effectively. It gives more opportunity for designers to develop more energy saving building environment, while maintain the human comfort in the same time.