Bseep Report On Ee Potential in Existing Building v2

DETAILED
TECHNICAL REPORT
POTENTIAL OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN
EXISTING BUILDING
JKR HEADQUARTERS BLOCK F,
JALAN SULTAN SALAHUDDIN, KUALA LUMPUR.

Prepared by:
CK TANG, GBEET SDN BHD
Email: ck@gbeet.com
for
December 2011

FOREWORD
This technical report is prepared under the scope of Building Sector Energy Efficiency Program
(BSEEP) for Malaysia in November to December 2011.
Building Sector Energy Efficiency Project (BSEEP) has for its goal the reduction in the annual
growth rate of GHG emissions from the Malaysia buildings sector. The project objective is the
improvement of the energy utilization efficiency in Malaysian buildings, particularly those in the
commercial and government sectors, by promoting the energy conserving design of new
buildings and by improving the energy utilization efficiency in the operation of existing
buildings. The realization of this objective will be facilitated through the removal of barriers to
the uptake of building energy efficiency technologies, systems, and practices.
This report is prepared by CK Tang of GBEET SDN BHD whom was employed as a short term
BSEEP consultant from November to December 2011 for this work.
The views expressed in this document, which has been reproduced without formal editing, are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the neither JKR nor Government
of Malaysia nor UNDP.

gBEET

CK TANG
GBEET SDN BHD
Zehn Bukit Pantai A103,
Jalan Bukit Pantai,
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia.
Email: ck@gbeet.com
December 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword ............................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................................................... 6
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ 11
1.1 Building Energy Simulation .......................................................................................................................... 12
1.2 Weather Data ...................................................................................................................................................... 14
1.3 Basic Input Data ................................................................................................................................................. 15
1.4 Operation Daily and Weekly Profiles ........................................................................................................ 17
2. Base Simulation Model vs Measured Data ...................................................................................................... 24
2.1 Energy Results Comparison .......................................................................................................................... 24
2.2 Temperature and Humidity Comparison ................................................................................................ 33
2.3 Data Center In Block F ..................................................................................................................................... 35
3. Energy Efficiency Retrofits Potential for Block F ........................................................................................ 37
Electricity tariff ..................................................................................................................................................... 37
3.1 Base Case 0: The Comfortable Base Case Scenario .............................................................................. 38
3.2 Base Case 0: AsIs Base Case Scenario ...................................................................................................... 39
3.3 Case 1: Fix AirTightness of Block F ........................................................................................................... 40
3.4 Case 2: Better Comfort .................................................................................................................................... 41
3.5 Case 3: Small Power Reduction at Night .................................................................................................. 42
3.6 Case 4: Office Electrical Lighting Efficiency ............................................................................................ 44
3.7 Case 5: Light Switches and/or Occupancy Sensor in Office Space ................................................ 45
3.8 Case 6: Occupancy Sensor in Toilets ......................................................................................................... 47
3.9 Case 7: Lift Efficiency ....................................................................................................................................... 48
3.10 Case 8: CO2 Sensor with Motorised Fresh Air Damper ................................................................... 49
3.11 Case 9: Better Comfort Again, Reduce Room Temperature .......................................................... 50
3.12 Case 10: Reduce Chilled Water Flow Rate ............................................................................................ 51
3.13 Case 11: Increase Chilled Water Supply Temperature to 9C ...................................................... 53
3.14 Case 12: High T Chilled Water System ................................................................................................ 54
3.15 Case 13: Fix Duct Leakages, Rebalance Air Flow ............................................................................... 56
3.16 Case 14: Increase Temperature SetPoint ............................................................................................ 57
3.17 Case 15: Reduce AHU Supply Air Flow Rate ........................................................................................ 58
3.18 Case 16: Low Lost Air Filters ..................................................................................................................... 60
3.19 Case 17: Fan Efficiency ................................................................................................................................. 62
3.20 Case 18: VAV System, Off Coil Temp 14C ............................................................................................ 63
3

3.21 Case 19: VAV System, Off Coil Temp 16C ............................................................................................ 65
3.22 Case 20: Increase Lift Lobby Temperature to 26.5C ...................................................................... 67
3.23 Case 21: Chiller Efficiency ........................................................................................................................... 68
3.24 Case 22: Variable Speed Chiller ................................................................................................................ 70
3.25 Case 23: Condenser Flow Rate 2.5 gpm/ton ....................................................................................... 72
3.26 Case 24: Condenser Flow Rate 2.0 gpm/ton ....................................................................................... 74
3.27 Case 25: Primary/Secondary Chill Water Flow ................................................................................. 76
3.28 Case 26: Primary Variable Chill Water Flow ....................................................................................... 77
3.29 Case 27: Chilled Water Pump Efficiency ............................................................................................... 78
3.30 Case 28: Condenser Water Pump Efficiency ........................................................................................ 80
3.31 Case 29: Pump Motor Efficiency ............................................................................................................... 82
3.32 Case 30: Cooling Tower Efficiency ........................................................................................................... 83
3.33 Case 31: VSD on Cooling Tower, 30.5C ................................................................................................ 85
3.38 Case 36: Oversized Cooling Tower, 26.5C .......................................................................................... 92
3.39 Case 37: 200 Lux General Lighting, 19 W Task Light ....................................................................... 93
3.40 Case 38: 200 Lux General Lighting, 11 W Task Light ....................................................................... 96
3.41 Case 39: 200 Lux General Lighting, 5 W Task Light ......................................................................... 97
3.42 Case 40: Daylight Sensor for Toilets ....................................................................................................... 98
3.43 Case 41: Improved AirTightness & Add Heat Recovery Wheel ................................................. 99
3.44 Case 42: Change Glazing To Single Glazing Clear .......................................................................... 101
3.45 Case 43: Daylight 3.5 m Depth From Facade ..................................................................................... 103
3.46 Case 44: Daylight 4.5 m Depth From Facade ..................................................................................... 105
3.47 Case 45: Performance Film on Glazing ................................................................................................ 106
3.48 Case 46: Change To Performance Double Glazing .......................................................................... 107
3.49 Case 47: Roof Insulation, 50mm Polystyrene ................................................................................... 108
3.50 Case 48: Roof Insulation, 100mm Polystyrene ................................................................................. 109
3.51 Case 49: Roof Insulation, 150mm Polystyrene ................................................................................. 110
3.52 Case 50: Air Temperature SetPoint: 24.5C ..................................................................................... 111
3.53 Case 51: Resize HVAC As Per Current Need ...................................................................................... 113
3.54 Case 52: Resize HVAC @ 12 W/m Small Power ............................................................................. 115
3.55 Case 53: Small Power Back To Measured Value .............................................................................. 116
3.56 Case 54: Small Power @ 12 W/m ........................................................................................................ 118
4

3.57 Case 55: 25% Energy Reduction in Data Center .............................................................................. 119
3.58 Case 56: 50% Energy Reduction in Data Center .............................................................................. 121

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
It is difficult to find a good case study in Malaysia about optimizing energy efficiency in existing
building. There are many reasons for this lack of good case study, one of which being that most
buildings in Malaysia are normally demolished and rebuilt rather than refurbished. The few
recently retrofitted buildings in Malaysia were refurbished without consideration for energy
efficiency, due largely to the lack of public information on the potential of energy efficiency in
existing building. This represents a loss of opportunity to optimize the building energy
efficiency for these retrofitted building.
This document was made to showcase the potential energy efficiency gain of retrofitting an
existing building fitted with technologies that are more than 20 years old with the current
energy efficient technology available today. The study was based on a computer simulation of
an existing building where a detailed energy audit was conducted on this building in 2008. The
energy audit report provided sufficient data to enable the total energy consumption of the
building to be modeled within 0.1% accuracy of the total building energy consumption in the
simulation model as compared to the measured values.
Upon establishing this accurate base case scenario, energy efficiency strategies were applied on
to the simulation model of the building, testing each strategy for its annual energy savings that
can be provided by each design feature.
A total of 58 simulation cases were tested by this study. The combined maximum energy
reduction potential of these tested 58 cases was simulated to be 50.1%, providing an average of
0.9% energy reduction per energy efficiency feature.
Key Lessons Learned from this study
1. It is possible to reduce existing building energy consumption by more than 50%.
2. There is no single silver bullet for energy efficiency in existing building where energy
reduction can be brought down by 50% with just the implementation of one single
design feature. Minor improvement made on every potential energy reduction features
in the building provides the efficiency gain step by step until it reaches 50% energy
reduction for the whole building.
3. Air leakage in old buildings is a major source of energy leakages in building.
4. By implementation of energy efficiency features, the reduced capacity of the chiller
would itself, provides a significant budget for the implementation of energy efficiency
features.
5. This study also showed that it may be possible for a building owner to change the chiller
to a larger capacity, due to the complaints received from the building occupant that the
existing building airconditioning system is not providing enough cooling for them. This
extra cost for a larger chiller could be used instead for improvement in energy efficiency
features of the building while keeping the capacity chiller the same as shown in this
study or perhaps even reduce the size of the existing chiller.
6. Reducing building cooling load has a domino effect in energy efficiency for the
building. Once the building cooling load is reduced, the airconditioning supply air flow
rate and chilled water flow rate can be reduced as well. The reduction of air and water
flow rate reduces fan/pump power by a cubic factor because they follow the fan/pump
affinitys law. For example, a reduction of 15% flow rate reduces energy consumption of
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
the pump or fan by almost 40%. The heat generated by the pump or fan would also be
reduced by 40%, thereby further reducing cooling load requirement on the chiller.
It may not be necessary to implement variable speed drive (VSD) for every equipment in
the building. In this study for Block F, the cooling load was measured to be fairly
constant and consistent every working day, the implementation of VSD on the AHU
(converting it into a variableairvolume system), and on the chilled water supply
(primary/secondary) provided marginal efficiency gain. However, it should be
highlighted too that if the building cooling load changes in future, the building would
lack the ability to response efficiently without having VSD in the building. Moreover,
VSD is not an expensive item and can be easily installed onto an existing system.
It is more energy efficient to oversize a cooling tower to provide as cold as possible
condenser return water temperature to the chiller to gain chiller efficiency
improvement than to seek fan energy reduction in cooling tower via the use of VSD.
However, this may be system specific, i.e. depending on the existing chiller performance
curve. Future technical guideline from BSEEP will address this issue in more detail.
It is more energy efficient in Block F building to reduce flow rate of condenser water
flow rate to 2.0 gpm/ton (instead of the typical flow rate of 3.0 gpm/ton) to save on
pumping energy, while accepting a small decrease in chiller efficiency. However, this
may also be system specific, i.e. depending on the existing pump efficiency, pump head
and chiller performance curve. . Future technical guideline from BSEEP will address this
issue in more detail.
Heat recovery wheel would only work in an airtight building. The exhaust air duct has
to be carefully designed to cater for the expected exhaust air flow rate.
Chiller efficiency has improved significantly over the past 20 years. This efficiency
improvement (money saved) can pay for the cost of the new chiller over the life time
of 15 years for chillers.
In a variableairvolume (VAV) system, where the AHU fan power is low (as in Block F
after the reduction of air flow rate), it would be more energy efficient to set the AHU to
have higher off coil temperature to reduce moisture removal (increasing relative
humidity, while ensuring that room relative humidity stays within the recommended
range). Fan energy to delivery cooling to the room increases due to the lower air
temperature differences, however, the saving from less moisture removal, saved more
energy for the chiller than the increase in fan power used. Future technical guideline
from BSEEP will address this issue in more detail.
It is energy efficient to reduce general lighting level down to 200 lux level while
providing task light for the building occupants. The power consumption of the task light
itself (tested from 19W down to 5W task light) has a very small impact on the building
energy efficiency.
The energy efficiency gained from daylight harvesting is not significant in this study
because the building already has a very low lighting power density and a very efficient
chilled water system in place before daylight harvesting option was considered in this
study. In a building where the mechanical and electrical equipment are not energy
efficient, the benefit from daylight harvesting will be significantly higher.
Daylight harvesting in building has the potential to improve building occupant
performance, reduces sick leaves and give an overall better environment to the office
space.
Once the building airconditioning system has been made very energy efficient, passive
features such as high performance double glazing, daylight harvesting using light shelve
7
is shown to have poor financial feasibility. However, if these passive features were
implemented before the airconditioning system is improved, its financial feasibility
would be much better.
The implementation of energy efficiency strategies in JKRs Block F building (~24,000 m) was
simulated to reduce the building energy consumption by RM 660,000/year or RM 2.30
/m/month. The chiller size reduction due to the energy efficiency features employed onto the
building provided an immediate saving of RM 4.2 million. The saving of RM 4.2 million can used
to finance a major part (if not all) of the proposed energy efficiency retrofit for this building.
A summary of the 58 simulation steps employed is tabled below for quick reference.
Cases ShortDescriptions
BEI
%Saved
B0
ComfortableBaseCase
172.7
6.7%
B1
BaseCaseAsIs
161.9
0.0%
C1
AirTighttheBuilding
156.1
3.5%
C2
ImproveComfort
164.3
1.5%
C3
ReduceSmallPoweratNight
160.7
0.7%
C4
5.2%
C5
ReduceLightingPower
153.4
Office Use of Occupancy Sensor/Lighting
Switches
148.7
C6
ToiletUseofOccupancySensor
148.5
8.3%
C7
50%Liftshutdownafter7pm
147.8
8.7%
C8
FreshAirSupplyRegulatedbyCO2sensor
141.5
12.6%
C9
ImproveComfort
144.8
10.5%
C10
ReduceChillWaterFlowRate
142.8
11.8%
C11
IncreaseChillWaterSupplyTempto9deg
141.5
12.6%
C12
HighDeltaTemperatureChillWater
140.3
13.3%
C13
FixDuctLeakages
140.9
12.9%
C14
IncreaseAHUsetpointtemperature
139.3
13.9%
C15
ReduceAHUflowrate
120.7
25.4%
C16
Useoflowpressurelossairfilters
118.2
27.0%
C17
ImproveFanEfficiency
117.6
27.3%
8.1%
RM/year
Saved
(88,481)
46,787
(20,036)
9,717
69,401
107,861
109,566
114,994
166,438
139,400
156,031
166,543
176,302
171,230
184,654
336,747
356,921
361,995
8
C18
UseVAVsystemwithoffcoiltempof14deg
117.5
27.4%
C19
UseVAVsystemwithoffcoiltempof16deg
116.7
27.9%
C20
LiftLobbyAirTemp27deg
116.3
28.2%
C21
ChillerEfficiency(COPof6.3)
107.2
33.8%
C22
UseofVSDChiller
104.3
35.6%
C23
ReduceCondenserWaterFlowto2.5gpm/ton
102.2
36.8%
C24
ReduceCondenserWaterFlowto2.0gpm/ton
101.5
37.3%
C25
Useofprimary/secondarychillwatersystem
101.6
37.2%
C26
Useofprimaryvariablechillwatersystem
101.4
37.3%
C27
Improvechillwaterpumpefficiency
101.0
37.6%
C28
Improvecondenserwaterpumpefficiency
100.3
38.0%
C29
Improveallpumpmotorefficiency
100.1
38.1%
C30
Improvecoolingtowerfanefficiency
99.1
38.8%
C31
CoolingTowerVSDfan,setpoint30.5deg
99.4
38.6%
C32
98.9
38.9%
C33
98.6
39.1%
C34
98.5
39.2%
C35
98.4
39.2%
C36
39.1%
C38
Oversizecoolingtower
98.6
Reduce Light Level to 200 lux, wt 19w Task
Light
91.9
Reduce Light Level to 200 lux, wt 11w Task
Light
91.2
C39
ReduceLightLevelto200lux,wt5wTaskLight
90.8
43.9%
C40
DaylightSensorinToilet
90.6
44.0%
C41
UseofHeatRecoveryWheel
88.1
45.6%
C42
UseofClearGlazing
89.3
44.9%
C43
DaylightHarvestinginOffices,3.5mdepth
85.6
47.1%
C37
43.2%
43.6%
363,039
369,343
373,068
447,149
470,948
487,653
493,340
493,044
494,356
497,921
503,378
504,805
513,573
511,245
515,110
517,577
518,393
518,850
517,554
572,190
577,581
581,589
582,760
603,168
593,841
624,004
9
C44
DaylightHarvestinginOffices,4.5mdepth
84.6
47.7%
C45
ApplyPerformanceFilmonClearGlazing
83.7
48.3%
C46
UseofDoubleGlazingHighPerformance
82.7
48.9%
C47
Roofinsulationwith50mmpolystyrene
82.4
49.1%
C48
82.1
49.3%
C49
82.3
49.1%
C50
IncreaseAirTemperature(comfortmaintained) 81.1
49.9%
C51
ResizeHVAC
80.7
50.1%
C52
ResizeHVACwith12W/m2smallpower
80.9
50.0%
C53
SmallPowerbacktoBaseCase(nochange)
84.6
47.8%
C54
SmallPowerupto12W/m2
117.2
27.6%
C55
DataCenterreduces25%energy
107.3
33.7%
C56
DataCenterreduces50%energy
97.4
39.8%
631,580
639,522
647,467
650,120
652,510
650,522
660,487
663,840
662,187
632,288
365,450
446,177
526,911

It should be noted that the strategies and savings listed in the above table is valid for Block F
building only. The details of why each of this strategy worked for Block F is fully described in
detail part of this document. Other existing building may have different problems and the
savings from each strategy described above may be different for a different building.

10

1. INTRODUCTION
This technical report was made to provide the result of an energy efficiency potential study on
an existing building. The Block F, JKR Headquarters building in Jalan Salahuddin, Kuala Lumpur
was selected for this study. This building has undergone a comprehensive energy audit in year
2008 by Cofreth (M) Sdn Bhd and has provided adequate measured data for a detailed energy
simulation to be modeled accurately and calibrated to the building actual operating condition.
In this study, the annual energy consumption of the base building simulation model was able to
be calibrated into less than 1% differences from the Energy Auditor report, using matching peak
power data as provided in the Energy Auditor report.
58 simulation runs were conducted on this building with a total of 52 energy efficiency
strategies and scenarios tested. The summary of result is as shown via the figure 1 and 2 below.
Figure 1, showed a reduction of Building Energy Index (BEI) from 172.7 kWh/m/year down to
80.9 kwh/m/year, a reduction of 50.1%.
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
B0
C1
C3
C5
C7
C9
C11
C13
C15
C17
C19
C21
C23
C25
C27
C29
C31
C33
C35
C37
C39
C41
C43
C45
C47
C49
C51
kWh/m2/year
BlockFSimulatedBEIPotential
Figure 1 BEI Reduction Potential
%AccumulatedEnergyReduction
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
10%
B0
C1
C3
C5
C7
C9
C11
C13
C15
C17
C19
C21
C23
C25
C27
C29
C31
C33
C35
C37
C39
C41
C43
C45
C47
C49
C51
0%
Figure 2 Potential Accumulated Energy Reduction in Percentages from Measured Case Scenario
The result of this study showed that only five (5) out of 52 energy efficiency features proposed
for the building yield more than 4% savings when used singularly. On average, each proposed
11

energy efficiency feature for the building only reduces approximately 1%. However, when all
the proposed energy efficiency features are used in combination, the building was be able to
save 50% energy from its base measured condition.
1.1 BUILDING ENERGY SIMULATION

The Block F, JKR building was modeled in energy simulation software based on found hardcopy
of building plan, dated back in the 1970s.

Figure 3 Building Plan

Figure 4 Cross Section of Building
12

Figure 5 Energy Simulation Model

Figure 6 Picture of Block F at Jalan Salahuddin
13

Building energy simulation is a powerful tool, allowing one to simulate energy performance for
a variety of scenarios. It can simulate the performance of building energy consumption based on
8760 hours of weather data of dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, wind speed, wind
direction, direct solar radiation, diffuse solar radiation and cloud cover. Building energy
simulation captures the interactive effects of the mechanical systems, occupancy requirements
and the building envelope. The purpose of running building energy simulation in this study is to
test the potential of energy efficiency of Block F, using various energy efficiency retrofit
strategies that are applicable for this building.
Building simulation is used in this case to evaluate the energy use in existing buildings as a basis
for understanding the current energy use and to predict energy reduction associated with
building retrofits.
The building energy simulation tool used for this study is the IES <Virtual Environment>
version 6.4.0.6 from UK (http://www.iesve.com). It meets the requirement of Ashrae Standard
140 and Cibse AM11 for a building dynamic energy simulation tool. This software is
comprehensive enough to allow all the types of passive and active energy efficient strategies to
be studied for the purpose of this report.
1.2 WEATHER DATA

Subang Test Reference Year
The hourly weather data of Kuala Lumpur used in the simulation study was based on a Test
Reference Year weather data developed by Gregers Reimann in University Teknologi Malaysia
(UiTM) based on 21 years of weather data from the Malaysian Meteorological Station in Subang,
Klang Valley, Selangor in year 2000. The hourly weather data that were obtained from this
station is as shown in Table below.
Table : Weather data collected in Subang
Subang Meteorological Station
(Klang Valley, Selangor, Malaysia)
Longitude: 101deg 33'
Latitude: 3deg 7'
Parameters (hourly1) Units
Cloud cover
[oktas]
Dry bulb temperature [C]
Wet bulb temperature [C]
Relative humidity
[%]
Global solar radiation
[100*MJ/m]
Sunshine hours
[hours]
Wind direction
[deg.]
Wind speed
[m/s]

A Test Reference year (TRY) consists of weather data for a given location. In order for the TRY
to be representative of the climate it was constructed on the basis of at least 10 years weather
data. The TRY is made up from actual monthly data (not average values) that are picked after
having been subjected to three different types of analysis.

1
The values are integrated over a period of one hour, but the exact time interval has not been specified.
14

It should be noted that energy simulation program require 2 extra data that were not collected
by the Malaysian Meteorological Service, namely the direct and diffuse radiation. The missing
radiation data was calculated for the TRY via Erbs Estimation Model from the horizontal global
solar radiation by Reimann.
Comparison of this set of weather data were made against the data provided by the
International Weather for Energy Calculation (IWEC) and the weather data provided by
Meteonorm. It was found that the TRY is more accurate in predicting the direct and diffuse
radiation split of the Kuala Lumpur weather data because it accurately predicted that the direct
radiation is higher in the morning than in the evening, on average throughout the year, due to
the higher frequency of rainfall in the afternoon/evening hours in a tropical climate such as
Malaysia.
Although not perfect, the TRY is currently the most accurate set of weather data for energy
simulation available today for Kuala Lumpur and it has been used in many energy simulations of
various buildings in Malaysia with satisfactory results. This weather data was also used for the
development of the constants in the Overall Thermal Transmission Value (OTTV) equation
found in the latest Malaysia Standard (MS) 1525, Energy Efficiency in NonResidential Building.
1.3 BASIC INPUT DATA

Spaces Template Data for the base building scenario
Office Space
AirConditioned: 2 AHU systems per floor.
1 AHU shared with Office Space 1 and 3
1 AHU shared with Office Space 2 and Lift Lobby.
AirConditioning Hours: AC Hours

Fluorescent Lighting

Max Sensible Gain:
11.70 W/m
Max Power Consumption:
11.70 W/m
Variation Profile:
Off Lights

People : Off People
Max Sensible Gain:
90.00 W/P
Max Latent Gain:
60.00 W/P
Occupant Density:
20.00 m/person
(1,000 person for the whole building)
Variation Profile:
8 6 weekday working

Computers : Off SmPwr
Max Sensible Gain:
4.10 W/m
Max Power Consumption
: 4.10 W/m
Variation Profile:
Office SmPwr

Infiltration
Variation Profile:
Infiltrations
Max A/C Rate: 1.65 AC/h

Lift Lobby
AirConditioned: Shared AHU with Office 2
15

Fluorescent Lighting: 5.50 W/m

Variation Profile:
Lobby Lgts

Infiltration: 1.65 AC/h
Variation Profile:
Infiltrations

Stairs
UnConditioned Space.

Fluorescent Lighting

Max Sensible Gain:
4.00 W/m
4.00 W/m
Variation Profile:
Stairs Lights

Infiltration
Type Infiltration
Variation Profile:
on continuously
Toilets
UnConditioned Space.

Fluorescent Lighting :
Max Sensible Gain:
4.60 W/m
4.60 W/m
Variation Profile:
Toilet Lights

Infiltration
Variation Profile:
on continuously
Max Power Consumption
: 25 kW for 6 lift.
Lift Power
Variation Profile: Lift Pwr
Max Power Consumption: 1984.00 W
Facade Lights
Variation Profile: Facade Lgts
: 105.325 kW
Data
Center, Max Power Consumption
Variation Profile: on continuously
inclusive
of
Precision
Air
Conditioning System

16

1.4 OPERATION DAILY AND WEEKLY PROFILES

Operation Hourly, Daily and Weekly Profiles
1. AC Hours

2. Off Lights

17

3. 8 6 weekday working (People Occupancy)

4. Office SmPwr
18

5. Infiltrations
19

6. Lobby Lgts

7. Stairs Lights
20

8. Toilet Lights
21

9. Lift Pwr

22
10. Facade Lgts
23

2. BASE SIMULATION MODEL VS MEASURED DATA

2.1 ENERGY RESULTS COMPARISON

All data used by the simulation model was derived from the measured peak power consumption
with the exception of chiller coefficient of performance (COP). The chiller COP has to be
calibrated in the simulation study because the simulation software was unable to simulate a
different chiller COP every alternate day as practiced by Block F building.
Cut out of measured tables from Energy Auditors report is provided alongside with the
simulated values.
Table 1 Energy Auditor Report on Annual Energy Consumption of Block F
Date
Jan0131
Feb0128
Mar0131
Apr0130
May0131
Jun0130
Jul0131
Aug0131
Sep0130
Oct0131
Nov0130
Dec0131
Summedtotal
SimulatedResults
Totalenergy(MWh)
316.8979
291.7742
340.1605
301.8921
340.8951
322.0787
307.8406
333.5537
300.0826
318.7742
307.8691
300.6721
3782.491
Table 2 Simulated Base Scenario of Annual Energy Consumption of Block F
The simulated total annual energy consumption of the building of 3,782 MWh/year is only 2.2%
lower than measured value of 3,866 MWh/year.

24

Figure 7 Measured Daily Energy Consumption
SimulatedTotalEnergyConsumption(kWh)onWeeklyBasis
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
Sat
Sun
Mon
LV
Tue
ChillerSystem
Wed
Thu
Fri
Total
Figure 8 Simulated Daily Energy Consumption
The simulation of the energy consumption of the Low Voltage (LV) circuit, Chiller System and
Total matches fairly well with the measured values.
The maximum demand of the chilled water production also matches closely between the
measured value (447 MW) and the simulation value (469 MW).
Table 3 Measured Electricity Consumption for Chilled Water
25

Days
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Max
(kW)
Demand Chiller system Daily

(kWh)
4,293
468,746
4,595
4,781
4,488
4,621
Table 4 Simulated Electricity Consumption of Chiller, Base Scenario (Week 2)
Table 5 Measured Chilled Water System Breakdown
Days
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Total
ChillerDaily(kWh)
3,023
3,338
3,466
3,284
3,368
16,480
Cooling Tower & Chill

CondenserPump
Pump
727
542
728
529
750
565
713
491
726
526
3,644
2,653
Water
Table 6 Simulated Base Scenario of Chilled Water System Breakdown (Week 2)
The IES software used for this simulation lump together the cooling tower and condenser pump
power together as heat rejection power used. In addition, it was also not possible to simulate
alternate chiller COP used on the same or alternate days. Only one chiller is modeled in the
simulation while the measured result contains two (2) chillers with two different COP.
26

Days
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Total
Table 7 Measured AHU Electricity Consumption
Max Demand
(kW)
AHUDaily(kWh)
171.54
1,973
1,973
1,973
1,973
1,973
9,864
Table 8 Simulated Base Scenario AHU Electricity

Consumption (Week 2)
The daily AHU energy consumption in the simulation model was simulated to be lower than the
measured value based on the average peak power measured at every AHU. It was later
discovered by JKR that the measured value of AHU circuit includes one precision air
conditioning unit used by the data center. When the energy consumption of this precision air
conditioning unit is removed from the measure value, the numbers matches between the
simulation and measured values.

Days
Table 9 Measured Daily Load for Lift
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Total
Max Demand Lift Daily

(kW)
(kWh)
25.00
Load
126
126
363
363
363
363
363
1,941
Table 10 Simulated Base Scenario Lift Daily Load
The simulated weekly lift (vertical transport) energy consumption matches the measured value
accurately.
Table 11 Measured Energy Consumption for

Lighting and Small Power
Days
Max Demand Lights and Small Power

(kW)
Daily(kWh)
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Total
758
758
3,737
3,737
3,737
3,737
3,737
19,441
338.76
Table 12 Simulated Base Scenario, Lighting and

Small Power
The lighting and small power energy consumption was also matched well the simulation value
of 19,441 kWh per week, being 6.3% lower than the measured value of 20,757 kWh per week.
27

Table 13 Measured Lighting and Small Power
Total Lighting +
Small
Power Total Lights Total Small
(kWh)
(kWh)
Power(kWh)
Annual
Load
(kWh)
1,051,104
Percentages(%) 100%
701,779
67%
349,324
33%
Table 14 Simulated Base Scenario, Lighting and Small Power
The distribution of lighting and small power energy consumption has to be split by the energy
auditor manually because they were sharing the same measured circuitry. The energy auditor
derived the energy split between the small power energy to the lighting power energy in a ratio
of 2:1. This ratio was maintained in the simulated result as shown in table 14.
Table 15 Measured Measured Facade Lighting

Electricity
Days
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Total
Max Demand FaadeLighting

(kW)
Daily(kWh)
24
24
24
1.98
24
24
24
24
143
Table 16 Simulated Base Case Facade Lighting

Electricity Consumption
The simulated faade lighting energy for a typical week is 143 kWh as compared to measured
value of 110 kWh per week for a difference of 30%. The simulation was based on the energy
audit report of peak faade lighting load of 1.98 kW each night. However since the faade
lighting contributes to a small fraction of the building total energy use, this figure has a very
small influence in the whole building scenario.
28

Table 17 Measured Energy Breakdown by System
Descriptions
Measured(kWh)
ChilledWaterProductionSystem
1,188,724
AirHandlingUnits(AHU)
603,640
Air Handling Units, without weekend and
nights
517,090
LightingandSmallPower
1,085,851
DomesticPump
14,783
VerticalTransport
101,587
Others(EssentialSupply)
871,804
Total (using AHU without weekends and
nights)
3,779,839
Simulated(kWh)
1,188,216
512,909
%
diff
from
Measured
0.0%
15.0%
512,909
1,051,104
107,610
922,647
0.8%
3.2%
100.0%
5.9%
5.8%
3,782,486
0.1%
Table 18 Simulated Base Case Energy Breakdown by System compared to Measured values
The comparison between the measured and simulated annual energy consumption yield a net
difference of 0.1%. The chilled water production has a 0.0% differences because the simulation
was calibrated to match the measured value.
20kW, approximately
75% of nonchillers
operating hours
Figure 9 Typical Week AHU Power Usage
The simulation of the airhandlingunits (AHU) energy consumption was 15% lower than the
measured value. The simulation was based on the average measured peak AHU power
consumption as the input basis. Further investigation showed that the measured AHU energy
consumption includes a precision airconditioning unit used by the data center. The energy
29

consumption by the precision airconditioning unit should not be part of the AHU energy
consumption. The precision airconditioning unit energy consumption should be lumped
together with the data center energy consumption.
It was estimated from Figure 9 that the precision airconditioning unit consumes on average, 20
kW during operation and it is running every alternate few hours. A quick estimate from the
figure 9 showed that this precision airconditioning unit is running approximately 75% of the
hours during the time the AHU is not running.
Chiller Operating Hours = 7am to 6:30 pm (11 hours), Monday to Friday = 11.5 hours x 5
days/week x 52 weeks = 2990 hours per year.
Hours AHU running without chiller running = (8760 2990) x 75% = 4327.5 hours per year.
Precision Air Conditioning Unit, Energy Consumption Estimate during weekends and night time
= 4327.5 hours x 20 kW = 86,550 kWh/year.
Measured energy use by the AHU only = 603,640(measured)86,550(estimateofprecisionair
conditioningunit)=517,090kWh/year.
180
160
140
Power (kW)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Date: Sat 14/Jan to Fri 20/Jan

ApHVAC distr fans energy: (01base01_as_is.aps)
Figure 10 Simulated AHU Power Usage
The simulated AHU energy is 512,909kWh/yearor0.8%lowerthanthemeasuredvalue.

The lighting and small power simulated annual energy consumption is 3.2% lower than
measured value. The domestic pump was not modeled in the simulation case because the
consumption is only a fraction of the building total energy consumption. The vertical transport
annual energy consumption was simulated to be 5.9% higher than the measured value. The
annual energy consumption of others (essential), i.e. the data center, was simulated to be 5.8%
higher than the measured value. The overall comparison of annual energy consumption
between the measured and simulated values has a difference of 0.1% only after accounting for
the precision airconditioning unit measured at the AHU circuitry.
30

Table 19 Measured Energy Breakdown for Chilled Water System
Descriptions
AHU
AHUwithoutweekendsandnights
Chillers
HeatRejection(CoolingTower&Condenser
Pump)
ChilledWaterPumps
Others
Total (using AHU without weekends and
nights)
Measured
(kWh)
603,640
517,090
858,977
Simulated
(kWh)
512,909
512,909
863,176
%difffromMeasured
15.0%
0.8%
0.5%
179,445
141,475
8,827
189,792
135,248
5.8%
4.4%
100.0%
1,705,814
1,701,126
0.3%
Table 20 Simulated Base Case Energy Breakdown for Chilled Water System compared to measured values
The chilled water system breakdown comparison between the simulated and measured case
also yields similar accuracy range. The simulated chiller annual energy consumption is higher
by 0.5% because it was calibrated to match as closely as possible. The simulated heat rejection
annual energy consumption is higher by 5.8%, while the chilled water pump is lower by 4.4%.
The Others, i.e. switch board & other standby losses, was measurable but was not simulated,
again this is a small fraction compared to the whole building energy consumption.
The building energy index (BEI) was computed by the energy audit report to be 158.81
kWh/m/year. This BEI was calculated based on the measured airconditioning area of 24,345.4
m. However, the simulation model created from the building plans yields a smaller air
conditioned area of 23,367.86 m, or 4% lower than the measured area. Since all the simulation
cases run are based on the simulation model, the simulation airconditioned area of 23,36.86 m
is used as the basis for all computation made in this document, including the BEI.

31

Descriptions
Measured
24,345.40
AirConditionedArea(m2)
Simulation
Model
%
diff
from
Measured
23,367.86
4.0%
3,782,490.7
23,367.86
161.87
The area differences can be attributed to the different methodology used to measure the
building. The simulation case modeled the building using drawings found, while energy auditor
conducted site measurement to estimate the building airconditioned area.
In this study, the simulation model airconditioned area (m) is used consistently in the entire
report. This will cause the base scenario Building Energy Index (BEI) to have a slight differences
as compared to the energy auditors report.

32

2.2 TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY COMPARISON

The measured temperature and humidity by Energy Auditor is as shown in the table below. It
showed an average air temperature in offices to be 24.6C and a maximum temperature of 27C
and minimum of 23C during airconditioning hours.
Table 21 Measured Temperature and Humidity
29.5
29.0
28.5
28.0
27.5
27.0
26.5
26.0
25.5
25.0
24.5
00:00
95
90
Percentage (%)
Temperature (C)
However, feedback from the building occupants in JKR indicates that the offices above the 8th
floor are significantly warmer than offices below the 8th floor. The simulated temperature and
humidity of office space and lobby is shown in the figures below.
85
80
75
70
65
06:00
12:00
18:00
00:00
Date: Tue 14/Feb

Air temperature: OFFICE3_F07 (01base01_as_is.aps)
Figure 11 Typical Day Air Temperature
60
00:00
06:00
12:00
18:00
00:00
Date: Tue 14/Feb
Relative humidity: OFFICE3_F07 (01base01_as_is.aps)
Figure 12 Typical Day Relative Humidity
The typical days air temperature in the offices during office hours was simulated to be just
below 26C. On a hot day, it go up as high as 27C and on a cold day, it reduces down to 24C.
The relative humidity was simulated to be well above 70% almost at all time with a max of
82~83%. These numbers seems to match the measured values fairly well.

33

95
90
Percentage (%)
Temperature (C)
29.5
29.0
28.5
28.0
27.5
27.0
26.5
26.0
25.5
25.0
24.5
00:00
85
80
75
70
65
06:00
12:00
18:00
60
00:00
00:00
06:00
Date: Mon 22/May

Air temperature: OFFICE3_F07 (01base01_as_is.aps)
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
06:00
12:00
18:00
60
00:00
00:00
06:00
12:00
18:00
00:00
Date: Tue 14/Feb
Air temperature: Lobby_F06 (01base01_as_is.aps)
Figure 15 Cooler Days Air Temperature
Relative humidity: Lobby_F06 (01base01_as_is.aps)
Figure 16 Cooler Days Relative Humidity
100
95
Percentage (%)
Temperature (C)
00:00
Figure 14 Hot Day Relative Humidity
Date: Tue 14/Feb
28.5
28.0
27.5
27.0
26.5
26.0
25.5
25.0
24.5
24.0
23.5
00:00
18:00
Relative humidity: OFFICE3_F07 (01base01_as_is.aps)
Percentage (%)
Temperature (C)
Figure 13 Hot Day Air Temperature
28.5
28.0
27.5
27.0
26.5
26.0
25.5
25.0
24.5
24.0
23.5
00:00
12:00
Date: Mon 22/May
90
85
80
75
70
65
06:00
12:00
18:00
00:00
Date: Mon 22/May

Air temperature: Lobby_F06 (01base01_as_is.aps)
Figure 17 Typical Day Lobby Air Temperature
60
00:00
06:00
12:00
18:00
00:00
Date: Mon 22/May
Relative humidity: Lobby_F06 (01base01_as_is.aps)
Figure 18 Typical Day Lobby Relative Humidity
34

2.3 DATA CENTER IN BLOCK F

The data center on the 16th floor of Block F serves the entire JKRs work force from Block A to F,
in Jalan Sultan Salahuddin. It has an average power consumption of 105 kW over 24 hours,
every day of the year. This is shown by the Figure 19 & 20 below, labeled as Others. The power
consumption of this data center includes all the servers and the precision airconditioning
system. (It was later found that one of the precision airconditioning units was not connected to
this circuitry because it was connected to the AHU circuitry instead).
The data center power was not reduced in this study until the last 2 cases in this study, i.e. case
55 and 56. The predicted peak energy saving in Block F of 50.1% did not have any reduction on
the data center energy consumption at all, although the data center energy consumption is used
in the BEI computation in all cases. This is shown in Figure 21 & 22.
Figure 19 Power Usage Profile in Block F
Figure 20 Enegy Consumption of Block F

35
SimulatedBaseCaseEnergyConsumption
ofDifferentSystems
Simulated(kWh)
Others(Essential
Supply)
DomesticPump
LightingandSmall
Power
AirHandlingUnits
VerticalTransport
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
ChilledWater
ProductionSystem
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
Figure 21 Simulated Base Case Energy Consumption in Block F
Case51EnergyConsumption
ofDifferentSystems
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
Simulated(kWh)
Others(Essential
Supply)
VerticalTransport
DomesticPump
LightingandSmall
Power
AirHandlingUnits
ChilledWater
Production
System
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Figure 22 Case 51 Energy Efficient Scenario Data Center remains the same as Base Case

36
3. ENERGY EFFICIENCY RETROFITS POTENTIAL FOR BLOCK F

By the implementation of 52 proposed energy efficient design features in Block F, the building
energy index drops from a high of approximately 170 kWh/m/year down to approximately 80
kWh/m/year. In simulation case 54, the small power use is increased to 12 W/m to reflect a
typical small power energy used in office buildings instead of the measured small power peak
use of 4.1 W/m as documented by the Energy Auditors report. This would then increases the
BEI of the building slightly to 120 kWh/m/year. Energy efficiency in the data center is then
required to push the building BEI below 100 kWh/m/year.
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
B0
C1
C3
C5
C7
C9
C11
C13
C15
C17
C19
C21
C23
C25
C27
C29
C31
C33
C35
C37
C39
C41
C43
C45
C47
C49
C51
C53
C55
kWh/m2/year
BlockFSimulatedBEIPotential
ELECTRICITY TARIFF
An electricity tariff rate of 0.35 RM/kWh is used in this document to compute all economic data.

37

3.1 BASE CASE 0: THE COMFORTABLE BASE CASE SCENARIO

General
Descripti
ons
The asis base case scenario (Base Case 1) has an average air temperature of 25C
and an average relative humidity above 70%. This is consistent with the measured
data provided by Energy Auditors report. From the asis base case 1 scenario
simulation, it was found that the chiller capacity was inadequate to cater for the
existing building cooling load.
In this simulation case, base case 0, the chiller capacity was increased to cater for
the actual cooling load requirement.
Design
Details
Base Case 0 Chiller Capacity Required: 3500 kW cooling (995 Ton)

AsIs Base Case 1, Chiller Capacity: 1330 kW cooling (380 Ton), this capacity is
below the building requirement and is reflected by the uncomfortable temperature
in offices as measured and simulated by Base Case 1.
BUILDING BEI (kWh/m/year)
172.7
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
6.7%
Energy Saved (kWh/year)
253,000
Ringgit Saved (RM/year)
88,500
Proposed Life Time
NA
Budget
Available
for
NA
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
This scenario was made to compute the peak chiller load required to keep the entire building
comfortable. A very likely scenario, if energy efficiency is not addressed in this building, the
building owner would have to order a chiller of 995 Ton capacity to address the comfort issue
faced by the occupants of this building.

The computed peak cooling load of 3,500 kW (995 Ton) for this building scenario represent
approximately a cooling load of 150 W/m (47 Btu/hr per ft) of airconditioned space. The
existing chiller capacity of 1330 kW is equivalent to 57 W/m (18 Btu/hr per ft). It is likely that
this chiller capacity was selected during the days (early 1990s) when small power load in
building was low with very few users of personal computer in the building.

38

3.2 BASE CASE 0: ASIS BASE CASE SCENARIO

General
Descripti
ons
The asis base case scenario (Base Case 0) has been simulated using the data of
measured values from Energy Auditors report.
All input data for the simulation case is exactly as per measurement value on site
with the exception of the chiller coefficient of performance (COP) or kW/ton, which
was calibrated.
For the base case simulation study, the COP of the chiller was calibrated to give the
correct annual energy consumption of the chiller.
Details
The Energy Auditors report mentioned that there were 3 different chillers in Block
F, which is used one at a time, every alternate day, due to the configuration of the
chill water pipe circuit. Chiller #1 was out of order during the period of
measurement conducted by the energy auditor. The kW/ton of the 2 measured
chillers are:

Where,
0.81 kW/ton = 4.34 COP
0.72 kW/ton = 4.88 COP
It was not possible to run simulation based on 2 different chillers COP every
alternate day. It was then decided to calibrate the chiller COP of the simulation case
to match with the actual measured annual energy consumption of both the chiller
for the building.
Calibrated COP of the single stage screw chiller for the base case yielded a value of
4.88 (0.72 kw/ton) to match the simulated annual chiller energy consumption to the
measured annual chiller energy consumption within a small error margin 0.5%.
161.9
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
NA
NA
NA
Proposed Life Time
NA
Budget
Available
for
NA
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The calibrated single stage screw chiller COP of 4.88 provided an annual chiller energy
consumption of 863,176 kWh/year. This value matched with the measured chiller energy
consumption of 858,977 kWh/year with a difference of 0.5% only.

39

3.3 CASE 1: FIX AIRTIGHTNESS OF BLOCK F

General
Descripti
ons
In a separate report made by Cawangan Alam Sekitar dan Tenaga (CAST), JKR in
2010, the measured value of total fresh air intake for Block F was found to be a very
high value of 1.65 airchanges per hour (ach). This includes both the fresh air intake
and infiltration of outdoor air into building.
The measured high intake of fresh air is caused by the partially opened windows
and doors at that time as shown in these pictures below.
Details
The base case has a combined mechanical supply fresh air and infiltration rate of
1.65 ach.
This simulation case study assumed that all these air leakages are fixed. The fresh
air intake from the AHU room is maintained at 10% flow rate of the supply air. The
building is assumed to exfiltrate all the fresh air supplied from the AHU room.
For the simulation in this case, it is assumed that the same airtemperature is
maintained for the offices room as per the base case scenario to compute the energy
saving potential by reducing infiltration of fresh air into building. However, since
the building was not comfortable in the 1st place, it is likely that any improvement
made to the building will be targeted towards providing comfort rather than
providing energy saving.
156.1
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
3.5%
134,000
46,800
Proposed Life Time
10
Budget
Available
for
RM 468,000 for whole building or
Investment (RM)
RM 190 per m glazing
Remarks:
Improving the building airtightness while maintaining the same comfort condition as the base
case would provide a significant building energy reduction of 3.5%. However, due to the reason
that existing condition is not comfortable for the occupant in this building, it is expected that
upon improvement made to the building airtightness, comfort condition will be provided to the
building via the reduction of air temperature for the offices.

40

3.4 CASE 2: BETTER COMFORT

General
Descripti
ons
Due to the reason that the chiller installed for the building is inadequate to provide
the necessary cooling to the entire building, the average air temperature was
simulated to be 25C.
However, once the building airtightness has been improved, the chiller would be
able to provide the more cooling necessary for the average air temperature to be
reduced from the average of 25C.
Details
The base case simulation study takes into account of the air leakages in the duct. The
measured temperature in the AHU room is approximately 1C lower than the office
room temperature. It has been calibrated in Case 9 simulation (when the chiller
capacity is adequate to provide the necessary cooling to the building) to allow a by
pass (leakages) of 20% of supply air into the return air stream to achieve this 1C
lower than the office room temperature.
The airtemperature set point was to be set to 20C in the AHU room. However, the
simulation showed that it was only possible for the offices to have an average air
temperature of 23.8C. In this simulation study, the chiller capacity was still
inadequate to keep the room below 23.5C. The average air temperature of 23.8C
was maintained until Case 9, where the cooling load of the building has been
brought down low enough for the existing chiller capacity to provide the necessary
cooling to maintain 23.5C.

Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
164.3
5%
191,000
66,800
Proposed Life Time
NA
Budget
Available
for
NA
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Improvement to the building airtightness would allow the building to have a more comfortable
(colder) air temperature. The improvement in comfort causes the loss of all the gain made from
improving the building airtightness.

41

3.5 CASE 3: SMALL POWER REDUCTION AT NIGHT

General
Descripti
ons
Small power use in block F building during night time and weekend was measured
to be approximately 25% of the peak daytime load.
Details
The measured lighting and small power consumption of block F is as shown in

Figure 23 below for a typical week. The small power consumption is then computed
by deducting the lighting power consumption from this graph. A table of lighting per
wing, per floor was provided by the energy audit report (a sample cut out is shown
in Table 22). The base lighting power consumption over the weekend and night was
computed by assuming that all light in the staircases and exit signs are switched on
at all time and 20% of lift lobby lights, 2% of office lights and 10% of toilet lights are
still switched on during night time and over the weekend.
These are small power use due to standby power consumption of computers,
monitors, printers, refrigerators and any other electrical equipment that is plugged
to the power point. Even a phone charger that is left on the power point (no phone
connected) would have 2~5 watt standby power consumption if the switch on the
power point remain switched on. All these equipment standby power consumption
and a few office equipment that were not switched off, lead to the measured 25%
base load during night time and over the weekend of small power consumption.
Figure 23 Measured Typical Week of Lighting and Small Power Consumption
No. of
lamps/
fitting
No.
of
fitting
s
Total
No. of
lamps
Watts
(lamp +
ballast)
Total
Watts
No. of
Faulty
Lamps
Total
Watt for
Faulty
Lamps
Actual
Lighting
Power
(W)
Staircase L
20
80
80
17
Office R
12
40
480
480
17
Office (Director)
20
60
60
17
Office (Director)
40
120
120
17
Meeting Room
18
40
720
720
17
Meeting Room
12
12
26
312
312
17
Meeting Room
20
160
40
120
17
Meeting Room
Eng
Accreditation
18
144
18
126
20
180
180
Level
Room
No./Description
17
17
Table 22 Sample Cut out of Appendix 4.4.2 from Energy Auditor Report of Lighting Power

42

It is assumed in this simulation that this 25% of the peak daytime load at night can
be reduced to 10% with the use of timers to switch off equipment that are shared
and is not required to run at night. The potential items that can be switched totally
off during nonoccupied hours are personal computers, printers, water dispensers,
microwave ovens, and etc.
Power management in personal computers would help to contributes to this saving
by ensuring that computers that are accidentally left on at night would
automatically hibernate or shut down after a period of no activity on it.
160.7
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
2.2%
85,000
29,800
Proposed Life Time
Budget Available for

40 timers per floor allocated.
Investment (RM)
RM 130/timer
Remarks:
To reduce the small power base load of 25% to 10% requires the building occupant cooperation
to shut down any electrical equipment is not being used at the power point itself. This may or
may not require the use of weekly programmable automatic timer. An allocation of 40 timers
per floor was assumed to be used to shut down noncritical electrical equipment during non
occupancy hours to compute the available budget for investment of these timer. Equipment
such as hot/cold water dispenser and shared printers/photocopiers can be shut down after
7pm at night and be switched back on again at 7am for these offices during weekdays and be
totally off during the weekend.

It is also recommended to provide extension power point plug to extend the power point to be
laid on top of the working table instead of only having the power point on the floor where it is
inconvenient for building occupant to reach for it to switch it off when they are leaving the office
at the end of the working day. Making it convenient for the building occupant to switch off the
power supply at the power point will cut the standby power consumption totally.

Part of the 25% base power consumption is due to the use of UPS (uninterrupted power supply)
for every computer in the building back in year 2008. The UPS is required to be charged at all
time and therefore consuming energy 24 hours daily. Frequent charge and discharge of UPS will
shorten UPS lifespan. However, power failure in office building in Kuala Lumpur is quite rare
these days. In addition, almost all commonly used software such as Words, Excel and
PowerPoint have AutoSave feature in it that if there is a power failure only a maximum 1015
minutes of work is lost. It is also possible to change the AutoSave feature to a shorter time
period to prevent less work lost in case of power failure. A typical UPS for a single personal
computer consume up to 15 watt each. In a building like Block F, for 1,000 occupants, this
represents 15 kW of power consumption 24 hours daily or RM 46,000 per year.

43

3.6 CASE 4: OFFICE ELECTRICAL LIGHTING EFFICIENCY

General
Descripti
ons
There are a few options for energy efficiency in electrical lighting for an existing
building. Two of these options are described below.
Option 1: Replace existing T8 lamps (magnetic ballast) with T5 lamps with a
convertor and built in electronic ballast. This option does not require the light
fittings to be changed and would reduce the energy consumption the lamps from 40
watts to 30 watts each (including ballast lost). This provides a 25% power reduction
immediately. This option would allow the office electrical lighting power density to
be reduced from measured value of 11.7 W/m down to 9 W/m (25% reduction).
Option 2: Replace the entire light fittings with newer better light distribution
fittings. The new light fittings with T5 lamps and electronic ballast would allow the
office electrical lighting power density to be reduced from 11.7 W/m down to 7.5
W/m or even lower.
Details
This simulation case study reduces the electrical lighting power consumption in
offices from 11.7 W/m down to 9 W/m.
153.4
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
4.5%
171,000
59,700
Proposed Life Time

RM 30 per lamps
Investment (RM)
5925 lamps required for whole building
Remarks:
The typical cost of T5 lamps with convertor (with builtin electronic ballast) into T8 light fittings
is also approximately RM 30 per lamp. The lifespan of the T5 (or even T8) lamps is
approximately 3~4 years for a typical office building. Therefore, it may seem that it has a net
zero net present value advantage over a 3 years analysis period. However, the electronic ballast
that comes with these T5 lamps has a typical lifespan of 6~8 years, allowing a second change of
the T5 lamps at the cost of the lamp cost only, which is currently around RM 10~15 each. It is
also expected that the cost of T5 lamp will be reduces over the next few years due to the higher
demand and production of T5 lamps. Therefore, there is a positive net present value when this
feature is evaluated over a longer time period.

44
3.7 CASE 5: LIGHT SWITCHES AND/OR OCCUPANCY SENSOR IN OFFICE SPACE

General
Descripti
ons
As in most offices, higher ranked staffs in Block F are allocated with their own
personal room. A typical walk about in Block F would shows that higher ranked
staffs hold more responsibilities and are normally busy attending meetings outside
their own room. Most of them would only be in their own room approximately 50%
of the time.
This case study assumes that in general 20% of building occupants are not in their
place due to reasons such as attending meeting outside the building, attending
meeting in a densely populated meeting room, on holidays or having sick leave of
absent. The provision of light switches or occupancy sensor allows their personal
room lights to be switched off when they are not in the room.
Measured lighting profile from the Low Energy Office (LEO) of Ministry of Energy in
parcel E4/5 in Putrajaya indicates that more than 50% of the lights can remain
switched off during peak working hours due to the reason above.
In the LEO building, occupancy sensor was placed in every room, however, it was
also noted that building occupant do switch off the lights on their own as they
walked out of their own personal offices as long as the location of the switch is
strategically placed such that the building occupant is not required to take any extra
steps to switch off the lights as they walk out of the room. The lighting switches are
located at location where if the left hand is used open the door, the lighting switch is
placed on the right hand for the building occupant to turn it off easily and viceversa
when the right hand is used to open the door.
Unfortunately, due to the occupancy sensors provided in the LEO building, it
remains uncertain if placing the lighting switches strategically is enough to
guarantee energy saving without the use of occupancy sensor.
Details
This simulation case study assumes that the electrical lighting power consumption
in offices reduces by 20% from 9 W/m down to 7.2 W/m.
148.7
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
2.9%
110,000
38,500
Proposed Life Time

RM 570 per Occupancy Sensor
Investment (RM)
Allocated 20 sensors per floor.
Remarks:
There exist office spaces today where one (1) lighting switch is provided for the entire space of
more than 200m housing up to 20 building occupants or more. There are also office spaces
today where all the lighting switches are allocated together near the main exit door. These
kinds of lighting switch arrangement do not allow any energy efficiency to be practiced when a
sector of the office space is empty.

45

For cost efficiency and reduced maintenance issue, it is recommended to use strategically
located lighting switches that allows for personal control of the lighting need. This type of
solution would need the building occupants to have awareness of energy efficiency to ensure
that they will switch off the lights when it is not necessary to be used.

However for general open office spaces where there is no distinct person responsible for the
lighting, occupancy sensor is recommended to ensure that the lights are switched off when no
one is using the space.

46

3.8 CASE 6: OCCUPANCY SENSOR IN TOILETS

General
Descripti
ons
Public space such as toilet is a location where lighting switches will not work
because no one is really responsible for toilet lights. This type of space requires the
use of occupancy sensors.
There exists occupancy sensors that can sense occupants behind light weight
partitions such as wooden doors/partition that are normally found in toilets.
These motions sensors can be used to switch off the lights when it senses that there
is no one in the toilet anymore.
Details
This simulation case assumes that 50% of the working hours the lights in toilets are
switched off.
148.5
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.1%
5,000
1,700
Proposed Life Time

RM 400/toilet
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
This simulation is a guesstimate of the percentage of time the toilets are used in office building
during office hours. By allowing the lights to be switched off 50% of the time, the budget
available for investing in the motion sensor for toilets is RM 400 per toilet in Block F.

47

3.9 CASE 7: LIFT EFFICIENCY

General
Descripti
ons
It was found that the lift left on standby all the time, even during nonworking hours.
The standby lift power during nonoccupancy hours was measured to be
approximately 5 kW on average.
Chart J : Load Distribution for Vertical Transport
(For a typical workweek start from Saturday to Friday - 7
days)
80
60
kW
40
20
0
-20
Time
Figure 24 Measured Lift Power over 1 week
All the lift cannot be shut down totally because there are building occupants that
worked up to late nights and will require the lift to be operational.
However, it would be possible to shut down 50% of the lift to be totally, leaving only
3 out of 6 lifts to be operating during nonoffice hours.
Details
This simulation case assumes that lift power consumption reduced from 5 kW to 2.5
kW during nonoccupied hours.
147.8
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.4%
16,000
5,400
Proposed Life Time

RM 7,240 per lift
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The measured power consumption of the 6 number of lifts in Block F showed that
approximately 5 to 8 kW is being consumed even in the hours of 12 midnight to 6 am.

A reduction of 2.5 kW during nonoccupied hours would provide a saving of RM 5,400 per year
for Block F.

48

3.10 CASE 8: CO2 SENSOR WITH MOTORISED FRESH AIR DAMPER

General
Descripti
ons
CO2 sensor with motorized fresh air damper will control the amount of fresh air
intake into buildings by measuring the CO2 level from the return air. The more
people are in the offices, the higher the CO2 amount and the more fresh air would be
provided to the offices to maintain air quality automatically.
The less people is in the offices, the less CO2 amount is detected and less fresh air is
required to be supplied to the office and still provides a conditions of good air
quality. By reducing the amount of fresh air provided, the building will save energy
because the energy for cooling and drying of fresh air is a significant part of the total
energy consumption in building.
Details
The limit of CO2 is set to 1,000 ppm (parts per million).
141.5
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
3.9%
147,000
51,400
Proposed Life Time

RM 12,100 per AHU
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The CO2 control of fresh air requires two (2) components to be installed in each AHU room.
1. A CO2 sensor to detect the CO2 level of the return air.
2. Motorised fresh air damper that open or close the fresh air intake based on the reading
by the CO2 sensor.

49

3.11 CASE 9: BETTER COMFORT AGAIN, REDUCE ROOM TEMPERATURE

General
Descripti
ons
Making improvement to the building allows the room temperature to be reduced

further for better comfort.
Details
It is now possible to maintain the offices air temperature at 23.5C with the existing
chiller capacity. Temperature set point in the AHU has to be adjusted to 22.5C,
while room temperature is maintained at 23.5C. This difference in temperature is
caused by leakages in the supply air duct. Calibrated simulation showed that it
requires 20% of the air flow rate to be leaked back into the AHU to be able to
maintain a temperature difference of 1C in Block F.
144.8
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
2.0%
77,000
27,000
Proposed Life Time
NA

NA
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Improving the comfort of Block F building cost RM 27,000 per year or 2% of the building energy
consumption. This large expenditure is partially caused by inefficient chilled water system
currently in place. Once the airconditioning system efficiencies is improved (as done in later
cases), the impact of reducing air temperature in Block F would be less significant.

50

3.12 CASE 10: REDUCE CHILLED WATER FLOW RATE

General
Descripti
ons
The existing chilled water flow rate was measured to be 24% higher than the chiller
specification. This high flow rate has caused the supply chilled water temperature to
be supplied at 10.4C (50.7F) instead of the set point of 6.7C (44F) mostly
because the chill water does not stay long enough for it to be chilled down to 6.7C.
It is possible to reduce the flow rate by installing a variable speed drive (VSD) or by
changing the motor or/and pump to match the correct flow rate and pump head of
the system.
Details
In this simulation study, chilled water flow rate was reduced to the specified flow
rate for the 380 ton chiller with a chilled water flow temperature difference of 5.6C
(10F).
The chilled water supply temperature was also reduced to 6.7C (44F) from 10.4C
(50.7F) previously, along with the reduction of chilled water flow rate. The pump
affinity law is used to compute the new pump head at the new flow rate.
Due to the reduced chill water supply temperature, the COP of chiller was simulated
to be reduced from the previous average COP of 5.04 down to an average of 4.4 in
this case scenario.
142.8
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
1.3%
48,000
16,600
Proposed Life Time

Existing: 2 sets of chill water pump
Investment (RM)
RM 66,520 per pump
Remarks:
In this simulation study, the existing screw chiller is applied with a rated COP of 4.88, however,
the average running COP of the chiller is 5.04 due to the high supply chilled water temperature
of 10.4C. Reducing the supply chilled water temperature down to 6.7C, the average running
COP of the chiller reduces down to 4.4 from 5.04 earlier.

Reducing the chill water flow rate also reduces the pumping energy significantly due the
pump/fan affinitys law.

The pump/fan affinity law says that, With impeller diameter (D) held constant:

Law 1a. Flow is proportional to shaft speed:

Law 1b. Pressure or Head is proportional to the square of shaft speed:

51

Law 1c. Power is proportional to the cube of shaft speed:

where
Q is the volumetric flow rate (e.g. CFM, GPM or L/s),

D is the impeller diameter (e.g. in or mm),
N is the shaft rotational speed (e.g. rpm),
H is the pressure or head developed by the fan/pump (e.g. ft or m), and
P is the shaft power (e.g. W).

From this law, it was possible to calculate the pump head and pump power reduction due to the
reduction of chilled water flow rate.

52

3.13 CASE 11: INCREASE CHILLED WATER SUPPLY TEMPERATURE TO 9C

General
Descripti
ons
Chiller efficiency improves when the temperature differences between the return
condenser temperature and the supply chill water temperature is reduced. This can
be done by reducing the condenser return water temperature or by increasing the
chill water supply temperature.
Details
In this case the chilled water temperature is increased from 6.7C to 9C to improve
the efficiency of the chiller, since the chiller was previously supply chill water at
10.5C.
COP of chiller improved 6.4% from 4.40 to 4.68.
141.5
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.8%
30,000
10,500
Proposed Life Time

2 chillers
Investment (RM)
RM 42,000 per chiller
Remarks:
This feature is free because it is available as chill water supply temperature set point in any
chiller. Increasing the chill water temperature improves the building energy efficiency by 0.8%.
This study showed that in a constant flow chill water system, it may be a good idea to test the
efficiency improvement of the system by increasing the chill water supply temperature. If the
AHU were oversized by the initial design, the cooling coil will not have any problem to provide
the cooling to the building even with the increased chill water supply temperature.

In the case of Block F, the energy efficiency measures taken up this stage have reduced the
building cooling load (lower lighting load, lower infiltration, lower small power load, etc. etc.),
and therefore, the existing AHU would be oversized and would allow for this optimization to be
accomplished.

53

3.14 CASE 12: HIGH T CHILLED WATER SYSTEM

General
Descripti
ons
Details
High T (high temperature differences) chill water design reduces pump power by
reducing the flow rate of the chill water supplied. However, it requires that the AHU
cooling coil to be sized adequately to provide a higher leaving chill water
temperature from the cooling coils.

The heat capacity of flowing water is governed by the equation shown below.

Where;
Q = Cooling load (kW)
m = Mass flow rate of water (kg/s)
Cp = Specific heat capacity of water 4.187 kJ/kg C approx. 4.2 kJ/kg C.
T = The temperature difference between flow and return water. (C)

The equation above showed that by increasing the T, the mass flow rate of water
can be reduced to provide the same cooling capacity.
For this simulation case, the chilled water supply temperature was reduced from
9C to 6.7C (44F). The return chill water temperature was simulated to be 14C
(57F) base on the existing cooling coil configuration based on the conditions
described below.
The existing cooling coil configuration was not provided by the energy audit report.
The cooling coil configuration was derived from the assumed initial design
parameter. The following assumptions were made to size the cooling coil for this
study:
Descriptions
Values
Air Flow Rate

Air On coil
Temperature
Air Off coil
Temperature
Water on coil
Water off coil
12,155 cfm rated capacity
Assumed or Found in Energy

Auditors Report
Found in Report
23C @ 50% RH
Assumed based on typical design.
12C
7C (44.6F)
12C (53.6F)


From the numbers above, it was possible to estimate the original cooling coil
configuration and then predict the behavior of the cooling coil based on new
conditions as tested by this case scenario of a high T chill water flow rate.
Based on the new condition of high T design, it can be computed that the existing
cooling coil configuration would reduce the chill water flow rate by 50%, and the
water off coil temperature at this condition would be 14C.
The average COP of chiller reduces from 4.68 down to 4.4, due to the lower
temperature of the supply chill water in this case.
54

140.3
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.7%
28,000
9,800
Proposed Life Time

RM 39,000/pump
Investment (RM)
This feature is free for block F. Refer to remarks below.
Remarks:
High DeltaT (high temperature differences) chill water design is possible in block F without any
cost increase because the existing AHU was designed for a higher cooling load. All the AHU in
Block F was replaced about 7~8 years back. Due to the reason that the building occupants were
complaining that the building airconditioning was not cold enough, the new AHU supplied was
upsized. Unfortunately, the chiller remains the same, therefore, the building have AHU capacity
that does not match the chiller capacity.

With the existing AHU, the supply air flow rate and the cooling coil was oversized for the current
reduced cooling condition. A quick check was done on the existing cooling coil configuration by
assuming a typical design condition at that point of time. It was found that due to the
improvements made to the building (lowering the total cooling capacity), the existing cool coil
should be able to provide higher leaving chill water temperature if the controls are working
appropriately.

This feature would requires the control valves to operate properly at the cooling coil,
controlling the chill water flow rate accurately to provide the right offcoil temperature for both
the air and water side.

55

3.15 CASE 13: FIX DUCT LEAKAGES, REBALANCE AIR FLOW

General
Descripti
ons
The existing supply air duct system in this building is known to be leaking because
the measured air temperature in the AHU room is colder than the office rooms
where the air is being supplied. This indicates that the supply air flow is leaking in
the false ceiling which is also the space for freereturn of the air back into the AHU
room.
On average there is a measured 1C difference between the air temperature in the
AHU room and the office rooms.
Details
In the simulation model, the air leakage from the duct was calibrated to have a
leakage rate of 20% to maintain a 1C difference between the office room
temperature and AHU room temperature. This leakage was modeled as a bypass
duct circuit directly back to the AHU room.
In this case study, the leakage is stopped totally, pushing the total air flow into the
airconditioned spaces. Several calibrations were made between the zones to
maintain similar air temperature between the different zones. This would be
equivalent to conducting air balancing at the diffusers to balance the air flow rate to
maintain the correct air temperature in each zone.
140.9
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.4%
14,000
5,100
Proposed Life Time

60/m2 of AC floor area
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The airtemperature in the offices dropped to 22.5C when the air leakages in the ducts are
fixed. This actually followed the temperature set point as at the AHU room. Therefore, upon
fixing the duct leakages, the air temperature should be reset as well to ensure that the air
conditioned spaces are not over cooled.

56

3.16 CASE 14: INCREASE TEMPERATURE SETPOINT

General
Descripti
ons
The existing temperature setpoint of 22.5C is now providing the room with
temperature of 22.5C instead of 23.5C when the duct was leaking. A resetting of
the air temperature setpoint is made in this case.
Details
The setpoint temperature in the AHU is now raised to 23.5C to maintain comfort
condition.
139.3
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
1.0%
38,000
13,400
Proposed Life Time

RM 160/m of AC floor area
Investment (RM)
This feature is free.
Remarks:
A net saving of 0.6% is made by fixing the duck leakages and resetting the air temperature set
point at the AHU. In addition, this also indicate that it is now possible to reduce air flow rate
supplied to the airconditioned spaces because it was possible to maintain comfort temperature
even with 80% of the supplied air flow rate.

57

3.17 CASE 15: REDUCE AHU SUPPLY AIR FLOW RATE

General
Descripti
ons
Existing AHU (air handling unit) delivers 5,737 l/s of cold air. After fixing the
building airtightness, improved the lighting power density and fixing the duct
leakage it is now possible to reduce the air flow rate while still being able to provide
adequate cooling to the room.
Resizing of the AHU flow rate was computed for this new scenario. It was found that
flow rate can be reduced to 3,753 l/s or 35% reduction from the existing air flow
rate.
Details
The supply air flow rate from the AHU is reduced to 3,753 l/s for each AHU.
Upon reducing the air flow rate, the fan total pressure was also reduced following
the fan affinitys law which is the same as pump affinitys law.
The fan affinity law says that, With fan diameter (D) held constant:

Law 1a. Flow is proportional to shaft speed:

Law 1b. Pressure or Head is proportional to the square of shaft speed:

Law 1c. Power is proportional to the cube of shaft speed:

where
Q is the volumetric flow rate (e.g. CFM, GPM or L/s),
N is the shaft rotational speed (e.g. rpm),
H is the pressure or head developed by the fan/pump (e.g. ft or m or Pa), and
P is the shaft power (e.g. W).
120.7
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
11.5%
435,000
152,100
Proposed Life Time

RM 36,000/ahu
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
There are three (3) options to reduce the air flow rate at the AHU at Block F:

58

Option 1
Reduce the pulley size at the motor or/and increase the pulley size at the fan.
Option 2
Install a VSD (variable speed drive) to reduce fan speed.
Option 3
Change the fan and motor combination to match new requirement.

The affinity law holds true when the pump/fan efficiency is the same (or close to the same) at
these different operating points. I.e. the pump/fan curves need to be checked to confirm that the
efficiency is still the same at the different operating point. Unfortunately, this check was not
possible in this study because the pump/fan curves for the AHU and pumps are no longer
available. However, using the affinitys law as it is for this study should be quite accurate
because the static head would be somewhat low at low flow rate, allowing it to follow the same
efficiency curve as the flow rate reduces which is typical of fan/pump curves.

59

3.18 CASE 16: LOW LOST AIR FILTERS

General
Descripti
ons
Pressure drop through air filter in AHU is a cause of energy consumption in fan. The
higher the pressure drop, the more energy is used.
Details
The fan power consumption was measured in kW of fan power used. This fan power
is then converted into fan total pressure by assuming that the total fan efficiency is
60%. A fan total efficiency of 60% is typical of backward curve fans using
conventional motors.
Most type of electronic airfilters and certain type of mechanical air filters are
designed to have low pressure drop. It is quite common to find electronic air filters
that have a pressure drop of 80 Pa less than typical mechanical air filter for use in
AHU.
With this assumption, the base building was computed to have an average fan
pressure of 539 Pa at the measured average flow rate of 5737 l/s of air flow rate.
The reduction of flow rate to 3,753 l/s would reduce the fan total pressure to 231 Pa
using the fan affinitys law.
In this case the total pressure of the fan is reduced further by 80 Pa to 150 Pa.
118.2
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
1.5%
58,000
20,200
Proposed Life Time

4,750/ahu
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
There is a certain amount of uncertainty of the base scenario total pressure loss by the fans
because this was not measured by the energy auditor. An assumption was made that the total
fan efficiency is 60% to compute the total pressure loss by the fan. If the total fan efficiency is
higher than 60%, the total pressure loss would be higher than the 539 Pa. If the total fan
efficiency is lower than 60%, the total pressure loss would be lower than 539 Pa.

According to the fan affinity law, reducing the air flow rate by 35% would reduce the total
pressure by 58%, therefore reducing this case scenario total pressure loss of the fan to 230 Pa,
which may seem very low to some practicing engineers. However, the total fan efficiency of 60%
would have requirement of a backward curve fan efficiency of 70% with a motor efficiency of
89% and a belt efficiency of 97%. For a 7~8 year old AHU, these efficiency numbers seems to be
rather realistic and conservative (the actual case may even have lower total fan efficiency
because energy efficiency was not wellknown yet). Therefore, the computed total pressure loss
of the fan from the power consumption should be fairly accurate.

On reflection, the pressure loss through the original air filter is reduced as per the fan affinitys
law as well with reduction of air flow rate. The pressure reduction, by using a low pressure lost
air filter such as electronic air filter, of 80 Pa should also be reduced by 58% following the
60

affinitys law , i.e. a pressure drop of 34 Pa only due to the lower air flow rate. Therefore, total
fan pressure in this case should be 231 34 = 197 Pa. The total pressure used in this study of
150 Pa is not correct and is 24% lower than it should be. Therefore the result provided by this
case is not correct at this stage. Another set of simulation will be conducted at a later stage to
correct this simulation case study.

61

3.19 CASE 17: FAN EFFICIENCY

General
Descripti
ons
Backward curve fan with an efficiency of 60~70% at the flow rate of 3200 to 6000
l/s is commonly used today by the building industry. However, in the past several
years, airfoil fan is getting popular in the market and these fans provide efficiencies
up to 85% for certain model and flow rates.
With a fan efficiency of 85%, motor efficiency of 90% and a fan belt efficiency of
97%, a total fan efficiency of 74% was possible. A conservative assumption of
improving the fan total efficiency to 70% was made for this case study.
Details
The fan total efficiency was improved from 60% to 70% efficiency.
117.6
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.4%
14,000
5,100
Proposed Life Time

1,200/ahu
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
There is not much of a case to improve the fan efficiency further as the savings provided by
upgrading to an airfoil fan provides very low return in this study for block F. The main reason
for this lack of energy saving in this case is because the flow rate is quite low and total pressure
loss is actually low as well. Due to these reasons, the improvement on the fan efficiency has very
small impact on the savings that can be further gained.

62

3.20 CASE 18: VAV SYSTEM, OFF COIL TEMP 14C

General
Descripti
ons
The base building airside airconditioning system uses Constant Air Volume (CAV)
system. The CAV system delivers air at a constant flow rate to the room; the room
temperature is then regulated by supply air temperature. If the room is cold, the
supply air temperature is increased to maintain temperature at comfortable level. If
the room is hot, the supply air temperature is reduced to cool the room to a
comfortable level.
A Variable Air Volume (VAV) system delivers air at a constant air temperature to the
room; the room temperature is then regulated by the supply air flow rate. If the
room is cold, the supply air flow rate is reduced. If the room is hot, the flow rate is
increased to cool the room to the comfort temperature set point.
The advantage of the VAV system is that it reduces fan energy use when the building
is running on part load because the fan speed is reduced.
A VAV system has two additional devices additional to a CAV system. These are the
VAV Box (or Boxes) with a motorised damper to control the flow rate into rooms
depending on the monitored air temperature, and a variable speed drive (VSD) to
control the speed of the AHU fans motor depending on the pressure sensed in the
duct. When the VAV damper open for more flow rate into the room, the pressure in
the duct drops, the VSD sensing a drop in pressure will increase the speed of the
motor to increase air flow rate to maintain the pressure in the duct at a particular
set point. When the VAV damper close to reduce flow rate into the room, the
pressure in the duct increase, the VSD sensing an increase in pressure will reduce
the speed of the motor to reduce the air flow rate to maintain the pressure in the
duct at a particular set point.

Details
A VAV system was modeled for the building, with each AHU having a peak flow rate
of 3,753 l/s at 150 Pa.
Off coil temperature was set at 14C in this case scenario.
A minimum air flow rate of 30% of the peak flow rate was also set.
117.5
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.1%
63

3,000
1,000
Proposed Life Time

RM 150/ahu
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The energy efficiency gain from installing a VAV system in this building is quite low due to the
reason that the fan power is already very low as it is now, due to the low air flow rate and low
total pressure loss. The low flow rate is a cause of the lower building load from the
improvement made on the building airleakages, lower lighting power consumption and fixed
duct leakages.

It should be highlighted here that there is a sort of domino effect of conducting energy efficiency
in existing building, where improvement made earlier on the building allows better efficiency to
be made to the AHU and also on the chill water system as well. This is because the building air
conditioning system was sized for a larger cooling load. When the building cooling load is
reduced, the existing pipes and ducts became oversized, providing very low pressure loss,
reducing power consumption significantly as projected by the pump/fan affinity law. Of course,
this efficiency gain can only be claimed when the pumps and fans flow rate are actually
reduced in practice.

64

3.21 CASE 19: VAV SYSTEM, OFF COIL TEMP 16C

General
Descripti
ons
The simulation result of Case 18 showed that the airconditioned space relative
humidity was reduced from an average of 70% to 60%. This reduction of relative
humidity also increases chiller energy used because more energy is used to remove
moisture from the air (latent load).
A check on earlier simulation cases running on CAV system showed an average off
coil temperature of 17~18C. Due to this high off coil temperature, the moisture
content in the air is still relatively high causing, the fairly high relative humidity of
70% as simulated and measured at site.
Increasing the off coil temperature from 14C to 16C allows less dehumidification
at the cooling coil, thus providing energy reduction on latent heat removal.
However, at the offcoil temperature of 16C, the air flow rate has to be increased for
it to be able to remove adequate sensible heat from the air. This increases the fan
energy usage.
This case study is to test the overall benefit (or loss) by reducing moisture removal
while increasing fan energy use by the AHU system by increasing the offcoil
temperature to 16C.
Details
Off coil temperature was set at 16C.

A minimum air flow rate of 30% of the peak flow rate was set.
116.7
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.5%
18,000
6,300
Proposed Life Time

RM 930/ahu
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Increasing the offcoil temperature to 16C increases the fan power in case 19 as compared to
case 18 where the offcoil temperature was set at 14C. However, the reduction of chiller
energy in case 19 is higher than the increase in fan energy used, providing an overall saving to
the airconditioning system. This feature does not require any additional cost to be
implemented. It should also be noted this strategy worked for Block F at this stage because the
fan energy usages is relatively low due to the low total pressure loss and the oversized duct
due to lower flow rate requirement.

Two (2) charts are provided below to show the total energy consumption of the chiller and fan
energy from all the AHU in Block F. Where,
o Case 17 is a CAV system
o Case 18 is a VAV system with off coil temperature of 14C
o Case 19 is a VAV system with off coil temperature of 16C

65

As shown by both the charts above, the fan energy increases by ~9 MWh/year for the entire
building due to the higher off coil temperature set point while the chiller energy reduces by ~22
MWh/year.

66

3.22 CASE 20: INCREASE LIFT LOBBY TEMPERATURE TO 26.5C

General
Descripti
ons
The installation of a VAV system makes it is easier to regulate temperature within

the zone with the use of motorized damper controlled VAV boxes.
Details
Air temperature set point for Lift Lobby was set to 26.5C
In a transitional space such as lift lobby, it is not necessary to keep these spaces at
23.5C. The VAV box supplying to this space can be adjusted to maintain an air
temperature of 26.5C at this zone to reduce energy consumption for the entire
building.
116.3
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.3%
11,000
3,700
Proposed Life Time

RM 550/ahu
Investment (RM)
This is a no cost feature.
Remarks:
This is a very simple solution to provide an additional 0.3% savings to the building energy
consumption. It should also be noted that even with the existing CAV system, this feature is also
possible to be implemented, by reducing the flow rate into the lift lobby by removing diffusers
or by closing the diffuser dampers to reduce the flow rate for this zone.

67

3.23 CASE 21: CHILLER EFFICIENCY

General
Descripti
ons
The existing chiller in Block F was measured and then calibrated back to the typical
chiller rating condition by Energy Auditor. The report showed that one of the chiller
has a COP of 4.3 (0.82 kW/ton) and another one a COP of 4.88 (0.72 kW/ton). At
any moment of time, only one (1) chiller was running. These 2 chillers were run on
alternate days, giving opportunity for each of the chiller a day of rest.
Details
It will take a lot of time and effort to configure the simulation software to simulate
alternate chillers running every day. Due to the limited time available for this
project, only one chiller is modeled.
The calibration of the chiller efficiency was made based on all the measured data
used for the building energy model, such as the measured small power load, lighting
load, infiltration (fresh air), no of people and etc. It was found that a simulation
chiller COP of 4.88 (0.72 kW/ton) matches perfectly with the measured annual
electrical energy consumption of the chiller.
Due to the reason that the measured supply chill water temperature is on average
10.5C instead of the typical 6.7C (44F), the actual average simulated COP during
operation was at 5.1 (0.69 kW/ton) although the rated condition COP is 4.88 (0.72
kW/ton).
The existing building is using single stage screw chiller. The chiller performance
curve used for the simulation building up to this stage is based on a typical single
stage screw chiller provided by US Department of Energy (DOE) for their Equest
software. The DOE chiller curve fit that accounts for the condenser return water
temperature, chill water supply temperature and partload performance of the
chiller to compute the COP of the chiller.
In case 21, an energy efficient centrifugal chiller was selected to have a rated COP of
6.3 (0.56 kW/ton). Again the chiller performance curve used for this chiller is based
on DOE curvefit for a centrifugal chiller that accounts for the condenser return
water temperature, chill water supply temperature and partload performance of
the chiller.
107.2
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
5.6%
212,000
74,100
Proposed Life Time
15

RM 556,000 per chiller
Investment (RM)
2 no of chillers for building
Remarks:
Improving the chiller COP provides a high energy reduction of 5.6% to the building. To change 2
chillers, at 380 ton per chiller, the cost would be approximately RM 1.3 million per chiller. The
budget from the savings as provided by this study allows approximately 50% of the chiller to be
subsidies by the savings. I.e. the building owner is only paying half price for the new chiller due
68

to the efficiency gain achievable by the new chiller.

In addition, studies in Case 51 & 52 showed that if the building did not embark on energy
efficiency, the chiller capacity that is required to provide adequate comfort to the existing
building scenario is a 1,000 ton chiller. A 1,000 ton chiller would cost approximately RM 3.5
million per chiller. The new chiller requirement after optimizing the building is only 410 ton,
costing only RM 1.4 million per chiller. This indicates that a budget of RM 2.1 million is saved
per chiller. For 2 chillers, the saving is RM 4.2 million to replace both the old chiller in this
building.

69

3.24 CASE 22: VARIABLE SPEED CHILLER

General
Descripti
ons
Chiller fitted with variable speed drive is already available in the market today. VSD
(variable speed drive) chiller would typically have higher efficiency at partload of
30% to 60% as compared to a typical screw or centrifugal chiller without variable
speed.
In climates with hot and cold seasons, VSD chiller has been shown to have COP
above 10.0 during season of low wetbulb temperature at part load scenario.
Unfortunately in Malaysia climate, where the wetbulb temperature is fairly
constant throughout the year, these VSD chillers would typically maintains (or just
marginally better than) the peak load COP.
In the existing building scenario, one (1) chiller is used for the entire day of peak
load and part load condition. The use of VSD chiller would help to provide better
performance during partload condition.
Details
The DOE VSD centrifugal chiller performance curve fits was used to model this
chiller for this case. A rated peak condition COP of 6.3 (0.56 kW/ton) was
maintained for this study.
104.3
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
1.8%
68,000
23,800
Proposed Life Time
15

RM 178,500/chiller
Investment (RM)
Budget to upgrade to VSD chiller
Remarks:
The VSD chiller would be a feasible option for Block F, if the cost of VSD chiller is not more than
RM 178,500 for a typical centrifugal chiller cost.

70

The simulation of centrifugal VSD chiller showed marginally better performance than a typical
centrifugal chiller at peak load. However at part load of below 50%, the VSD chillers outperform
the centrifugal chiller by a bigger margin. In the case of Block F, there is a good reason for using
a VSD chiller because only one chiller is run at any one time (even at part load condition). The
VSD chillers will provide better efficiency at part load conditions as compared to a typical
centrifugal chiller.

However, chiller performance is actually quite specific to the manufacturer. This VSD chiller
curve fit provided by DOE may not match all VSD chillers from all different manufacturers. It is
recommended to study each manufacturer chiller curve fit individually to get the best
performance and at the best value of investment for this building.

71

3.25 CASE 23: CONDENSER FLOW RATE 2.5 GPM/TON

General
Descripti
ons
Chiller can be run with condenser flow rate of 3 gpm/ton, 2.5 gpm/ton or as low as
2.0 gpm/ton of chiller load. The lower the flow rate of condenser water, the
efficiency of the chiller becomes lower. However, reducing the condenser flow rate
will reduce the condenser pump power by a cubic relationship (pump affinitys law).
This study is to compare which factor is more important for this building, the chiller
efficiency versus the condenser pump power.
Details
The flow rate of the condenser water was reduced from from 3 gpm/ton to 2.5
gpm/ton.
102.2
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
1.3%
48,000
16,700
Proposed Life Time

2 existing condenser pumps in plant room
Investment (RM)
67,000/pump
Remarks:
Case study 23 and 24 showed that it is possible to reduce the condenser flow rate down to 2.0
gpm/ton with improvement to the overall energy efficiency of Block F. This may or may not be
replicated for all buildings, as it would be dependent on the existing condenser pump power
consumption and the existing chiller performance curve.

This study uses chiller performance curve provided by DOE (US Department of Energy) that
would account for the reduction of condenser water flow rate, therefore, the loss of
performance by the chiller is captured as shown by the chart below of the simulated COP of
chiller of the case with 3 gpm/ton and 2.5 gpm/ton of condenser flow rate.

72

Condensergpm/tonOptions
80
70
75.3
62.8
60
50.2
50
42.0
40
23.1
30
20
24.3
16.1
12.4
10.3
10
0
l/s
headm
3gpm/ton
2.5gpm/ton
kW
2gpm/ton

The existing building condenser pump has a pump head of 23.1 m of water. A reduction of the
flow rate to 2.5 gpm/ton reduces the pump head to 16.1 m of water and at 2.0 gpm/ton, the
pump head is then reduced to 10.3 m of water. At the lowest pump head, the pump power has
reduces by 70% from the existing condition. These numbers were all computed using the pump
affinitys law.

73

3.26 CASE 24: CONDENSER FLOW RATE 2.0 GPM/TON

General
Descripti
ons
Chiller can be run with condenser flow rate of 3 gpm/ton, 2.5 gpm/ton or as low as
2.5 gpm/ton. The lower the flow rate of condenser water, the efficiency of the chiller
becomes lower. However, reducing the condenser flow rate will reduce the
condenser pump power by a factor of 3.
Therefore this study is to compare which factor is more important for this building,
the chiller efficiency versus the condenser water flow rate.
Details
Reducing the flow rate of the condenser water from 2.5 gpm/ton to 2.0 gpm/ton
reduces the pump peak power from
101.5
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.4%
16,000
5,700
Proposed Life Time

Additional RM 22,800 /pump
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Case study 23 and 24 showed that it is possible to reduce the condenser flow rate down to 2.0
gpm/ton with improvement to the overall energy efficiency of Block F. This may or may not be
replicated for all buildings, as it would be dependent on the existing condenser pump power
consumption and the existing chiller performance curve.

This study uses chiller performance curve provided by DOE (US Department of Energy) that
would account for the reduction of condenser water flow rate, therefore, the loss of
performance by the chiller is captured as shown by the chart below of the simulated COP of
chiller of the case with 3 gpm/ton and 2.5 gpm/ton of condenser flow rate.

74

Condensergpm/tonOptions
80
70
75.3
62.8
60
50.2
50
42.0
40
23.1
30
20
24.3
16.1
12.4
10.3
10
0
l/s
headm
3gpm/ton
2.5gpm/ton
kW
2gpm/ton

The existing building condenser pump has a pump head of 23.1 m of water. A reduction of the
flow rate to 2.5 gpm/ton reduces the pump head to 16.1 m of water and at 2.0 gpm/ton, the
pump head is then reduced to 10.3 m of water. At the lowest pump head, the pump power has
reduces by 70% from the existing condition. These numbers were all computed using the pump
affinitys law.

75

3.27 CASE 25: PRIMARY/SECONDARY CHILL WATER FLOW

General
Descripti
ons
The existing building uses a constant chill water flow rate at the moment. Most
chillers requires constant flow chill water flow rate for it to operate safely without
causing the chiller to trip. Single primary only constant flow chill water is
commonly provided from the chiller to the AHU in the buildings due to its simplicity
in design. However, this kind of constant flow system is designed for the peak
cooling load of the year, therefore the system is designed at the highest flow rate
required to cool the building. Constant primary flow chilled water will continues to
flow at the full rate even when the building is running on part load.
There is a possibility to provide constant flow to the chiller while providing variable
flow to the AHU using a pipe configuration system called primarysecondary
variable flow system. The primary pump system refer to the pump/piping circuit
recirculating the chill water at a constant flow to the chiller, while the secondary
variable pump system refer to the pump/piping system that have a variable speed
drive (VSD) on the pump that will try to maintain the pipe pressure to deliver chill
water at the flow rate as needed by the buildings AHU load.
Energy is saved during part load condition when pump power is reduced in the
secondary pump to match the part load requirement of the AHU load.
Details
A constant flow primary pump with a head of 15m water was specified for this case
scenario with a variable secondary pump with a head of 7 m water was specified.
The low head at the secondary pump was due to the lower chilled water flow rate
applied in earlier cases.
101.6
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.0%
1,000
300
Proposed Life Time

1,200 per chiller set
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
There is no energy efficiency gain from installing a primarysecondary chill water pumping
system for this building. The installation of primarysecondary pump system requires 2 sets of
pumps to be installed. The 1st set provides constant flow into the chiller while the 2nd set
provides variable flow to the AHU.

On closer inspection of the simulation results, the cooling load of the building was simulated to
be somewhat consistently stable. It basically showed that the energy savings provided by the
secondary variable pump during part load was offset by the 1st set of primary pump for constant
flow through the chiller.

Again it should be noted that the chill water flow rate has been reduced in earlier cases and the
pump power for chill water flow is fairly low now due to the pump affinity law.

76

3.28 CASE 26: PRIMARY VARIABLE CHILL WATER FLOW

General
Descripti
ons
In the past, almost all chillers require constant flow of chill water for it to operate
without any problem. These days, chiller manufacturers have been able to
incorporate primary variable flow for their chillers.
This feature reduces initial cost because less pump requirement (as compared to a
primary/secondary system) and reduces operating cost as well due to reduced chill
water flow rate (i.e. it is not required to circulate the full flow rate through the
chiller at part load condition anymore).
Details
Variable primary flow was modeled for this case.
101.4
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.1%
4,000
1,300
Proposed Life Time

RM 5,250/ pump
Investment (RM)
2 chilled water pumps in building
Remarks:
Variable primary flow requires 2 items for it to work. One, a variable speed drive (VSD) on the
chill water pump and two, a chiller that can accept variable chill water flow. All VSD chillers
allow variable chilled water flow, however only a couple of manufacturer of nonVSD chiller
allow variable chilled water flow through it. Therefore, it is important to check if the chiller
would allow for this technology to be implemented.

In this case study, it is shown that energy saving provided by this feature is marginal. However,
the computed budget available should be adequate to pay for the VSD for the pump. Therefore,
as long as the chiller can accept variable chilled water flow, it is recommended to install a
primary variable pumping system.

77

3.29 CASE 27: CHILLED WATER PUMP EFFICIENCY

General
Descripti
ons
Pump efficiencies provided by the Energy Efficiency Guideline in Malaysia

(published by Pusat Tenaga Malaysia) , is as shown below.
Flow (gpm)
Efficiency [%]
End Suction
(incl. vertical
&
close
impeller types)
[%]
Horizontal /
Vertical split
casing
(centrifugal
and
close
impeller types)
[%]
50 60
65 75
75 80
78 82
80 85
83 87
83 87
-
73 76
75 79
75 79
78 82
78 82
78 83
80 86
82 86
80 88
100
110 250
300 450
460 600
700 1000
1100 1500
1600 2500
2600 3600
3700 4000
> 5000
Vertical
multistage
&
Horizontal
multistage
/
Close Coupled
(close impeller
types)
[%]
55 75
68 75
70 75
Submersible
(semi
open
and
open
impeller types)
[%]
48 55
48 55
55 65
55 65
65 72
60 68
60 70
70 75
75 80
75 80
Process
Pump
(open
impeller
types)
[%]
48 52
48 52
48 52
48 52
48 52
-

For a flow rate of 1100 to 1500 gpm, a pump efficiency of 83 to 87% is shown to be
available in the market.
Details
It was possible to compute the pump total efficiency (motor and pump) from the
measured flow rate, pump head and power consumption of the pump motor. The
pump total efficiency computed was 40% from the measured numbers.
Assuming that the motor efficiency is at 80%, the existing pump efficiency is
computed to be 50%.
In this case the chilled water pump efficiency was raised to 85%.
BUILDING BEI (kWh/m/year) 101.0

Energy
kWh/year/m (%)
Saved
0.3%
10,000
3,600
Proposed Life Time
Budget
Available
for RM 14,300 / pump
Investment (RM)
2 existing chill water pump in plant room
Remarks:
The computed chill water pump efficiency of 50% is quite low, even for a 20 years old pump.
Further check reviewed that the minimum straight length of pipe of 5~6 pipe diameter before
the suction of pump is not followed in the existing installation as shown by the pictures below.

78

This installation mistake causes the efficiency of the pump to be lower than it should be. It
should also be noted that this mistake is also seen in many new buildings and seems to be one of
the bad industry practice that need to be addressed.

The budget available to improve pump efficiencies is approximately RM 14,300 per pump. This
would approximately cover the entire new pump cost. However, the earlier reduction of flow
rate provided a much higher budget to replace the pump in the 1st place. Therefore, this is a
budget to choose a better efficiency pump.

79

3.30 CASE 28: CONDENSER WATER PUMP EFFICIENCY

General
Descripti
ons
Pump efficiencies provided by the Energy Efficiency Guideline in Malaysia, is as

shown below.
Flow (gpm)
100
110 250
300 450
460 600
700 1000
1100 1500
1600 2500
2600 3600
3700 4000
> 5000
Efficiency [%]
End Suction
(incl. vertical
&
close
impeller types)
[%]
Horizontal /
Vertical split
casing
(centrifugal
and
close
impeller types)
[%]
50 60
65 75
75 80
78 82
80 85
83 87
83 87
-
73 76
75 79
75 79
78 82
78 82
78 83
80 86
82 86
80 88
Vertical
multistage
&
Horizontal
multistage
/
Close Coupled
(close impeller
types)
[%]
55 75
68 75
70 75
Submersible
(semi
open
and
open
impeller types)
[%]
Process
Pump
(open
impeller
types)
[%]
48 55
48 55
55 65
55 65
65 72
60 68
60 70
70 75
75 80
75 80
48 52
48 52
48 52
48 52
48 52
-

For a flow rate of 1100 to 1500 gpm, a pump efficiency of 83 to 87% should be
available in the market.
Details
It was possible to compute the pump total efficiency (motor and pump) from the
measured flow rate, pump head and power consumption of the pump motor. The
condenser pump total efficiency was also computed to be 40% from the measured
numbers.
Assuming that the motor efficiency is at 80%, the existing pump efficiency is
computed to be 50%.
In this case the condenser water pump efficiency was raised to 85%.
100.3
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.4%
16,000
5,500
Proposed Life Time

21,800/pump
Investment (RM)
2 existing condenser water pump in plant room
Remarks:
The computed condenser water pump efficiency of 50% is quite low, even for a 20 years old
system. Further check reviewed that the minimum straight length of pipe of 5~6 pipe diameter
before the suction of pump is not followed in the existing installation as with the chilled water
pump.

This installation mistake causes the efficiency of the pump to be lower than it should be. It
should also be noted that this mistake is seen in many new buildings as well and seems to be
80

one of the bad industry practice that need to be addressed.

The budget available to improve condenser pump efficiencies is approximately RM 21,800 per
pump. This should cover the entire new pump cost. The budget is higher for the condenser
pump as compared to the chilled water pump was due to the reason that the condenser pump
has a higher flow rate and higher pumps head. Therefore, the improvement to the efficiency of
the condenser pump provided higher saving than improvement to the efficiency of chilled water
pump.

81

3.31 CASE 29: PUMP MOTOR EFFICIENCY

General
Descripti
ons
The EFF 1, motor efficiency for 7.5 kW, is listed by the Energy Efficiency Guideline in
Malaysia to be higher than 90.1%.

Details
The existing assumption of 80% for both the chilled water pump motor and
condenser water pump motor was improved to 90% for this simulation case.
100.1
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.1%
4,000
1,400
Proposed Life Time

Investment (RM)
RM 2,860/motor (4 motors total)

2 chill water pump motor
2 condenser water pump motor
Remarks:
The available budget of RM 2,860 per motor should be more than adequate to pay for a higher
efficiency new motor with efficiency higher than 80%.

Motor efficiency is not exactly constant at different part load. A sample efficiency curve of a
motor is provided below. Motor efficiency is fairly constant from full load until 30% of the full
load. At less than 30% of motor full load, the motor efficiency drop significantly.

82

3.32 CASE 30: COOLING TOWER EFFICIENCY

General
Descripti
ons
The Malaysian Energy Efficiency and Conservation Guideline for Malaysian Industry
provided the following data for a 600 HRT cooling tower.
Cooling Tower Type
Size (Nominal (kWe/HRT)

HRT)
@ Pump
Head (m)
ROUND
COUNTERFLOW
SINGLE CELL
600
0.025
SQUARE COUNTERFLOW
SINGLE CELL
600
0.0357
3.7
SQUARE COUNTERFLOW
MULTICELL
600
0.025
3.4
SQUARE
CROSSFLOW
SINGLE CELL
600
0.0294
4.4
SQUARE
MULTI CELL
600
0.0275
3.3
CROSSFLOW

Details
The cooling tower in Block F building was measured to consume 0.0599 kW/HRT
for the existing cooling tower. This corresponded to the measured 19.4 kW of fan
power used by the cooling tower.
In this simulation case, the cooling tower power consumption is reduced to 0.0275
kW/HRT. This reduces the fan power to 10 kW.
99.1
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.7%
25,000
8,800
Proposed Life Time

RM 35,000/cooling tower
Investment (RM)
2 cooling towers
Remarks:
The cooling tower was measured to consume 3.6% of the building airconditioning system
energy consumption as shown in the table below. However, due to its inefficiency, it was
possible to reduce the cooling tower energy consumption by 50% using the latest energy
efficient cooling tower available today.

83
The new data available from the published energy efficiency guideline showed that it is possible
to reduce the cooling tower fan consumption by half as shown in the table provided in the
general descriptions. Care should be taken when selecting cooling tower to ensure that the
efficiency gain by the fan is not at the expense of the pump head. The energy caused by the
pump head can be computed using the condenser flow rate and pump total efficiency for the
cooling tower.

84

3.33 CASE 31: VSD ON COOLING TOWER, 30.5C

General
Descripti
ons
A variable speed drive (VSD) can be install on the cooling tower fan to reduce its
speed when the temperature setpoint of the return condenser water to the chiller is
achieved. This is done by installing a temperature probe on the bottom of the
cooling tower, measuring the temperature of the water at the bottom of the cooling
tower. Reducing the fan speed will reduce fan energy consumption by the cooling
tower.

However, the lower the temperature of condenser water returning back to the
chiller, the more efficient the chiller will become. Similarly, a higher condenser
water temperature is returned to the chiller, the chiller would become less efficient.
In climate where the wetbulb temperature of the air changes drastically due to
seasonal changes, it has been shown that it is beneficial to use a VSD on the cooling
tower. However, in Malaysia hot and humid climate, where the wetbulb
temperature is fairly constant, it is not known if it will provide the same amount of
savings.
Therefore, case study 31 to 36 is a test on the potential benefit of using VSD on the
cooling tower in this climate zone.
Details
A variable speed drive is specified for the cooling tower to reduce fan speed when
the return condenser water temperature as reached 30.5C.
99.4
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.2%
7,000
2,300
Proposed Life Time

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Cases 31 to 36 test the potential of energy efficiency gain by the installation of a VSD on the
cooling tower. This study on block F indicates that it would not be practical to install VSD on
cooling tower because the efficiency lost by the chiller is higher than the efficiency gain by the
85

cooling tower fan.

However, this study is based on the chiller performance curve fit provided for a typical VSD
centrifugal chiller as provided by DOE (US Department of Energy) for their Equest (Doe2)
software, provided free by the US government on their website. Actual chiller performance
curve from each manufacturer may be slightly different and may yield different result.

The chart above shows the annual heat rejection (cooling tower + condenser pump) energy as
simulated by this study. The condenser pump energy is constant in all the cases shown in the
chart above. Therefore, the energy differences between the cases are caused by the cooling
tower only. The highest cooling tower fan energy reduction is case 31, where a VSD is used to
reduce fan speed once the condenser return water temperature reaches 30.5C.

Cases
Case 29
Case 30
Case 31
Case 32
Case 33
Case 34
Case 35
Case 36
Short Descriptions
A nonefficient cooling tower
An efficient cooling tower
VSD fitted on cooling tower with set point temperature of 30.5C
No VSD, but larger cooling tower with set point temperature of 25C (i.e. get the
return condenser water temperature as low as possible).

The chart below indicates that the lower the setpoint temperature for return condenser water
on the VSD for the cooling tower, the chiller energy consumption reduces further, indicating
that the lower return condenser water temperature increases the efficiency of the chiller.
Meanwhile, the chart above shows that the fan power of the cooling tower increases as the set
point temperature is reduces, indicating that more fan power is required to achieve the set
point temperature. At the setpoint temperature of 26.5C the fan on the cooling tower is
practically running full speed at all time.
86

The chart below display the annual total chill water system energy used for cases 29 to 36.

It is therefore more practical to consider the overall chill water system energy efficiency
scenario that would account for both the cooling tower fan energy, chiller energy and pumps
energy used by the chilled water system as shown in the chart above. Using a VSD on the cooling
tower with condenser return temperature set point of 30.5C (Case 31) is more inefficient than
the conventional cooling tower as in Case 30. The chilled water system energy reduces as the set
point temperature for the return condenser water is reduced for the cooling tower with VSD on
it. At the set point of 26.5C (Case 35), the cooling tower fan is practically running full speed at
all time.

This result indicates that it would be better to try to reduce temperature of the return
condenser water than to reduce the fan speed of the cooling tower for better energy efficiency.
In case 36, an oversized constant speed cooling tower is used instead to try to keep the return
condenser water temperature as low as possible at all time. This seems to be practical solution
as the energy efficiency lost is significantly small as compared to a cooling tower with VSD set to
26.5C, because there is no need to install a VSD on the outdoor fan which may have higher cost
due to weather proofing requirement and perhaps more maintenance issues as well.

87


General
Descripti
ons
Read Case 31.
Details
98.9
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.3%
11,000
3,900
Proposed Life Time

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Cases 31 to 36 test the energy efficiency gain potential for installing a VSD on the cooling tower.
This study on block F indicates that it would not be practical to install VSD on cooling tower
because the efficiency lost by the chiller is higher than the efficiency gain by the cooling tower
fan.

This study is based on the chiller performance curve fit provided for a typical VSD centrifugal
chiller as provided by DOE (US Department of Energy) for their Equest (Doe2) software,
provided free by the US government on their website. Actual chiller performance curve from
each manufacturer may be slightly different.

More details can be found in Remarks section in Case 31.

88


General
Descripti
ons
Read Case 31.
Details
98.6
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.2%
7,000
2,500
Proposed Life Time

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
fan.



89


General
Descripti
ons
Read Case 31.
Details
98.5
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.1%
2,000
800
Proposed Life Time

3,300/cooling tower
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
fan.



90


General
Descripti
ons
Read Case 31.
Details
98.4
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.0%
1,000
500
Proposed Life Time

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
fan.



91

3.38 CASE 36: OVERSIZED COOLING TOWER, 26.5C

General
Descripti
ons
In case 35, the VSD on the cooling tower have a setpoint temperature of 26.5C. The
results showed that it has the lowest airconditioning system energy consumption.
This showed that is more important to provide a lower temperature on the
condenser return temperature to the chiller than to save cooling tower fan energy.
In addition, at the setpoint of 26.5C, the cooling tower fan was practically running
full speed at all time.
Details
An oversized cooling tower was used with slightly higher power consumption to
cool the condenser water to coolest possible.
The cooling tower fan power was increased 10% from 10 kW to 11 kW in this
simulation study to mimic an oversized cooling tower.
98.6
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.1%
4,000
1,300
Proposed Life Time

RM 5,200/cooling tower compared to previous case
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
An assumption was made to upsize the cooling tower by 10%. Check has not been conducted at
market level to ascertain the soundness of this assumption. I.e. The next available cooling tower
sizes may be larger than 10%. It may also be possible that the standard market size available for
cooling tower is already oversized for this chiller requirement, thus no extra cost is required to
upsize the cooling tower.

It is recommended to revisit this study upon checking the market availability of the cooling
tower sizes.

92

3.39 CASE 37: 200 LUX GENERAL LIGHTING, 19 W TASK LIGHT

General
Descripti
ons
In recent years, there has been a gaining market acceptance to reduce general
lighting lux level in offices down to 150 lux level and then supplement lighting need
of building occupant with personal task light to provide up to 800 lux level when
required. This option allows each individual in the building to control their own
lighting preference at their own desk.
Case study 37 to 39 test the option of using task lights in Block F while reducing the
general lighting lux level down to 200 lux level. Reducing lux level in a building
would mean that it is possible to reduce the number of lamps in the building until it
achieves a lux level of 200 lux.
In general task light comes in 19, 11 or 5 W per task light.
Details
Allowing the general lighting level to be reduced from 350 lux level (existing
building scenario) at 9 W/m lighting power density to 200 lux level, allows the
general lighting power density to be reduced to 5.1 W/m via a process of de
lamping or redesigning the lighting layout entirely by removing unnecessary light
fittings for an average 200 lux level office building.
Then a task light of 19 W per person is added to the simulation. 80% of the task
lights are assumed to be switched on. 20% is assumed to be switched off due to
reasons that building occupants may not be in the office or is using the computers
and therefore, do not need more than 200 lux level. For a building occupant no of
1,000 people, 80% of 19 W of lighting per person works out to only 0.43 W/m of
the office space.
The average office lighting power use is now reduced to 5.57 W/m instead of the
5.88 W/m as in previous cases.
91.9
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
4.1%
156,000
54,600
Proposed Life Time

RM 270 / person
Investment (RM)
1,000 building occupant
Remarks:
Since 1958 the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) has published illuminance
recommendations in table form. These tables cover both generic tasks (reading, writing etc),
and 100's of very specific tasks and activities (such as drafting, parking, milking cows, blowing
glass and baking bread).

The recommended minimum lux level on a desk in an office space (Illumination Category C) for
frequent (& easy) reading or writing of high contrast & large size (e.g. typewritten page) is 200
lux. Thereafter, a multiplication factor can be applied based on the person age and surface
reflectance of the room. Refer to the Table 2 and Table 2a on the next page.
93

=====================================================================
TABLE 2
=====================================================================
TASK CATEGORIES AND REFERENCE ILLUMINANCE LEVELS
ILLUMINANCE
CATEGORY
DIFFICULTY OF
VISUAL TASK
IMPORTANCE OF
SPEED & ACCURACY
non critical / critical
---------------------------------------------------------------------A
MOVEMENT THROUGH PUBLIC SPACES
50
- LUX - 75
(5) - FC - (7)
---------------------------------------------------------------------B
INFREQUENT READING OR WRITING;
100
150
High contrast & large size
(9)
(14)
---------------------------------------------------------------------C
FREQUENT (& easy) READING OR WRITING;
200
300
High contrast & large size
(19)
(28)
(e.g. typewritten page)
---------------------------------------------------------------------D
MODERATELY DIFFICULT READING OR WRITING; 300
450
low contrast or small size
(28)
(42)
(e.g. penciled mechanical drawings)
---------------------------------------------------------------------E
DIFFICULT READING OR WRITING;
500
750
low contrast & small size
(46)
(70)
(e.g. poor copy of a blueprint)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================================
TABLE 2a
=====================================================================
ADJUSTMENTS TO REFERENCE ILLUMINANCES
(for different task background reflectences and worker ages)
AGE (A, in years)
> 30
30-40
40-50
50-60
60+
---------------------------------------------------------------------TASK
R > 0.8
|
1.0
1.2
1.5
2.0
3.1
BACKGROUND
0.8 - 0.6
|
1.2
1.5
1.9
2.6
3.9
REFLECTANCE
0.6 - 0.4
|
1.7
2.0
2.5
3.4
5.2
(R)
0.4 - 0.2
|
2.5
3.0
3.8
5.1
7.8
0.2 or less |
5.0
6.0
7.6
10.2
15.6
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The proposed strategy for Case 37 to 39, is to reduce the general lighting level down to the
minimum level of 200 lux and supplement with a task light that would allow the building
occupants themselves to choose their own preference of lighting level on their own desk,
allowing building occupants to light up their desk up to 800~1,000 lux when they need to.

It is actually still within the IES recommended illuminance to provide as low as 100150 lux for
general lighting, while at all desks, a task light is provided for illuminance up to 1,000 lux when
required. General office spaces (not at the desk), would be considered Category B space for
infrequent reading or writing spaces, such as access way between desks. Infrequent reading
may be made by building occupants while walking or standing on the access way between
desks.
94

Reducing lux level down to 200 lux illuminance in Malaysia may be uncomfortable to those that
are used to having 500 lux or more illuminance of general lighting. A few studies have shown
that it may be more important to have a brighter ceiling and walls than the actual lux level on
the desk. This may be done by using T5 pendent light fittings that light up the ceiling as well as
the desk and supplement the wall with wall lights to ease the occupants initial discomfort
feelings.

RMBudgetAvailable
RM
400
200
0
RMBudget
19W
11W
5W
273
300
320
95


General
Descripti
ons
Read Case 37.
Details
Then a task light of 11 W per person is added to the simulation. 80% of the task
lights are assumed to be switched on. 20% is assumed to be switched off due to
reasons that building occupants may not be in the office or is using the computers
and therefore, do not need more than 200 lux level. For a building occupant no of
1,000 people, 80% of 11 W of lighting per person works out to only 0.43 W/m of
the office space.
The average office lighting power reduces to 5.57 W/m.
91.2
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.4%
15,000
5,400
Proposed Life Time

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Read Case 37.

Additional RM 30/person
RMBudgetAvailable
RM
400
200
0
RMBudget
19W
11W
5W
273
300
320
96


General
Descripti
ons
Read Case 37.
Details
Then a task light of 5 W per person is added to the simulation. 80% of the task lights
are assumed to be switched on. 20% is assumed to be switched off due to reasons
that building occupants may not be in the office or is using the computers and
therefore, do not need more than 200 lux level. For a building occupant no of 1,000
people, 80% of 5 W of lighting per person works out to only 0.19 W/m of the office
space.
The average office lighting power use reduces to 5.34 W/m .
90.8
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.3%
11,000
4,000
Proposed Life Time

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Read Case 37.

Additional RM 20/person
RMBudgetAvailable
RM
400
200
0
RMBudget
19W
11W
5W
273
300
320
97

3.42 CASE 40: DAYLIGHT SENSOR FOR TOILETS

General
Descripti
ons
The toilets in Block F have natural daylight because all the toilets have a faade wall
with external windows. It is normally bright during working hours. However, since
the building is occupied from 7 am onwards, the toilet lights would be switched on
during those hours because the outdoor light is still low at 7 am. After the lights are
switched on early in the morning, it would normally remain on for the rest of the
day because no one is directly responsible for such public spaces such as the toilets.
The use of daylight sensor will automatically switch off the lights when it detects
that there is adequate lights in the toilet.
Details
Assumption is made in this case that 75% of the toilet lights can be switched off
whenever adequate daylight is available.
25% of the lights are assumed not to be linked to the daylight sensor because it may
be used by the cubicles that may not benefit from daylight.
90.6
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.1%
3,000
1,200
Proposed Life Time

RM 170/toilet
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The use of daylight sensor for the toilet may negate the use of occupancy sensor in the toilet
because the lights would normally be off due to the daylight available. It is recommended to use
daylight sensor only as it would be less intrusive than a motion sensor that may sometimes
switch off the lights even the toilet is occupied.

It is also recommended to install personal cubicle lights in cases where cubicles are very dark
when the general lighting in toilets are switched off due to the availability of daylight.

98

3.43 CASE 41: IMPROVED AIRTIGHTNESS & ADD HEAT RECOVERY WHEEL
General
Descripti
ons
If the building is retrofitted to be airtight, with an infiltration rate of 0.1 ach (air
change per hour), it would then be possible to consider the use of heat recovery
wheel to precool and predry the fresh air intake into the building with the
exhausted air from the building.

The heat recovery wheel reduces energy consumption in building by reducing the
cooling that is required of the fresh air intake by using the free exhaust air to pre
cool and predry it before it reach the AHU.
Details
Two heat recovery wheels with an efficiency of 50% for both sensible and latent
heat exchange were modeled for this case. One heat recovery wheel is used for each
stack of AHU in Block F.
In addition, 700 W of power consumption of each of the heat recovery wheel was
also modeled. This power consumption is required to rotate the wheel.
A pair of fan was also modeled for each the heat recovery wheel. A fan total
efficiency of 50% and a total pressure loss of 200 Pa were allocated for each fan to
compute the power requirement based on the flow rate supplied. These fans
provides the pressurized fresh air intake for all the AHU and also provides the
negative pressure to exhaust air from the toilets.
88.1
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
1.5%
58,000
20,400
Proposed Life Time
10

RM 102,040 per AHU Stack
Investment (RM)
2 AHU Stack in Building
Remarks:
The use of heat recovery wheel would requires a pair of fresh air duct and exhaust air duct to be
installed for each stack of AHU in block F. It may or may not be possible to use existing available
spaces in the AHU room to install this duct. If space is not adequate within the AHU room, these
99

ducts can be installed outside the building, locating it exactly where the fresh air intake is
brought into the building. The exhaust air duct can be placed at the existing exhaust fan location
of each toilet. Care should be taken that the volume of air passing through the toilet is not too
high that it causes discomfort draft sensation. It is also important to insulate the duct located
outside the building to minimize the heat gain from the exposure to the outdoor environment.

100

3.44 CASE 42: CHANGE GLAZING TO SINGLE GLAZING CLEAR

General
Descripti
ons
The existing single glazing in block F has a measured VLT (visible light
transmission) of approximately 10%. For a heavily tinted single glazing with a VLT
of only 10%, a typical SC (shading coefficient) is approximately 0.43. The lower the
SC value, the less heat is transmitted into the building. For a single glazing, without
lowemissivity properties, the SC value of 0.43 is as low as it can get.
Unfortunately, this glazing allows too little light for any effective use of daylight
harvesting in this building.
The above are pictures taken from Block F, providing an indication of the heavily
tinted glazing and blind usage. Note that, even with such low VLT values on the
glazing, window blind is still required to be used to prevent glare in the offices.
Details
The glazing SC value was changed from 0.43 to 0.95 for a clear glazing.

Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
89.3
0.7%
27,000
9,300
Proposed Life Time
10

RM 40/glazing area
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Changing the building dark tinted glazing to a clear single glazing, the energy consumption of
the building increases 0.7%.

However, this change would allow the building occupants to benefit from having access to
daylight. The health and productivity benefit of having daylight in office building have been
documented in several studies of green buildings worldwide. Although this option increases
energy consumption of the building, the health and productivity gain by building occupants far
outweigh the cost of energy.

Moreover, in the next two (2) case studies (Case 43 & 44), daylight are harvested, i.e. the
electrical lights are turned off when adequate daylight is available, the energy saving gained is
higher than this case. This is because daylight is actually cooler than electrical lighting and it is
also a free source of energy.

101

It is also recommended to consider the use of lowe single glazing when this option is
considered for the building. The additional cost for a lowe single glazing is only marginally
higher than a typical tinted single glazing. The energy saved from the use of lowe single glazing
would be similar to Case 45, the use of film on clear glazing.

102

3.45 CASE 43: DAYLIGHT 3.5 M DEPTH FROM FACADE

General
Descripti
ons
Changing the glazing to clear would allow daylight to be harvested. Energy efficiency
is gained when daylight is harvested and electrical lights are switched off.
Details
Daylight studies showed that is possible to harvest daylight up to 3.5 m depth from
the faade using simple horizontal venetian blind on the windows. These horizontal
blinds would allow glare to be controlled by tilting it to a level where the building
occupant view of the sky is reduced until visual comfort is achieved. Light are
allowed to bounce off the blinds into the room. This would require the louvers (of
the blind) to be reflective white or mirror like finish on the top side and non
reflective white paint on the bottom side of the louvers for glare prevention.
To ensure that electrical lights are switched off when daylight is available, it is
recommended to use daylight sensor. A daylight sensor can be programed to switch
electrical lightings off whenever daylight is adequate to lit up the space.

A depth of 3.5m daylight harvesting in this building would cover approximately 40%
of the office floor area. An assumption is made in the simulation that 40% of the
office lightings are switched off when outdoor horizontal illumination is above
10,000 lux level.
85.6
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
2.3%
86,000
30,200
Proposed Life Time
10

RM 120/m of glazing area
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The simulation study shows that using vertical blind as it is being used now in the Block F, will
not allow daylight to be harvested without causing glare to the building occupant.
103

It is very important to emphasis that daylight harvesting will only work in this climate when
glare comfort is addressed. It is proposed to use simple horizontal venetian blinds to harvest
daylight in Block F. These blinds should be tilted from horizontal (fully open position) until the
building occupant is visually comfortable from their usual sitting position. Normally this would
be between 20~35 from horizontal. The lower the tilt, the more daylight that can be harvested
deeper into the space, allowing more lights to be switched off when daylight is available.

The available budget of RM 120/m of glazing area, should be enough to pay for the horizontal
blinds required to benefit from this efficiency gain.

104

3.46 CASE 44: DAYLIGHT 4.5 M DEPTH FROM FACADE

General
Descripti
ons
The installation of light a light shelve on the parapet wall level on the outside would
allow more light to be captured for the building. In addition, by tilting the ceiling
surface near the faade allows the capture light to direct it deeper into the office
space as shown in the diagram below.
Simulation study showed that it is possible to harness daylight another meter deep
from the faade, making the daylight harvested level to be 4.5m depth.

Details
A depth of 4.5m daylight harvesting in this building would cover approximately 55%
of the office floor area. An assumption is made in the simulation that 55% of the
office lightings are switched off when outdoor horizontal illumination is above
10,000 lux level.
Light shelve was modeled in Radiance to test the depth of daylight harvested.
84.6
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.6%
22,000
7,600
Proposed Life Time
10

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The light shelve used in this simulation study improved the depth of daylight by 1m. However
an additional 1 m depth of daylight only increases the floor area covered by daylight from 40%
to 55%, an increment of 15% only as opposed to the 1st daylight option of 40% floor area.

Therefore, the energy saving provided is only marginally better, providing an available budget
of RM 30/m of glazing area only. This budget would not be adequate to provide an external
light shelves that can withstand the outdoor environment, sun, rain and wind.
105

3.47 CASE 45: PERFORMANCE FILM ON GLAZING

General
Descripti
ons
Performance film is frequently installed in car glazing by car owners in Malaysia.

Some of the more famous films available in Malaysia are VKool, 3M Prestige Film,
Huper Optik and etc.
A check on the technical data of 3M Prestige Film shown below, it is possible to get
film installed on a clear glazing to provide a VLT of 50% and SC of 0.51.

Details
The glazing properties was changed to a SC of 0.51 and an inside emissivity of 0.78
as provided by the specification of 3M Prestige 50 film. This selection was made
because the daylight harvesting requirement from the simulation study showed that
a minimum VLT of ~50% is required to maintain depth of daylight harvested.
83.7
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.6%
23,000
7,900
Proposed Life Time
10

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
There is an energy saving of 0.6% by the implementation of these high performance films.

However, energy saving of RM 32/m of glazing area predicted is not adequate to pay for the
films because the cost of these films range from RM 15 to 30/ft. Therefore, the available budget
is approximately 10 times too little to pay for the films.

It is hereby recommended to look into the option of using single glazing lowe glass instead of
considering the implementation of film on glazing for Block F.

106

3.48 CASE 46: CHANGE TO PERFORMANCE DOUBLE GLAZING

General
Descripti
ons
High performance double glazing has a better performance in terms of light to solar
heat gain ratio than performance window films. While allowing the same amount of
light to pass through the glazing, the high performance double glazing (spectrally
selective) has a lower SC (shading coefficient).
A typical high performance double glazing shown below displayed a Coloured
Indigo 48T double glazing with a VLT of 48% and a SC of 0.33.

Details
The glazing property was changed to a SC of 0.33 as provided by the specification

shown above. This selection was made because the daylight harvesting requirement
from the simulation study showed that a minimum VLT of ~50% is required to
maintain depth of daylight harvested.
82.7
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.6%
23,000
7,900
Proposed Life Time
10

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Converting to a high performance double glazing for an existing building is also shown to be not
economically feasible. The available budget of RM 64/m (converting from single clear glazing
directly to double glazing, skipping the use of film on glazing) of glazing area would not be
adequate for a high performance double glazing.

107

3.49 CASE 47: ROOF INSULATION, 50MM POLYSTYRENE

General
Descripti
ons
The uninsulated flat roof is insulated with 50mm polystyrene foam. This will
reduce the Uvalue of the roof from 3.44 to 0.51 W/mK. Insulating the roof will
reduce energy consumption of the building by reduction of heat gain through the
roof during daytime.
Details
Base Case Flat Roof No insulation

From Top to Bottom Layer
No
1
2
3

Materials Descriptions
Stone Chippings
Water Proofing Membrane
Dense Concrete Slab
Total Thickness
Thickness (mm)
10
5
150
~165
Ashrae Uvalue: 3.44 W/mK

Case 47 50mm insulated Flat Roof
No
1
2
3
4

Stone Chippings
Polystyrene Foam
Dense Concrete Slab
Total Thickness
Thickness (mm)
10
5
50
150
~215

82.4
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.2%
8,000
2,700
Proposed Life Time
10

RM 17/m roof area
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Reducing the roof Uvalue down to 0.51 W/mK provided adequate budget for the use of
insulation on the roof. Typical cost of 50mm insulation polystyrene foam range from RM 15 to
30/m depending on the brand.

108


General
Descripti
ons
The flat roof is insulated with 100mm polystyrene foam. This will reduce the U
value of the roof to 0.28 W/mK. Insulating the roof will reduce energy
consumption of the building by reduction of heat gain through the roof during
daytime.
Details

No
1
2
3
4

Stone Chippings
Polystyrene Foam
Dense Concrete Slab
Total Thickness
Thickness (mm)
10
5
100
150
~265

82.1
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.2%
7,000
2,400
Proposed Life Time
10

RM 15/m roof area
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Reducing the roof Uvalue down to 0.28 W/mK provided a budget of RM 32/m, from having
no insulation directly to having 100mm roof insulation.

109


General
Descripti
ons
The flat roof is insulated with 100mm polystyrene foam. This will reduce the U
value of the roof to 0.19 W/mK. Insulating the roof will reduce energy
consumption of the building by reduction of heat gain through the roof during
daytime.
Details

No
1
2
3
4

Stone Chippings
Polystyrene Foam
Dense Concrete Slab
Total Thickness
Thickness (mm)
10
5
150
150
~315

82.3
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.2%
6,000
2,000
Proposed Life Time
10

RM 10/roof area
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Increasing the roof insulation to 150mm thick (reducing Uvalue down to 0.19 W/mK), actually
provided higher energy consumption than the use of 100 mm thick insulation on the roof.

The roof needs to prevent heat gain during daytime and insulation on the roof would be
beneficial. However during night time, the sky temperature range from 10C to 20C (depending
on the cloud cover), averaging around 15C. Heat from the roof is then radiated to the cooler
night sky. Therefore, insulation the roof is a balance between the heat gain during daytime and
heat lost during night time. Over insulation, as is shown in this case prevented the heat from the
building to be radiated to the night sky.

Cases
Thickness
UValue
(W/mK)
% Savings from
Previous step
47
50mm
0.51
0.2%
48
100mm
0.28
0.2%
49
150mm
0.19
0.2%

110
3.52 CASE 50: AIR TEMPERATURE SETPOINT: 24.5C

General
Descripti
ons
The operative temperature is one of the indicators of comfort as recommended in

Ashrae 55 for thermal comfort. The operative temperature is defined as the average
temperature between the air and the meanradiant (surfaces) temperature. In
Ashrae 55, it is recommended that it would be comfortable when the operative
temperature is below 25C.
When surfaces temperatures were higher due to the use of single glazing and un
insulated roof, the air temperature of the office space is required to be set to 23.5C
to provide comfort condition. However upon improvement made on the building up
to this stage, the meanradiant (surface) temperature of the office space has been
reduced. The reduction of meanradiant temperature of the office space allows the
airtemperature of the space to be increased while maintaining the same comfort to
the building occupant while maintaining an operative temperature below 25C.
Details
The room temperature setpoint was raised to 24.5C 1C.
81.1
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.8%
28,000
10,000
Proposed Life Time
NA
Temperature (C)

NA
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The simulated results showed that at the set point of 24.5C, the average room temperatures are
just below 24C, while providing an operative temperature below 24.5C at all time.
31
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
00:00
06:00
12:00
18:00
00:00
Date: Tue 17/Jan

Air temperature: OFFICE1_F05 (c50_otemp25.aps)
Air temperature: OFFICE1_F05 (c49_rf_in150.aps)
Air temperature: OFFICE1_F05 (c14_tsetpt_higher.aps)

Legend:
Case 14 Comfortable Base Condition.
Case 49 Improved Building.
Case 50 Increased Air Temperature.
Dry Resultant Temperature = Operative Temperature

111

31
Temperature (C)
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
00:00
06:00
12:00
18:00
00:00
Date: Tue 17/Jan
OperativeTemperatures
Dry resultant temperature: OFFICE1_F05 (c50_otemp25.aps)
Dry resultant temperature: OFFICE1_F05 (c49_rf_in150.aps)
Dry resultant temperature: OFFICE1_F05 (c14_tsetpt_higher.aps)

The two (2) charts above showed that although the air temperature was increased in Case 50,
the operative temperature is still the same as Case 14, where the air temperature was lower.
This is because in Case 49 & 50, the mean radiant temperature of the building fabric and from
the lights has reduced. Therefore, in Case 50, with the increase in air temperature, the comfort
condition is still the same as in Case 14 with lower air temperature.

Energy efficiency gain is obtained due to the higher air temperature provided to the building in
this case.

112

3.53 CASE 51: RESIZE HVAC AS PER CURRENT NEED

General
Descripti
ons
After improving the building in various aspects in energy efficiencies, an attempt to

resize the water side HVAC system was conducted to optimize the size of the chiller,
pumps and cooling tower.
Details
The chill water system was resized at the current scenario where the small power
peak load is 4.1 W/m.
80.7
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.3%
10,000
3,400
Proposed Life Time
NA

NA
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Right sizing the chill water system to the actual operating condition would improve energy
efficiency of the building because the pumps, chillers and cooling tower are sized just right for
this building. However, if the building grows in population density, it may not be able to cater
for the increased small power load.

It was also found that the existing chiller provided for the building is inadequate to provide
cooling to the entire building. It is likely that when the chiller was 1st put into the building
(approximately 20 years ago), the small power load of buildings were not as high as it is today,
allowing chillers to be designed to be of smaller capacity. However since the mid1990s, it has
become common to have one personal computer for each person in the building as it is today.

Sizing the peak chiller requirement of the base case (comfortable scenario), the chiller capacity
should have been approximately 1,000 ton capacity. This huge capacity was required to cater
for the building airleakages and other inefficiencies as listed in this study. However, the
113

provided chiller capacity was only 380 ton in block F.

Resizing the cooling system with a peak small power load of 4.1 W/m in the building matches
the current installed chiller capacity of 380 ton. If the peak small power was increased to 12
W/m, the peak chiller capacity would be 410 ton.

Therefore, if energy efficiency measures are not taken in Block F, the new chiller to be ordered
for the building will have to be 1,000 ton, in order to provide adequate comfort cooling to the
building occupants. Moreover, the chillers for block F are more than 20 years old and are due
for replacement anytime now.

By the implementation of energy efficiency, the chiller capacity required now is 410 ton, a
reduction of approximately 600 ton. A typical chiller cost is approximately RM 3,500/ton, a
reduction of 600 ton, reduces the investment cost for the new chillers by RM 2.1 million per
chiller. For the 2 chillers as required in Block F, this would provide a total saving of RM 4.2
million.

When this number is divided by the m of glazing area for the building, the available budget is
RM 1,700/m of glazing area. This is adequate budget to replace the entire building into high
performance double glazing and incorporating high performance faade features of daylight
harvesting for this building. It is also possible to use this budget to upgrade the entire building
to be airtight by replacing the entire glazing unit with airtight frames, provision of high visible
light transmission glazing with high quality horizontal venetian blinds, provision of heat
recovery wheel and etc.

114

3.54 CASE 52: RESIZE HVAC @ 12 W/M SMALL POWER

General
Descripti
ons
It was felt that resizing the HVAC system with a peak small power load of 4.1 W/m
may not leave room for future expansion in the building for higher density
occupancy. The HVAC system was then resize with an assumption of 12 W/m as the
small power peak load.
Details
The HVAC system was resized assuming 12 W/m of peak small power load but
energy simulation was conducted using actual measured small power load of 4.1
W/m.
80.9
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
0.1%
5,000
1,700
Proposed Life Time
NA

Investment (RM)
Remarks:
Read Case 51 Remarks.

NA
115

3.55 CASE 53: SMALL POWER BACK TO MEASURED VALUE

General
Descripti
ons
In cases of a multitenanted office building, it may not be possible to influence the

tenant to be energy efficient with their nonoffice hours energy consumption.
Therefore in this case study, the small power load is returned back to the measured
value of 4.1 W/m during office hours and 1 W/m during nonoffice hours.
Details
The small power load is returned back to the measured value of 4.1 W/m during
office hours and 1 W/m (25% of the peak load) during nonoffice hours. Previously
it was set to 4.1 W/m during office hours and 0.41 W/m (10% of the peak load)
during nonoffice hours.
84.6
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
2.3%
85,000
29,900
Proposed Life Time
NA

NA
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The small power inefficiency during night time caused an increase of 2.3% building energy use.
This figure is quite high considering that on an average; each proposed strategy in this
document provided only 0.9% savings.

However, the building BEI still remains quite low at 84.6 kWh/m/year. Moreover, this BEI has
not excluded the data center from its computation.

It should be noted that the small power was measured in Block F together with the lighting
power as they share the same circuit. The lighting power was estimated by the energy auditor
on a floor by floor basis with walk through to calculate the numbers of light fittings and lamps.
They also calculated the number of lamps that are not operational (faulty), and then the lighting
power is computed based on the operational lamps only. The small power is then derived by
deducting the lighting power from the measured lighting and small power circuit.

116
Sample Cut out of Appendix 4.4.2 from Energy Auditor Report

Table B : Lighting Power & Energy Consumption
Lev
el
Room
No./Description
No. of
lamps
/
fitting
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
Staircase L
Office R
Office (Director)
Office (Director)
Meeting Room
Meeting Room
Meeting Room
Meeting Room
Eng Accreditation
2
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
3
No. of
fitting
s
Total
No. of
lamps
Watts
(lamp+
ballast)
2
4
1
1
6
12
8
8
3
4
12
3
3
18
12
8
8
9
20
40
20
40
40
26
20
18
20
Total
Watts
No. of
Faulty
Lamps
Total
Watt
for
Faulty
Lamps
Actual
Lighting
Power
(W)
80
480
60
120
720
312
160
144
180
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
40
18
0
80
480
60
120
720
312
120
126
180
117

3.56 CASE 54: SMALL POWER @ 12 W/M

General
Descripti
ons
This is just a test scenario to predict the BEI of the building when the small power is
increased to 12 W/m as it would be in a densely occupied building.
Details
The small power was raised to 12 W/m with a base load at night and weekend of
25% of this daytime peak value.

Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
117.2
20.2%
762,000
266,800
Proposed Life Time
NA

NA
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
The impact of having 12 W/m small power density for Block F, increases the building BEI to
117 kWh/m/year. This BEI includes the data center energy consumption of more than 100
MWh/year.

Following the Malaysias Green Building Index (GBI) definition of BEI, where the data center
power consumption and floor area is excluded from the computation of BEI, the BEI of Block F
in this case scenario will be approximately 42 kWh/m/year. This value is approximately 50%
more energy efficient than the highest points achievable for energy efficiency in GBI, where a
BEI of less than 90 kWh/m/year would score full points in terms of energy efficiency in
building in GBI rating tool.

It should be pointed out that not all features proposed in this document are financially viable
option. Some of the features such as VAV system and variable chill water flow rate need not be
implemented as the predicted energy efficiency gain is minimal for Block F where the building
cooling load was measured to be fairly constant and consistent every working day. Therefore, at
the end of the day the target of 42 kWh/m/year may not be achievable. However, achieving any
value of less than 60 kWh/m/year would have made this building a showcase where an
existing building can be made as energy efficient as those new demonstration energy efficient
buildings.

118

3.57 CASE 55: 25% ENERGY REDUCTION IN DATA CENTER

General
Descripti
ons
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and its reciprocal Data Center infrastructure
Efficiency (DCiE) are widely accepted benchmarking standards proposed by the
Green Grid to help IT Professionals determine how energy efficient data centers are,
and to monitor the impact of their efficiency efforts. Benchmarking tool is useful as
an indicator of data center energy efficiency.
Total Facility Power kW

IT Equipment Power kW

IT Equipment Power kW

Total Facility Power kW

Today, there exist many demonstration data center around the world where more
than 50% energy saving has been made. This can also be seen from the PUE indexes
showing PUE values from 1.2 to 3.0, indicating that very inefficient data center use
more than double the energy as compared to a very efficient data center.
The use of efficient IT equipment will significantly reduce cooling requirement
within the data center, which consequently will reduce the HVAC equipment needed
to cool them. Purchasing servers equipped with energyefficient processors, fans,
and power supplies, highefficient network equipment, consolidating storage
devices, consolidating power supplies, and implementing virtualization are the most
common ways to reduce IT equipment loads within a data center.
Details
An assumption that the data center annual energy consumption was reduced by
25%.
107.3
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
6.1%
231,000
80,700
Proposed Life Time

RM 242,000 for data center
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
This case study is provided to compute the available budget for investing in an energy efficient
119

data center where the current data center in Block F reduces its energy consumption by 25%.
This energy efficiency gain in data center may be achievable by the implementation of server
virtualization.

Virtualization technology is transforming todays IT community, offering new possibilities to
improve the performance and efficiency of IT infrastructure by a dynamic mapping of the PC
resources, enabling to run multiple applications and operating systems on a single physical
system.

120

3.58 CASE 56: 50% ENERGY REDUCTION IN DATA CENTER

General
Descripti
ons
Details
Today, there exist many demonstration data center around the world where more
than 50% energy saving has been made.
The use of efficient IT equipment will significantly reduce cooling requirement
within the data center, which consequently will reduce the HVAC equipment needed
to cool them. Purchasing servers equipped with energyefficient processors, fans,
and power supplies, highefficient network equipment, consolidating storage
devices, consolidating power supplies, and implementing virtualization are the most
common ways to reduce IT equipment loads within a data center.
An assumption that the data center annual energy consumption was reduced by
50%.
97.4
Energy Saved
kWh/year/m (%)
6.1%
231,000
80,700
Proposed Life Time

RM 242,000 for data center
Investment (RM)
Remarks:
This case study is provided to compute the available budget for investing in an energy efficient
data center where the current data center in Block F reduces its energy consumption by an
additional 25%. This energy efficiency gain in data center may be achievable by the
implementation of energy efficient cooling system for data center.

New cooling technology for data center has been helping to reduce power consumption in data
center. A few applicable technologies for data center are as described below:
1. New variable speed drive (VSD) precision cooling unit are being produced for data
center.
2. Hot/cold aisle containment strategy.
3. Liquid cooling.
4. Data Center temperature set point up to 27C for class 1&2 equipment.
5. Low pressure drop air delivery.
6. Etc.

There are many guideline published for energy efficiency in data center these days. It is
recommended that those that are interested in energy efficiency for data center to look up
these guidelines for design details to reduce energy consumption in data center by 50% or
more.

121

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DETAILED

JALAN SULTAN SALAHUDDIN, KUALA LUMPUR.

Figure 1 BEI Reduction Potential

1.1 BUILDING ENERGY SIMULATION

1.2 WEATHER DATA

1.3 BASIC INPUT DATA

Fluorescent Lighting: 5.50 W/m

1.4 OPERATION DAILY AND WEEKLY PROFILES

10. Facade Lgts

2. BASE SIMULATION MODEL VS MEASURED DATA

2.1 ENERGY RESULTS COMPARISON

Table 1 Energy Auditor Report on Annual Energy Consumption of Block F

Table 2 Simulated Base Scenario of Annual Energy Consumption of Block F

Figure 7 Measured Daily Energy Consumption

Figure 8 Simulated Daily Energy Consumption

Table 3 Measured Electricity Consumption for Chilled Water

Demand Chiller system Daily

Table 4 Simulated Electricity Consumption of Chiller, Base Scenario (Week 2)

Table 5 Measured Chilled Water System Breakdown

Cooling Tower & Chill

Table 6 Simulated Base Scenario of Chilled Water System Breakdown (Week 2)

Table 8 Simulated Base Scenario AHU Electricity

Table 9 Measured Daily Load for Lift

Max Demand Lift Daily

Table 10 Simulated Base Scenario Lift Daily Load

Table 11 Measured Energy Consumption for

Max Demand Lights and Small Power

Table 12 Simulated Base Scenario, Lighting and

Table 13 Measured Lighting and Small Power

Table 14 Simulated Base Scenario, Lighting and Small Power

Table 15 Measured Measured Facade Lighting

Max Demand FaadeLighting

Table 16 Simulated Base Case Facade Lighting

Table 17 Measured Energy Breakdown by System

Figure 9 Typical Week AHU Power Usage

Date: Sat 14/Jan to Fri 20/Jan

Figure 10 Simulated AHU Power Usage

The simulated AHU energy is 512,909kWh/yearor0.8%lowerthanthemeasuredvalue.

Table 19 Measured Energy Breakdown for Chilled Water System

2.2 TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY COMPARISON

Table 21 Measured Temperature and Humidity

Date: Tue 14/Feb

Figure 11 Typical Day Air Temperature

Date: Tue 14/Feb

Relative humidity: OFFICE3_F07 (01base01_as_is.aps)

Figure 12 Typical Day Relative Humidity

Date: Mon 22/May

Date: Tue 14/Feb

Air temperature: Lobby_F06 (01base01_as_is.aps)

Figure 15 Cooler Days Air Temperature

Relative humidity: Lobby_F06 (01base01_as_is.aps)

Figure 16 Cooler Days Relative Humidity

Figure 14 Hot Day Relative Humidity

Date: Tue 14/Feb

Relative humidity: OFFICE3_F07 (01base01_as_is.aps)

Figure 13 Hot Day Air Temperature

Date: Mon 22/May

Date: Mon 22/May

Figure 17 Typical Day Lobby Air Temperature

Date: Mon 22/May

Relative humidity: Lobby_F06 (01base01_as_is.aps)

Figure 18 Typical Day Lobby Relative Humidity

2.3 DATA CENTER IN BLOCK F