Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

A review of different strategies for HVAC energy saving

Vahid Vakiloroaya a,⇑, Bijan Samali b, Ahmad Fakhar c, Kambiz Pishghadam d
a
Center for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Electrical, Mechanical and Mechatronic Systems, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
b
Center for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Azad University of Kashan, Iran
d
Department of Sustainable and NZEB Solutions, Giacomini Inc., Vancouver, BC, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Decreasing the energy consumption of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems is
Received 22 April 2013 becoming increasingly important due to rising cost of fossil fuels and environmental concerns. Therefore,
Accepted 7 October 2013 finding novel ways to reduce energy consumption in buildings without compromising comfort and
indoor air quality is an ongoing research challenge. One proven way of achieving energy efficiency in
HVAC systems is to design systems that use novel configurations of existing system components. Each
Keywords: HVAC discipline has specific design requirements and each presents opportunities for energy savings.
Energy saving
Energy efficient HVAC systems can be created by re-configuring traditional systems to make more stra-
Energy-efficient strategies
HVAC
tegic use of existing system parts. Recent research has demonstrated that a combination of existing air
Buildings conditioning technologies can offer effective solutions for energy conservation and thermal comfort. This
paper investigates and reviews the different technologies and approaches, and demonstrates their ability
to improve the performance of HVAC systems in order to reduce energy consumption. For each strategy, a
brief description is first presented and then by reviewing the previous studies, the influence of that
method on the HVAC energy saving is investigated. Finally, a comparison study between these
approaches is carried out.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction is represented in commercial and residential buildings [5]. In Aus-

Increased standards of living coupled with dwindling supplies
of fossil fuels, have forced researchers and engineers to focus on
the issue of energy use in buildings. Heating, ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) systems, which play an important role in
ensuring occupant comfort, are among the largest energy consum-
ers in buildings. Performance enhancements to traditional HVAC
systems therefore offer an exciting opportunity for significant
reductions in energy consumption. Almost 50% of the energy de-
mand is used to support indoor thermal comfort conditions in
commercial buildings [1]. Furthermore, as most people spend more
than 90% of their time inside [2], the development of energy-effi-
cient HVAC systems that do not rely on fossil fuels will play a
key role in reducing energy consumption. A closer look at world-
wide energy consumption by HVAC equipment shows noticeable
values: HVAC systems constitute over 50% of the building energy
consumed in US [3]. In China, the building energy consumption
has been increasing about 10% a year for the past 20 years and
has comprised about 20.7% of the total national energy usage by
the year 2004 [4]. In Europe, around 40% of energy consumption
⇑ Corresponding author. Address: P.O. Box 123, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007,
Australia. Tel.: +61 2 9514 9043; fax: +61 2 9514 2868.
E-mail address: vahid.vakiloroaya@engineer.com (V. Vakiloroaya).
tralia 70% of power consumption in non-residential buildings is
used for HVAC systems [6]. In India, air conditioning systems ac-
counts around 32% of electricity consumption of a building [7]. In
the subtropical Hong Kong air conditioning and refrigeration sys-
tems accounted for 33% in 2006 [8]. More than 70% of building en-
ergy consumption is to support cooling systems in Middle East [9].
It was estimated that world energy consumption was increased by
58% between 2001 and 2005 [10]. However, approximately 80% of
the energy usage still comes from fossil fuels [11,12]. The growing
reliance on HVAC systems in residential, commercial and industrial
environments has resulted in a huge increase in energy usage, par-
ticularly in the summer months. Developing energy efficient HVAC
systems is essential, both to protect consumers from surging
power costs and to protect the environment from the adverse im-
pacts of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the use of energy-
inefficient electrical appliances. With rapid changes in science
and technology today, there are several methods that can be used
to achieve energy-efficient HVAC systems. In order to develop effi-
cient systems, however, a clear understanding of building comfort
conditions is necessary. Thermal comfort is all about human satis-
faction with their thermal environment. The design and calculation
of air conditioning systems to control the thermal environment in a
way that also achieves an acceptable standard of air quality inside
a building should comply with the ASHRAE standard 55-2004 [13].

0196-8904/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2013.10.023
 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
According to this standard, thermal comfort conditions are accept-
able when 80% of the building’s occupants are satisfied. In order to
predict appropriate thermal comfort conditions an index called a
predicted mean vote (PMV), which indicates mean the thermal
sensation vote on a standard scale for a large group of people, is
used. PMV is defined by six thermal variables for an indoor envi-
ronment, subject to human comfort: air temperature, air humidity,
air velocity, mean radiant temperature, clothing insulation and hu-
man activity. The PMV index predicts the mean value of the votes
on the seven point thermal sensation scales; +3: hot, +2: warm, +1:
slightly warm, 0: neutral, 1: slightly cool, 2: cool, 3: cold.
According to ISO 7730 standard [14], the values of PMV between
1 and 1 are the range in which 75% people are satisfied, while be-
tween 0.5 and 0.5 is the range in which 90% people will be
satisfied.
Different techniques need to be implemented on HVAC systems
to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their environmental
impact. In recent years, different control and optimization strate-
gies have been used to improve the energy consumption rates of
these systems [15]. However, these approaches are either expen-
sive or very complicated to implement, and require constant mon-
itoring [16]. One option to achieve this objective is to combine
different HVAC components to create an energy-efficient configu-
ration. Because building cooling load varies with the time of the
day, an HVAC system should be designed in tandem with an opti-
mum design scheme that will keep the process variables to their
required set-point in order to maintain comfort under any load
Fig. 1. HVAC energy saving strategies discussed in this study.
739
conditions. While optimizing the mechanical design of the tradi-
tional HVAC system results in extra upfront costs, these modifica-
tions can actually provide substantial savings in the long term by
reducing ongoing maintenance costs associated with control and
optimization strategies.
Previous studies have described various technologies that can
reduce HVAC energy consumption. However, a comprehensive
study that describes and compares a wide range of different strat-
egies for HVAC energy savings remains a gap in the existing body
of research in the HVAC field. This study will investigate and re-
view the different technologies and approaches, and demonstrate
their ability to improve the performance of HVAC systems to re-
duce energy consumption. Fig. 1 shows strategies used to achieve
greater HVAC energy efficiency discussed in this study. Various
technologies in which different configurations, component combi-
nations and mechanical designs are used to improve the energy
performance of HVAC systems are also discussed in this paper.
For each strategy, a brief description is first presented and then
by reviewing the previous studies, the influence of that method
on HVAC energy saving is investigated. Finally, a comparison study
between these approaches is carried out.
2. Evaporative cooling systems
Evaporative cooling technology has been widely used since
more than a century [17]. Direct evaporative cooling (DEC) systems
have low set-up and running costs, and have been proven to
740 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
significantly improve a building’s cooling and ventilation capacity
with minimal energy use. Using water as the working fluid, one
can avoid the use of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons and hy-
dro chlorofluorocarbons. Other benefits from this system include
easy maintenance, easy installation and operation as well as obvi-
ating CO2 and other emissions. Evaporative cooling systems can
provide thermal comfort via the conversion of sensible heat to la-
tent heat; however, the lowest temperature DEC systems can reach
is the wet-bulb temperature of the outside air. Therefore, the tem-
perature of the supply air after cooling would be just on the edge of
comfort and could rise a few degrees in passing through space, tak-
ing the temperature beyond the comfort zone. Therefore, the idea
is to investigate both the possibility of increasing the utilization
potential of the evaporative cooling system by combination of dif-
ferent components with this system and the capability of improv-
ing the performance of other HVAC systems when integrating with
evaporative cooling system.
Khalajzadeh et al. [18] presented the thermal behavior of the
indirect evaporative cooler (IEC) when combining with a ground
heat exchanger and cooling coil unit (CCU) as shown in Fig. 2. In
this hybrid plant, the coolant water for the cooling coil unit was
provided by the vertical ground heat exchanger to cool the enter-
ing air of an indirect evaporative cooler. The simulation results
showed that the proposed hybrid system can result in effectiveness
greater than unity while comfort conditions are met. Vakiloroaya
et al. [19] investigated the possibility to increase the effectiveness
of an evaporative cooling system by the integration of the air-to-air
sensible heat exchanger and cooling coil with the direct evapora-
tive cooling process. In such a system, the air is first cooled sensi-
bly, i.e. without any moisture addition, in two stages. In the first
stage, an air-to-air sensible heat exchanger is used to reduce the
dry-bulb air temperature entering the cooling coil. This can be per-
formed through the energy transferring between the building re-
turn airstream and ambient fresh air. In the second stage the air
is further cooled sensibly by a cooling coil. The cooling coil gets
its water supply from a cooling tower. Then the air passes through
the direct evaporative cooling system to achieve a lower tempera-
ture. Consequently, in the proposed hybrid evaporative cooling
system the lowest temperature obtained can be lower than the
wet-bulb temperature of the outside air. The performance of new-
ly-configured system was then compared with the monitored data
of an existing central cooling plant of a real-world commercial
building in terms of the energy saving potential and thermal com-
fort. Results indicated that compared to the conventional chilled-
water central cooling plant, the new system offers an energy saving
potential up to 52% while maintaining the thermal comfort condi-
tions in the building.
Fig. 2. The schematic diagram of hybrid system consists of the ground coupled
circuit and indirect evaporative cooling system (Ref. [18]).
Khandelwal et al. [20] evaluated the potential of reducing the
annual energy consumption of a central cooling plant by combin-
ing with regenerative evaporative cooling technology to accom-
plish the energy conversation objective. The concept of this
method has been introduced by Lahoti et al. [21]. As shown in
Fig. 3, the process air first flows through a heat exchanger and gets
cooled. The pre-cooled air then flows through a direct evaporative
cooler and finally is mixed with return air and passes through the
chilled water cooling coil located in an air-handling unit (AHU). As
a result, the chiller system load is decreased which in turn reduce
the overall power usage of the chiller. Their results showed that
the proposed system is able to provide 15.69% annual electricity
saving of the building. Heidarnejad et al. [22] studied a hybrid sys-
tem of nocturnal radiative cooling, cooling coil and direct evapora-
tive cooling. In this proposed system, water is cooled by means of
circulation the water through a flat-plate radiator throughout the
night. The cooled water is then used to pre-cool the ambient air
entering the direct evaporative cooling via a cooling coil unit dur-
ing the next day. Their results showed that the effectiveness of the
proposed hybrid system is significantly higher than the stand-
alone direct evaporative cooling system. Kumar and Riangvilaikul
[23] constructed and tested a dew point evaporative cooling sys-
tem for sensible cooling of the ventilation air. The purpose was
to supply the outlet air temperature below the ambient wet-bulb
temperature. For this, the hot ambient air is first drawn into a
dry channel where loses its sensible heat to a wet channel. Some
fraction of this air is again reused as a working air in the wet chan-
nel where is cooled in direct contact with water. Finally, the work-
ing air is rejected to atmosphere. To prevent moisture penetration
between the air streams, a thin-film polymer wall is used to sepa-
rate the dry and wet channel. Result demonstrated the ability of
this system to increase the effectiveness of the traditional evapora-
tive cooling system at different inlet air conditions.
Delfani et al. [24] investigated the influence of combining the
indirect evaporative cooling system with a packaged unit air-con-
ditioner on electrical energy consumption. In this configuration the
air is pre-cooled by using the indirect evaporative cooler and then
passes through the packaged cooling unit as demonstrated in
Fig. 4. Their results indicated that the indirect evaporative cooler
can reduce cooling load up to 75% which cause to 55% reduction
in power consumption of the packaged air conditioning system.
3. Evaporative-cooled air conditioning system
Recent research reveals that air conditioning systems based on
mechanical vapor compression consume significant amounts of
electricity. Therefore, increasing the coefficient of performance
(COP) of these air conditioning systems with air-cooled condensers
is a challenging problem. By pre-cooling the air before it reaches
the condenser coil, the condenser is able to reject more heat. As
a result, cooling capacity increases while energy demand and usage
falls. As condensing temperatures are lowered, head pressure is re-
duced. This allows the compressor to run less frequently, resulting
in an energy saving. The standard design for these systems requires
a frame to be built and filled by evaporative media pads which are
installed in front of the air-cooled condenser. A water circulation
system, consisting of a small pump, a tank and pipes, is added.
The water then is injected on the top of the media pad. Hot ambi-
ent air passes the wet pad and then the condenser to improve the
system performance. As the hot, ambient air is drawn through the
media, the water absorbs heat and evaporates, lowering the tem-
perature of the ambient air and creating a cooler operating envi-
ronment for the air-cooled condenser which allows the
condenser to reject additional heat into the atmosphere. The com-
pression ratio is then reduced, resulting in reduced energy usage
 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754 741

Fig. 3. Schematic of regenerative air cooler (Ref. [20]).

Fig. 4. The schematic diagram of the indirect evaporative cooling system used for packaged unit air conditioner (Ref. [24]).

when the compressor is run. In a similar design, mist ware is
sprayed directly into the ambient air before passing through the
air-cooled condenser.
Hajidavallo and Eghtedari [25] built an evaporative cooler and
coupled to the existing air-cooled condenser of a split air-condi-
tioner in order to measure its effect on the cycle performance un-
der various ambient air temperatures up to 49 °C as shown in
Fig. 5. Their experimental results showed that the power consump-
tion of the air-conditioner can be reduced up to 20% and the sys-
tem COP can be improved around 50%. Youbi-Idrissi et al. [26]
developed a numerical model for a sprayed air-cooled condenser
coupled to the refrigeration system to study the effect of sprayed
water flow rate on the energy performance of the system. They
found that compared to a dry air-cooled condenser, both the
calorific capacity and system COP increase by 13% and 55%
respectively. Another detailed model and numerical simulation of
the heat transfer characteristics for the evaporative-cooled
condenser were carried out using finite element technique by
Jahangeer et al. [27]. The results showed that the combined heat
transfer coefficient obtained for the evaporative-cooled condense
is very high for the different water film thicknesses on the con-
denser tube. Yu and Chen [28] investigated how the COP of air-
cooled chillers can be improved by using mist pre-cooling as
shown in Fig. 6. Their results estimated that around 18% decrease
in the annual electricity usage could be achieved with mist pre-
cooling of air entering the air-cooled condenser of the chiller, serv-
ing a hotel in a sub-tropical climate. Similar study was carried out
by Vrachopoulos et al. [29]. They used a system of drop cloud via
water spraying to an air-cooled condenser. Their results showed
the energy saving up to 58% by using this method. Hwang et al.
742 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
Fig. 5. Schematic view of the evaporative-cooled air conditioner (Ref. [25]).
Fig. 6. Pipe and nozzle layouts of a mist system for the condenser of an air-cooled
chiller (Ref. [28]).
[30] compared the performance of an evaporative-cooled con-
denser with that of a conventional air-cooled condenser for a split
heat pump system. The experimented unit was a conventional heat
pump with 9 kW cooling capacity in which the air-cooled con-
denser was replaced with an evaporative-cooled condenser while
the evaporator and compressor were retained. In this design, the
condenser tubes were immersed in a water bath where ambient
air was blown across the rotated wheel submerged in the water
bath. As the wheel rotated its wetted surfaces pull the film of water
out of the bath into the air stream. The passing air evaporated
some of the water film, reducing the temperature of remained
water on the wheel. The condenser tubes rejected heat to the water
bath and the evaporation of the water film rejected heat of the air
stream. Therefore, the evaporative condenser had a benefit of a
lower condensing temperature than that of an air-cooled con-
denser. The experimental results showed that the capacity and
COP of the evaporative-cooled system can be increased by 1.8–
8.1% and 11.1–21.6% respectively.
4. Ground-coupled HVAC systems
Ground-coupled technology relies on the fact that, at depth, the
Earth has a relatively constant temperature that is colder than the
air temperature in summer and warmer than the air temperature
in winter. In this system, under cooling mode, operation heat is
discharged to a ground loop that provides a lower temperature
heat sink than ambient outdoor air temperature. During winter
heating operations, heat is extracted from a source that is at a high-
er temperature than ambient outdoor air. This system has been
used on a residential and commercial scale since the 1920s [31].
Studies on vertical close-loop ground-coupled heat pumps show
a yearly reduction of 30–70% in electrical energy consumption
for heating and cooling when compared to air-to-air heat pump
systems in a southern climate [32]. As reported in one study
[33], the COP of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) was higher
than that of air source heat pump (ASHP) by 74%, due to lower con-
densing temperatures in the GSHP system. Another study [34]
compared the GSHP and ASHP for an archives building; results
showed that while the initial cost for GSHP is more than ASHP,
the operating cost of the GSHP can be reduced by 55.8% with a pay-
back time of about 2 years. However, GSHPs capture only a small
percentage of the heating and cooling market due to the high cost
of installing the ground heat exchanger, which can increase system
costs by 20–30% [35] and the initial capital cost by 30–50% when
compared to air source units [36]. Nevertheless, these systems
can reduce operating costs via taking benefit of off-peak electricity
tariffs [37,38]. This system was widely used in Europe and USA be-
tween 2004 and 2007 [39], and about 60% of total public HVAC
installations in Korea in recent decades [40]. In China, use of this
system is rapidly growing [41]; between 1985 and 2007, there
has been increased number of patent applications for this system
with 278 patents issues and 157 patents under examination [42].
Furthermore, it is estimated that about 1.1 million ground source
heat pumps have been installed around the world [39]. Compared
with standard technologies such as vapor compression systems,
ground-coupled heat pumps create less noise, reasonable environ-
mental safety [43] and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
66% or more compared with conventional heating and cooling
systems.
Magraner et al. [44] compared the long term energy perfor-
mance experimental measurements of a monitored ground cou-
pled heat pump system with the predictions from a design
procedure by using TRNSYS simulation tool. The geothermal sys-
tem was consisted of a reversible water to water heat pump with
15.9 kW of nominal cooling capacity and 19.3 kW of nominal heat-
 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
ing capacity, a vertical borehole heat exchanger and a hydraulic
group. The vertical heat exchanger was made up of 6 boreholes
of 50 m depth in a rectangular configuration, with two boreholes
in the short side of the rectangle and three in the large side. The
energy performance of the monitored ground coupled heat pump
system was calculated using the instantaneous measurements of
temperature, flow and power consumption. Their results showed
that the heat pump nominal coefficient of performance is the
parameter that mostly affects the energy performance predictions.
Pardo et al. [45] evaluated the energy efficiency of several air con-
ditioning configurations using a heat pump system. They evaluate
the electrical energy consumption of a conventional air to water
heat pump (AWHP) and a conventional ground coupled heat pump
(GCHP). Then they combined both AWHP and GCHP to study its en-
ergy performance. Afterwards, they combined a stratified water
tank as thermal storage device separately with AWHP and GCHP
to analysis these new coupled systems. Finally they presented a
hybrid configuration which combines both AWHP and GCHP to-
gether with a stratified water tank and then they compared the
efficiency improvement of these different configurations. They
found that the last configuration gives the most efficient combina-
tion and has the best pay-back period. Jeon et al. [46] measured
and analyzed the performance of a hybrid cooling system that
combines a screw water chiller with a ground source heat pump
(GSHP) as demonstrated in Fig. 7. The COP of the combined system
was lower than that of a conventional chiller but the configured
system helped to stably provide the required cooling demand at
high-load conditions. They also simulated the performance of the
proposed system by varying operating parameter and found that
the chilled water temperature is the effective control parameter.
Results showed that by proper control of the chilled water temper-
ature a lower power usage can be achieved while maintaining
comfort conditions for the building. Gasparella et al. [47] presented
a hybrid cooling system which combines a ground source heat
pump and a desiccant based air-handling unit. In this design, des-
iccant system of a ventilation airstream could control summer
humidity while borehole heat exchangers were used to meet the
sensible load. In winter, the air-handling unit could operate at
higher temperature level allowing sensible and latent heat recov-
ery. Results showed the primary energy savings around 30% per
year with respect to a conventional HVAC system with gas fired
water heater for heating and vapor compression chiller for cooling.
This system is shown in Fig. 8.
A hybrid ground source heat pump combining of a ground flow
loop and a supplemental heat rejection loop (HGSHP) in parallel
was proposed by Park et al. [48] and its performance was
Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of the hybrid cooling system that combined an air-cooled screw chiller with a ground source heat pump (Ref. [46]).
743
compared with a conventional ground heat pump (GSHP). They
used a heat pump with nominal capacity of 7 kW and working fluid
of R410A. The COP of the HGSHP was found 21% higher than that of
the conventional GSHP. Inalli and Esen [49] analyzed the perfor-
mance of a horizontal GSHP with R22 as the refrigerant for a heat-
ing mode. The influence of various system parameters such as the
buried depth of earth coupled heat exchanger and water-antifreeze
solution mass flow rate were examined on the COP of the system.
The average COP for the GSHP was found 2.66 and 2.81 at 1 and
2 m depths respectively. Bakirci and Colak [50] evaluated the per-
formance of a GSHP with and without superheating and sub-cool-
ing heat exchanger (SHCHE) for a cold climate conditions. Their
experimental results indicated that the system with and without
SHCHE are not very different in terms of COP. However it was
found that, the system with SHCHE is preferred for higher con-
denser water temperature. Lee and Lam [51] developed a hybrid
ground coupled liquid desiccant air conditioning system (GCLDAC)
in which the fresh air was supplied by the liquid supply cycle and
mixed air was handled by a conventional geothermal heat pump. It
was found that for fresh air ratios of 0.066 and 0.122, the borehole
length for GCLDAC was reduced by respectively 10.1% and 14.3%.
Their economic analysis showed that if the borehole installation
cost exceeded 35 USD per meter, then cost saving may be achieved
for both fresh air ratios.
5. Thermal storage systems
Thermal storage systems (TSS) shift the energy usage of the
HVAC systems from on-peak to off-peak periods to avoid peak de-
mand charges. TSS are also able to rate variance between energy
supply and energy demand to conserve energy [52]. In this system,
Energy for cooling is stored at low temperatures normally below
20 °C for cooling, while energy for heating is stored at tempera-
tures usually above 20 °C [53]. Compared to conventional HVAC
systems, TSS offers various advantages for heating and cooling sys-
tems, such as energy and capital cost savings, system operation
improvements, system capacity extending and equipment size
reduction, resulting in a technology that is widely used. Yau and
Rismanchi reported that in early 1990s, about 1500–2000 units
of TSS were employed in the US for office, school and hospital
buildings [54]. Cooling thermal storage can be classified according
to the thermal medium as presented by Al-Abidi et al. [55] and
shown in Fig. 9. Ice and chilled-water storage systems are two
most commons TSS. In these systems, ice or chilled water is stored
in tanks to cool buildings during peak electricity usage periods. In
an ice storage system, ice is usually generated using glycol or brine
744 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754

Fig. 8. Block diagram of the underground thermal energy storage and desiccant dehumidification plant: (a) winter operation and (b) summer operation (Ref. [47]).

Fig. 9. Classification of cooling thermal energy storage (Ref. [55]).

solutions. There are various types of ice storage systems. An ice
harvester system uses an open insulated storage tank and a vertical
plate surface which is located above the tank. During the charging
period, water flows on the outside surface of the evaporator and
forms ice sheets. Ice slurry is another type of the ice storage system
in which a glycol–water solution passes through pipes submerged
in an evaporating refrigerant to form the ice. The generated ice par-
ticles are then dropped into the storage tank.
In an ice-on-coil system, the refrigerant is evaporated by a coil
submerged in water. The remaining cold water in the storage tank
is then used for cooling in air-handling units. Often, this system is
employed for industrial applications as it requires significant
amounts of refrigerant. Furthermore, when determining the design
parameters of this system, both the energetic and exergetic behav-
ior of the system should be considered as reported by Ezan et al.
[56], whose study concluded that the storage capacity and energy
efficiency of this system increases as a result of decreasing the inlet
temperature of the heat transfer fluid and increasing the length of
the tube, while exergy efficiency increases in response to increas-
ing the inlet temperature of the heat transfer fluid and increasing
the length of the tube. However, it is worth noting that ice storage
systems may use more natural resources because they have lower
COP than conventional air conditioning systems and also because
the natural resource usage for generating a kWh electricity during
off-peak periods is higher than that in the peak periods. On the
other hand, applying the ice thermal storage on air conditioning
 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
systems will increase the load of the peak generating unit during
the off-peak periods which decrease the natural resource con-
sumption for generating kWh electricity. As a result, it is necessary
to calculate the effect of applying ice thermal storage air condition-
ing system on the natural resource consumption [57].
Chilled water storage tanks are normally charged with water at
4–6 °C. Full chilled water storage system can reduced peak cooling
electric demand by 80–90% compared with conventional cooling
systems [58]. It should be noted that thermal storage systems do
not necessarily save energy, but can considerably diminish the en-
ergy cost: a comparison study between conventional air cooling
system and ice thermal storage cooling system carried out by Chai-
chana et al. [59] showed that the full ice thermal storage can re-
duce 5% of system energy consumption but can save up to 55% of
the electricity cost required for cooling per month.
There are two types of thermal storage systems: full storage and
partial storage. In the full TSS, all refrigeration compressors cease
to operate in on-peak hours and the building cooling demand dur-
ing that period is completely offset by the chilled-water supplied
from the thermal storage tank. Partial TSS is classified by load lev-
eling mode and demand limited mode. In load leveling mode, com-
pressors are operated at full capacity during on-peak hours, while
in demand limited mode only part of the compressors is operated.
Wang et al. [60] proposed a hybrid system which is a combina-
tion of cooled ceiling, microencapsulated phase change material
(MPCM) slurry storage and evaporative cooling technologies and
is shown in Fig. 10. They used a conventional vapor compression
refrigeration system to provide auxiliary cooling water generation
in the case when the cooling energy stored in the MPCM slurry is
not enough to provide the cooling for the ceiling panels. In this de-
sign, the cooling energy generated by the cooling tower can be
stored in MPCM slurry to be used for the sensible heat removal
from the space via a ceiling cooling system. Simulation results rec-
ommended the proposed hybrid system for climatic conditions
where the weather is dry and the diurnal temperature difference
is high. Rahman et al. [53] presented the technical and economical
feasibility of thermal storage tank systems in a building in subtrop-
ical Central Queensland, Australia. They found that cool TSS cou-
pled with a conventional air-cooled chiller system is a suitable
selection for both full load and partial load conditions in that
Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of the hybrid system: a MPCM slurry storage tank, cooled ceiling and cooling tower (Ref. [60]).
745
climate. Their results show the potential of energy savings up to
61.9% is possible. Sehar et al. [61] evaluated the impact of ice stor-
age system on the chiller energy consumption for large and med-
ium-sized office buildings in diverse climate zone. Their results
indicated that chiller energy consumption for both non-storage
and ice storage systems depend highly on climatic conditions.
The ice storage system was able to achieve peak energy savings
by reducing the chiller operation. Sebzali et al. [62] applied the life
cycle cost (LCC) method into the chilled water thermal storage air
conditioning systems to determine the most cost effective storage
strategy. They examined two operation strategies namely partial
and full storage. In the partial storage (load leveling) strategy in
which the chiller operated in 50% of its duty cycle, the storage sys-
tem helps chiller to meet the building temperature requirements.
In full storage strategy, the chiller was completely turns off and
stored chilled water was used to meet the cooling demand. Their
results showed the lowest life cycle cost for the load leveling strat-
egy. The effects of using an ice cool thermal storage system with
different operation strategies such as load leveling, demand limit-
ing and full storage operations on a chiller was studied for a clinic
building by Sebzali and Rubini [63]. Results showed that the full
storage operation and load leveling strategy have respectively
the largest and smallest chiller and storage capacities and peak
electrical reduction.
Cold storage systems have also been used for the purpose of
cold-air distribution, which allows cooled air to be supplied at low-
er temperatures. This causes a reduction of 30–40% in fan electrical
demand and energy consumption [64]. In this regards, Stritih and
Butala [65] presented an experimental analysis of cooling buildings
using night-time cold accumulation in a phase change material. In
this system, the cold storage was filled with paraffin and located in
an air duct that let in cold air during night. During the day-time hot
air was led through the air duct and was cooled down due to melt-
ing of paraffin. Their results indicated that the proposed method
could reduce the energy needed for building cooling. Nagano
et al. [66] proposed a floor supply air conditioning system in which
a granular latent heat storage material was used by impregnating
foamed glass beads with paraffin wax. As shown in Fig. 11, in this
system the temperature of supply air entering the under floor
space is reduced by using the granular PMC. Their simulation re-
746 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
Fig. 11. Concept of the floor supply air conditioning system using granular phase change material (Ref. [66]).
sults for an office building indicated that about 89% of the daily
cooling load could be stored each night by this system when using
a 30 mm thick packed bed of the granular PMC.
The thermal performance of a thermal battery used in the ice
storage air conditioning system as a sub-cooler was experimentally
investigated by Huang et al. [67]. In their design, the storage tank
was consisted of the group of finned tubes and charge and dis-
charge heat exchanger. The storage tank was filled with water.
The low-temperature R22 flowed into the charge heat exchanger
where the thermal energy contained in the water was transferred
to the R22 inside the finned tubes. The liquid R22 then absorbed
thermal energy to solidify the water as ice in the storage tank.
The ice storage then was used as a sub-cooler for the air condition-
ing system. According to their results, this system gives 28% more
cooling capacity and 8% higher COP by using the thermal battery as
a sub-cooler. A combination of radiant cooling and an air-condi-
tioner integrated with ice storage system was studied by Matsuki
et al. [68] as shown in Fig. 12. In their design, the chilled-water
for the air-conditioner was provided by ice storage system. The
air-conditioner then supplied low temperature and humidity air
into the ceiling and cooled it. This air then was blown into the
room. Since ice storage system provided chilled water between 1
and 2 °C to the air conditioner, the air temperature at the air con-
ditioner outlet (hi) supplied low temperature and humidity air into
the ceiling. This conditioned air was directly supplied to the ceiling
plenum and cooled the ceiling surface, then was blown into the
room. The room temperature and temperature of ceiling panel
are respectively shown by (hr) and (hc) in Fig. 12. Therefore, this
system could provide less supply air temperature (ho) compared
with conventional chilled water air conditioning systems in which
their supplied chilled water temperature is 7 °C.
Fig. 12. Hybrid system: radiant cooling and low temperature air conditioning
integrated with ice storage system (Ref. [68]).
6. Heat recovery systems
ASHRAE standards recommend the amount of required fresh air
for different buildings. Unconditioned air greatly increases the
building’s cooling needs, which ultimately leads to an increase in
the overall energy consumption of the building’s HVAC systems.
In the central cooling plant, the amount of fresh air is determined
based on the upper limits of the concentrations of indoor air pollu-
tants which normally is between 10% and 30% of the total air flow
rate [69]. In modern buildings the ventilation losses can become
more than 50% of total thermal losses [70]. However, mechanical
ventilation can consume up to 50% of electrical power used in res-
idential buildings [71]. In addition, in hot and humid regions
mechanical ventilation systems appropriate about 20–40% of the
total energy usage of the air conditioning systems [72].
Heat recovery techniques can be used to recover energy that
might otherwise be wasted. The objective of heat recovery is to re-
duce the cost of operating an HVAC system by transferring heat be-
tween two fluids such as exhaust air and fresh air. According to
ASHRAE handbook of HVAC Systems and Equipment (2008) [64]
there are three types of heat recovery systems: comfort-to-com-
fort, process-to-comfort, and process-to-process. Comfort-to-com-
fort systems use exhaust air that is captured and reused as the
waste heat energy to precondition the fresh air coming into the
HVAC system. This type of heat recovery system can be used as
the sensible heat recovery mode and in total heat transfer mode.
Usually, rotary wheel heat exchangers are used for comfort-to-
comfort heat recovery systems [64]. Process-to-comfort and pro-
cess-to process systems perform sensible heat recovery. Different
types of heat recovery systems, which are used to recovery energy
between supply and exhaust airflows, consist of fixed plate, rotary
wheel, heat pipe and run-around coil [64]. However, heat and
moisture recovery can save around 70–90% of the energy that is
used for cooling and dehumidifying the fresh air [73] but it should
be noted that the investment and running costs are the major ex-
penses associated with heat recovery systems [74].
Nasif et al. [75] studied the annual energy consumption of an air
conditioner coupled with an enthalpy/membrane heat exchanger
and compared it with a conventional air conditioning. They found
that in humid climate, the annual energy saving of up to 8% is pos-
sible when using the membrane heat exchanger instead of a con-
ventional HVAC system. An experimental analysis was carried
out by Fernandez-Seara et al. [76] on an air-to-air heat recovery
unit equipped with a sensible polymer plate heat exchanger for
ventilation systems in residential buildings. The layout of their sys-
tem with its heat recovery unit is shown in Fig. 13. As a part of
their results, the heat transfer rate increased almost linearlyas
the air flow rate increased. The heat transfer rate increased around
 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
Fig. 13. Left: Layout of the experimental facility of the heat recovery unit, Right: Heat recovery unit (Ref. [76]).
65% by increasing the air flow rate from 50 m3/h to 175 m3/h. The
impact of energy recovery ventilator on annual cooling and heating
energy consumption was investigated for a 10 story-office building
by Rasouli et al. [77]. Their results indicated that up to 20% and 40%
annual cooling and heating energy consumption can respectively
be saved using the system. Delfani et al. [78] evaluated four types
of air conditioning system experimentally as: MCC system in
which a cooling coil was used to cool the indoor air and 30% of
the outdoor air was mixed to 70% of return air. No heat recovery
was used in this system. The second system called MHCC in which
incoming outdoor air was cooled using a heat exchanger before it
was introduced to the cooling coil for dehumidification and then
the air goes through the second passage of the heat exchanger
for pre-heating. In the third system, HCC, return air was used for
pre-cooling the outdoor air that passes via the cooling coil. The
fourth system named HHCC used an extra heat exchanger to re-
cover the return air for cooling the outdoor air. Their results dem-
onstrated that HHCC consumed lower energy up to 32% in
comparison to HCC in hot and humid areas. Also MHCC was able
to use 12% less energy than MCC system. Wallin et al. [79] investi-
gated on how to increase energy performance of a run around coil
ventilation heat recovery system. They compared three systems for
Stockholm, Sweden: the traditional run around coil heat recovery
system; the run around coil retrofitted with three stages heat
pump and run around coil retrofitted with variable capacity heat
pump. Their annual simulation results showed that by retrofitting
the three stages heat pump to the run around coil the annual heat
recovery rate for the Stockholm case is increased from 47% to 65%.
For a retrofitted variable speed capacity heat pump for the Stock-
holm case the annual heat recovery improved from 47% to 66%.
Moreover, they found that the variable speed heat pump and the
multistage heat pump could respectively cover 81% and 77% of
the total ventilation heating demand.
A mixed air-energy recovery system was designed and tested by
Martinez et al. [80] consisting of two heat pipes and indirect evap-
orative recuperators. The heat pipe energy recovery equipment
was used to cover sensible heat. They obtained the COP value of
9.83 for their proposed system. Mahmud et al. [81] built and tested
a run around membrane energy exchanger (RAMEE) for HVAC
applications which consists of two counter-cross flow liquid-to-
air membrane energy exchangers in which a micro-porous mem-
brane separates the air and desiccant solution streams. As shown
in Fig. 14, this system is located in supply and exhaust air streams
of the building. The RAMEE system exchanges sensible and latent
energy between the supply and exhaust air streams by using a des-
iccant solution. They achieved the maximum total effectiveness of
the proposed system about 55%.
7. Other strategies
Many studies have been carried out on energy savings for HVAC
systems that result from the use of materials with enhanced capac-
747
Fig. 14. Schematic of a run-around membrane energy exchanger (RAMEE) system
in a HVAC line (Ref. [81]).
ity to absorb, store and release the mass or heat. Sometimes, mod-
ifying the design criteria enables air conditioning systems to work
more efficient without imposing additional costs. One of the crite-
ria that can be modified is that of building’s indoor temperature at
a set point during the period in which the building is unoccupied.
Another option is to re-circulate the outdoor air inside the building
during the unoccupied period when its temperature is less than the
desired unoccupied indoor temperature. Sometimes although new
configuration of HVAC systems leads to reduce their energy con-
sumption, it may change the system operational set-points. This
can reduce the potential of the system to maintain the comfort
conditions inside the building [82].
The solution here is to employ other techniques to fulfill the
problem, although this has the potential to increase the initial sys-
tem cost [83]. In these cases, an economic comparison must be
made to determine whether the new system will provide payback
of the additional costs within a reasonable timeframe.
Some methods are only effective under special conditions. One
example is a liquid pressure amplification approach, which results
in significant energy savings for vapor compression refrigeration
systems. In this method, a liquid pressure pump is installed in
the outlet line of the condenser after the liquid receiver. The pump
provides the stable pressure needed for the expansion valve and al-
lows the condensing pressure, and hence the compressor delivery
pressure, to float with ambient temperatures. Fig. 15 shows the
concept of this method on p–h diagram. However, the energy sav-
ing potential of this method would be limited to the period in
which ambient temperature falls to low temperature [84]. Another
example is radiant ceiling cooling systems which can significantly
reduce energy consumption, but are unable to moderate indoor
humidity. To overcome this limitation, Fauchoux et al. [85] devel-
oped a new panel which was able to transfer heat and moisture.
However, while chilled-ceiling systems can provide substantial
energy savings, there is the risk of water condensation gathering
on the system’s chilled panels resulting in water dropping on the
ceiling. To solve this problem, Niu et al. [86] proposed a combina-
748 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754

Fig. 15. P–h diagram of air-cooled air conditioning system equipped with liquid pressure amplifier.

tion of a chilled-ceiling system with a desiccant cooling system.
Furthermore, they considered another three systems such as con-
ventional all-air systems, all-air systems with heat recovery, and
radiant cooling with air-handling unit, which they then used as
comparison points for their proposed combination systems. Their
results indicated that the proposed hybrid chilled-ceiling system
could save up to 44% of energy usage when compared to a conven-
tional, constant volume all-air system.
Hao et al. [87] used a combined system of chilled ceiling, dis-
placement ventilation and desiccant dehumidification for space
conditioning in a hot and humid climate as shown in Fig. 16. They
found that the proposed design could save 8.2% of total primary
energy consumption while achieving better comfort condition
inside the building. Ma et al. [12] presented the performance anal-
ysis of a hybrid air conditioning system including vapor compres-
sion, desiccant dehumidification and adsorption refrigeration
techniques. Their results showed that the performance of the pro-
posed system is respectively 44.5% and 73.8% higher than vapor
compression refrigeration system at the latent load of 30% and
42%. Naticchia et al. [88] evaluated the energy performance of an
evaporative cooling method, exploring both air ventilation and
water latent heat using a porous insulation materials as absorption
matrix. The prototype was built and installed in a cavity of an
experimental façade to cancel conduction gains through walls
and reduces the core wall temperature. Their experimental analy-
sis showed the capability of the proposed approach to decrease the
overall summer energy load in buildings. Naphon [89] presented
the performance of an air-conditioner with 12,000 Btu/h when
combining with three set of heat pipe for cooling air before enter-
ing the condenser as shown in Fig. 17. The heat pipes are fabricated
from the straight copper tube with the length and diameter of
600 mm and 10 mm respectively. For the indoor design tempera-
ture kept at 25–26 °C, their results indicated that the proposed de-
sign could increase the COP and EER of the system by 6.4% and
17.5% respectively. However, the maintenance, capital cost and
payback period of this method should be considered.
Ejector cooling technology is another energy-efficient strategy
with more installation, maintenance and construction simplicity

Fig. 16. The schematic of combined system of chilled ceiling, displacement ventilation and desiccant dehumidification (Ref. [87]).
 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
Fig. 17. Left: Schematic diagram of the air conditioner with heat pipe for cooling air in the condenser, Right: Schematic diagram of the heat pipe set and condenser unit with
heat pipe set. (Ref. [89]).
than conventional vapor compression refrigeration systems. In an
ejector refrigeration system the compression may be obtained
without using mechanical energy [90]. The development trend
and history of this technique has been investigated by Elbel and
Hrnjak [91]. In a heat pump system, the ejector takes the place
of the electrically driven compressor, but uses heat rather than
electricity to produce the compression effect. This system usually
needs a heat source with the temperature more than 80 °C. Com-
pared with vapor compression systems, the ejector cooling sys-
tems have lower COP [92]. Guo and Shen [93] presented a
dynamic model for investigating the performance of a solar-driven
ejector refrigeration plant for an office building. Their results dem-
onstrated that the proposed system could conserve more than 75%
of electricity compared with traditional compressor based air con-
ditioner. Zhu and Jiang [94] combined a vapor compression refrig-
eration cycle with an ejector cooling cycle which is demonstrated
in Fig. 18. The ejector cooling system was driven by the waste heat
from the condenser of the vapor compression system. The cooling
capacity obtained from the ejector cycle was directly fed into the
evaporator of the vapor compression cycle. They found that the
COP of the hybrid system can be significantly increased when the
compressor discharge temperature is larger than 100 °C. Results
indicated an increase of 5.5% and 8.6% for hybrid system average
COP with R152a and R22 respectively while the average COP in-
crease of hybrid system with R134a was 0.7% due to its low com-
pressor discharge temperature.
Li and Zhao [95] analyzed the indoor air temperature distribu-
tion of gravity air-conditioning system. In this system, several
Fig. 18. Schematic view of the vapor compression refrigeration system with the
integrated ejector cooling cycle (Ref. [94]).
749
plastic capillary tube nets are connected to the supply and return
water system which is supported by a chiller. Supply water tem-
perature is controlled in rang of 8–14 °C. Air is then entered
through the inlet at the top of the tube nets and left the cooling
system to the room. Results demonstrated that the room tempera-
ture is about 23–28 °C which means the system can provide the re-
quired room cooling demand. Fasiuddin and Budaiwi [96]
investigated the impact of different HVAC system strategies on
energy conservation in a commercial building in Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia. Their results demonstrated that using variable air volume
(VAV) system instead of unitary system could save energy around
22%. Also they found that an increase in indoor temperature by 3 °C
results in 17% of saving. Modifying the fan operation schedule gave
saving about 21.4%. The use of 28 °C set point temperature during
unoccupied periods resulted in 18% saving. However, they con-
cluded that energy saving of about 25% can be achieved in combi-
nation of different HVAC operation strategies. Hu and Tsao [97]
compared five different HVAC designs including recirculation air
unit (RCU), combination of RCU with make-up air unit (MAU),
combination of RCU, MAU and fan-coil unit (FCU), combination
of MAU and axial fan system and combination of MAU with fan-fil-
ter unit (FFU) for a typical 200 mm wafer fabrication plant. They
found that the most efficient system is the combination of MAU
and FFU system. Also results showed that bypassing return air to
mix with make-up air can considerably reduce the energy
consumption of the RCU system. Bojic et al. [98] investigated three
different systems for space heating and cooling of an office build-
ing as: (1) a system with a natural gas boiler and convective base-
board hears for water space heating and window air conditioners
for air space cooling, (2) a system with a natural gas boiler and
individual air heaters for air space heating and a chiller plant for
air space cooling and (3) an air-to-air heat pump for air space heat-
ing and cooling. Simulation results showed that the first investi-
gated system has the highest energy efficiency, the best economy
and the lowest environmental impact. However, they mentioned
that for a complete analysis the investment costs, the maintenance
costs and other factors should be considered. Ali [99] studied the
feasibility of using naturally cooled water for human thermal com-
fort inside the buildings. The water was cooled in an uninsulated
open tank by evaporation, convection and sky radiation at night
in hot arid areas. Their experimental results for a tank having an
open surface area of 1 m2 and depth of 0.5 m showed that the
water temperature values ranged from 17.2 °C to 18.9 °C and
23.8 °C to 27.1 °C can be obtained at the beginning and ends of
the night respectively. Kilkis [100] presented a hybrid HVAC sys-
tem in which a wind turbine was coupled with a convective and
radiant heating and cooling system and in-space thermal energy
750 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
Fig. 19. Wind turbine driven ground source heat pump coupling to a hybrid HVAC system (Ref. [100]).
storage in order to satisfy the thermal loads of a 100 m2 home as
demonstrated in Fig. 19. In this design, a 6 kW wind turbine was
employed to drive a ground source heat pump. They found that
such a system is more useful when the heating and cooling de-
mand of the building are similar in magnitude. Sand and Fischer
[101] combined a vapor compression rooftop package air condi-
tioning system with an active desiccant system. The desiccant sys-
tem was located after the cooling coil to dehumidify a portion of
cooled air leaving the cooling coil. This design can improve the en-
ergy performance of the rooftop package when is used to precondi-
tion of large amounts of outdoor air. Their simulation analysis
showed the 45% reduction in operation cost for hybrid system
compared with the conventional rooftop package.
Using the energy management systems (EMS) can be consid-
ered as another efficient method which can lead to HVAC energy
usage reduction. It has been reported in several studies that adjust-
ing the system variables to their optimum set-points can signifi-
cantly reduce the energy consumption. Yu and Chan [102],
studied how the condensing temperature control and variable
chilled water flow can increase the COP of an air-cooled centrifugal
chiller. They used variable speed drive for condenser fans to adjust
the condensing temperature based on the ambient temperature
and chiller load. In addition, the water flow rate of the evaporator
was controlled to investigate its influence on the system COP. They
found that by controlling the condensing temperature and evapo-
rator water flow rate, the COP of the system can increase by 0.8–
191.7% depending on cooling load profile and ambient conditions.
Chen and Deng [103] investigated the effect of a direct-digital-con-
trol (DDC) based capacity controller on a variable air volume (VAV)
air conditioning system. The controller regulates the compressor
speed to enhance the performance of the system. The controller
was programmed using the real-time monitored operating data.
Their results demonstrated that the desired supply air temperature
set-points can be achieved by using this method which reduces the
total electricity usage of the system. Vakiloroaya et al. [104] pre-
sented a comprehensive refinement of system optimization of
air-cooled direct expansion refrigeration systems for commercial
buildings to address the energy saving problem. They used an ac-
tual DX rooftop package of a commercial building in the hot and
dry climate condition for experimentation and data collection.
The optimal supply air temperature and refrigerant flow rate were
calculated based on the cooling load and ambient dry-bulb tem-
perature profiles. Optimization was performed by using empiri-
cally-based models of the refrigeration system components for
energy savings. Their results were showed about 9% saving of the
average power consumption. Lee et al. [105] developed and imple-
mented an energy management system (EMS) for a series of cen-
trifugal chillers. The EMS system was able to reduce the total
annual electricity consumption of the chillers by 23.2%. Plessis
et al. [106] developed an energy management system for a deep-
mine cooling system. The energy management system was con-
sisted of a supervisory controller which optimized the variable
set-points of the real-time system component. Their energy man-
agement system led to an average electrical energy saving of 33.3%.
8. Effect of building behavior
The energy consumption of an HVAC system depends not only
on its performance and operational parameters, but also on the
characteristics of the heating and cooling demand and the thermo-
dynamic behavior of the building. The actual load of the HVAC sys-
tems is less than it is designed in most operating periods due to
building behavior [107]. Therefore, the most important factors that
contribute to HVAC energy usage reduction in a given building is
proper control of the heating and cooling demand [108]. Integrated
control of building cooling load components, such as solar radia-
tion, lighting and fresh air, can result in significant energy savings
in a building’s cooling plant. It is estimated that around 70% of en-
ergy savings is possible through the use of better design technolo-
gies to coordinate the building demand with its HVAC system
capacity [109]. Korolija et al. [110] investigated the relationship
between building heating and cooling load and subsequent energy
usage with different HVAC systems. Their results indicated that the
building energy performance cannot be evaluated only based on
building heating and cooling demand due to its dependency on
HVAC thermal characteristics. Huang et al. [111] developed and
evaluated five energy management control functions programmed
according to the building behavior and implemented for a variable
air volume HVAC system. Their simulation results demonstrated
that energy saving of 17% can be achieved when the system is
operated with these control functions. Tzempelikos and Athienitis
[112] presented the simultaneous impact of glazing area and shad-
Table 1
Comparison of different HVAC energy saving strategies.

System type Capital cost Advantages Disadvantages Application Projected improvement

Direct evaporative cooling (DEC) systems
In direct evaporative cooling (IEC) systems
Evaporative-cooled air conditioning
systems
They are among the very cheap air
conditioning systems
Their running and capital cost is higher
than DEC systems but lower than vapor
compression air conditioning systems
Water usage cost is increased while
electricity usage cost is reduced. In total,
Reduction of pollution emissions/
life cycle cost effectiveness/
reduction of peak demand
Their air quality is considerably
higher than DEC/More energy
efficient compared with vapor
compression refrigeration systems
Can significantly reduce the energy
consumption of the air conditioning
Cannot effectively work when ambient When comfort Their performance can be
relative humidity if higher than 40% conditions are significantly improved using
not target several approaches
Their installation and operation are more All buildings Still there are several
complex than DEC systems opportunities to improve
their performance
Their energy saving potential is limited to Can be applied Control methods can reduce
a period that ambient temperature is on air-cooled the water usage of the

V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754

Liquid pressure amplification (LPA)
systems
Thermal storage systems
Heat recovery systems
Ground-coupled systems
Chilled-ceiling systems
Desiccant cooling systems
Ejector cooling systems
Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems
this method add less cost than other
discussed methods to the air condition
system
More expensive than conventional vapor
compression refrigeration systems but
cheaper than thermal storage, heat
recovery, ground-coupled and desiccant
cooling systems
Expensive in both capital and running
cost
Expensive in both capital and running
cost
Expensive in both capital and running
cost
Reasonable timeframe payback of the
additional costs
Expensive in both capital and running
cost
Reasonable timeframe payback of the
additional costs
Expensive in both capital and running
cost
system in peak demand conditions high vapor evaporative-cooled
compression air condenser
conditioning
systems
Results in significant energy savings Their energy saving potential is limited to Can be applied This method can be applied
for vapor compression refrigeration a period that ambient temperature falls on air-cooled in more air-cooled vapor
systems whilst provides reasonable to low temperature vapor compression air conditioning
timeframe payback of the compression air systems in operation today
additional costs conditioning worldwide
systems
They significantly reduce the Their coefficient of performance is less Buildings with Robust control method can
electric energy cost/Required than conventional vapor compression air high cooling, enhance the efficiency of this
smaller ducting system than conditioners short duration system
conventional air systems demands
Highly Energy Efficient in Larger than conventional air-handling Commercial Their dimension can be
temperate climates units buildings reduced by increasing the
efficiency of heat recovery
devices
Compared with standard vapor requirements of deep below the earth’s Residential and Investigations should be
compression systems, this system surface/Very high upfront costs commercial done to optimize the
creates less noise and reduces buildings installation method and cost
greenhouse gas emissions
They require cooled water instead Are unable to moderate indoor humidity/ Public buildings More study are required to
of chilled water which lead to less Risk of condensation at cold surface reduce the risk of
refrigeration condensation using new
materials
When used in conjunction with Some desiccants are corrosive/Response Commercial This system can gradually
conventional air conditioning time is relatively large/Crystallization Buildings/ attain wider market
systems, humidity control is may be a problem Supermarket penetration
improved
More installation, maintenance and This system needs a heat source with the When enough Studies should be carried out
construction simplicity than temperature more than 80 °C/Compared heat source to enhance the coefficient of
conventional vapor compression with conventional vapor compression temperature is performance of this system
refrigeration systems systems, the ejector cooling systems have available
lower COP
Efficient in part load conditions Required extra control systems/Cannot Residential and Several efforts are currently
provide full control of humidity commercial carrying out to enhance the
buildings performance of this system

751
752 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754
ing control on building cooling and lighting demand using a cou-
pled lighting and thermal simulation module. The simulation re-
sults showed that the integrated control of motorized shading
and electric lighting systems could reduce the building energy de-
mand. Sun et al. [113] proposed a methodology to get a near-opti-
mal strategy for controlling the shading blinds, natural ventilation,
lights and HVAC system jointly but they did not consider the real
monitored data for HVAC system to survey the influence of their
proposed integrated control on the HVAC energy saving potential.
Kim et al. [114] investigated the influence of manual and auto-
mated blinds on the both cooling energy consumption and thermal
comfort. Their study showed that in terms of cooling energy usage,
automated blinds reduce the required cooling demand compared
to manual blinds which are fully opened while the automated
blinds can block the solar radiation according to the ambient
conditions.
9. Discussion
Energy-efficient HVAC system designs depend on new configu-
rations of traditional systems that make better use of existing
parts. One effective way of achieving energy efficiency has been
the design of HVAC system configurations that combine a range
of different traditional HVAC system components. Recent research
has demonstrated that a combination of existing air conditioning
technologies can offer effective solutions for energy conservation
and thermal comfort [109]. Each HVAC discipline has specific de-
sign requirements and each presents opportunities for energy sav-
ings. It must be understood, however, that different configurations
in one area may augment or diminish savings in another. For
example, a new configuration might improve system performance
and thus raise its energy saving potential, but this raises the up-
front cost of the system. Consequently, it is important that the
use of a new configured system results in electricity savings that
are large enough to pay back initial investments in a suitably short
time. In this regard, a newly-developed system that can heat and
cool at low cost is very desirable because of the increased financial
savings on offer. The literature shows that a blend of air condition-
ing technologies can offer effective solutions for energy conserva-
tion and thermal comfort. The main aim of this comparison
study between various types of HVAC systems is to find the opti-
mum configuration for air conditioning systems that provide max-
imum cooling performance while minimizing electrical power
consumption, with a view to slowing the rampant growth of daily
peak demand on the electricity grid in summer. In this regard, the
architectural limitations of the building must be taken into ac-
count. This would reduce the number of possible HVAC systems
that are suitable for installation in a commercial or residential
building. Additionally, climatic conditions may influence the final
system selection. In vapor compression air conditioning systems,
the water-cooled units have a higher COP than air-cooled units
due to their lower refrigerant condensing temperature [115]. How-
ever, since the performance of cooling tower as the main part of
water-cooled systems is highly dependent on ambient relative
humidity, then water-cooled air conditioning systems cannot be
used in areas with high ambient relative humidity. It has been esti-
mated that the efficiency of evaporative cooling system such as
cooling tower and air washers is significantly increased when the
ambient relative humidity is lower than approximately 40%
[116]. However, in dry regions, evaporative cooling systems can
cut the electricity consumption of the vapor compression systems
as discussed in the study. Furthermore, when lower comfort condi-
tions are required, then using the evaporative cooling system alone
is an appropriate selection. However, evaporative cooling systems
require 100% outdoor air and exhaust capability and thus the cost
of equipment area, filter capacity and air delivery must be weighed
against the energy savings of evaporative cooling versus refrigera-
tion cooling.
Another issue that drastically increases the energy usage of
HVAC systems is the requirement for fresh air in the buildings they
cool. The amount of fresh air for a building is dependent on the
type of activities taking place in the building. However, in the case
that a building needs more fresh air to produce positive pressure
inside the space, using a heat recovery system is the best option.
For buildings with lower fresh air level quotas, controlling and
adjusting the fresh air flow rates based on design criteria is a more
efficient method. Thermal storage systems are appropriate when
maximum cooling load is significantly higher than average load.
Therefore, these systems are normally used for commercial and
industrial buildings but have fewer benefits in residential build-
ings. Among the buildings most suited to thermal storage systems
are buildings with high cooling, short duration demands. Although
capital costs for this sort of systems tend to be higher than a con-
ventional system, but smaller ducting system for the thermal stor-
age system can compensation that additional cost. While this
system has higher upfront costs, its reduced energy usage will re-
sult in significant long-term savings as a result of lower energy
bills. A ground-source heat pump takes advantage of more benign
climates belowground, limiting the efficacy of this sort of system
for aboveground installations. Furthermore, other factors such as
maintenance and cost of repairs would cost more compared to
other HVAC systems. Determining the most appropriate HVAC sys-
tem option for a given building is a complex exercise that requires
detailed analysis of cost and energy savings and offsets, as well as a
holistic analysis of various internal and external factors. Perhaps,
one strategy is suitable for summer while it is not energy-efficient
for winter. In this case, choosing individual systems for summer
and winter should be analyzed to give the optimum solution.
Although due to practical matters, considering all of these factors
simultaneously is difficult, but a designer should heed and exploit
the best energy reduction strategies by attending all technically,
economically and applicability facts. However, all of discussed
methods in this study can be retrofitted to the existing conven-
tional HVAC system. The cost, advantages, disadvantages, applica-
tion and projected improvement of all aforementioned strategies
have been summarized in Table 1.
10. Conclusion
Conventional HVAC systems rely heavily on energy generated
from fossil fuels, which are being rapidly depleted. This together
with a growing demand for cost-effective infrastructure and appli-
ances has necessitated new installations and major retrofits in
occupied buildings to achieve energy efficiency and environmental
sustainability. Therefore, finding novel ways towards green build-
ings without compromising comfort and indoor air quality remains
a challenge for research and development. The overall attainable
reduction in energy consumption and enhancement of human
comfort in the buildings are dependent on the performance of
HVAC systems. One proven way of achieving energy efficiency in
HVAC systems is to design systems that use novel configurations
of existing system components. Recent research has demonstrated
that a combination of existing air conditioning technologies can of-
fer effective solutions for energy conservation and thermal com-
fort. In this paper various energy saving strategies for HVAC
systems were investigated and their potential to improve the sys-
tem performance were discussed. It was found that several factors
such as climatic conditions, expected thermal comfort, initial and
capital cost, the availability of energy sources and the application
 V. Vakiloroaya et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 77 (2014) 738–754 753

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