Assessment of Energy Savings from the Revised Building Energy Code of Thailand

Energy 35 (2010) 1741.1753 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy Assessment of energy savings from the revised building energy code of Thailand S. Chirarattananon a,*, P. Chaiwiwatworakul a, V.D. Hien a, P. Rakkwamsuk b, K. Kubaha b a Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut¡¯s University of Technology Thonburi, 126 Pracha-utit Rd., Bangmod, Tungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand b School of Energy Environment and Materials, King Mongkut¡¯s University of Technology Thonburi, 126 Pracha-utit Rd., Bangmod, Tungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand article info abstract Article history: Received 4 March 2009 Received in revised form 26 November 2009 Accepted 21 December 2009 Available online 15 January 2010 Keywords: Building energy code Energy efficiency Energy demand Building energy model Energy saving The government of Thailand legislated an Energy Conservation Promotion Act (ECP Act) in 1992 and set bye-laws that identify designated buildings (DBs) and detail mandatory requirements for energy conservation for DBs in 1995. An Energy Conservation Promotion Fund (ENCON Fund) was also created to fund energy audits on 1900 DBs. Recently the requirements and procedures for energy conservation in buildings have been revised where system performance requirements for building envelope, lighting, air- conditioning, and hot water generation are adopted. Moreover, the new building energy code (BEC) distinguishes different categories of DBs, provides credit for use of solar energy, and introduces a new option of whole building energy compliance. The authors develop building models from data obtained from energy audit reports and use them to estimate savings on energy and peak demand from future new buildings using forecasted energy and peak demand data from the Load Forecast Subcommittee, a panel tasked to forecast future electric load of Thailand. From a modest level of energy saving in the first year that the code is expected to be enforced, the level of saving rise to over 10% and 20% annually of requirement of target buildings in 6 and 12 years respectively. . 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Thailand was a net energy importing country ever since it began its first Economic and Social Development Plan to embark on a new phase of coordinated economic development in 1964. From 1985 to the present, per capita consumption of oil and natural gas has increased six folds, while per capita consumption of electricity has increased five folds [1,2]. The interest in