8 Development of Energy Performance Index Benchmark for Cold Climatic Regions of India

Abstract

Performance based building rating systems help build energyefficient structures while also serving as a tool to assess the efficiency of the existing structures. In 2009, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Government of India, launched the Building Star Rating Program for office buildings, devising a scheme based on data collected from about 300 office buildings in three climatic zones, namely warm and humid, hot and dry, and composite. The program uses the Energy Performance Index as a key performance indicator for benchmarking. Moreover, with booming urbanization rates in the Himalayas, which covers a major portion of Indian cold climate, it is critical to adapt the rating systems to these regions in order to promote sustainable development and practices. But the lack of audit data in Indian cold climatic regions makes it impossible to develop such a benchmark using conventional methods. This paper discusses Simulation Model-based benchmarking for energy performance using simulation tools with multiple variables controlled under limits prescribed by the Energy Conservation Building Code. A total of 216 simulations were conducted after varying multiple data sets for four variables, namely location, window-to-wall ratio, envelope material quality, and equipment efficiency. The project established the energy performance benchmark for cold climatic regions of India and concluded that the Indian cold climate did not represent uniform traits all over but was divided into several climate zones.