Multiple regression models for energy consumption of office buildings in different climates in China

The energy consumption of office buildings in China has been growing significantly in recent years. Obviously, there are significant relationships between building envelope and the energy consumption of office buildings. The 8 key building envelope influencing factors were found in this paper to evaluate their effects on the energy consumption of the air-conditioning system. The typical combinations of the key influencing factors were performed in Trnsy simulation. Then on the basis of the simulated results, the multiple regression models were developed respectively for the four climates of China-hot summer and warm winter, hot summer and cold winter, cold, and severely cold. According to the analysis of regression coefficients, the appropriate building envelope design schemes were discussed in different climates. At last, the regression model evaluations consisting of the simulation evaluations and the actual case evaluations were performed to verify the feasibility and accuracy of the regression models. The error rates are within ±5% in the simulation evaluations and within ±15% in the actual case evaluations. It is believed that the regression models developed in this paper can be used to estimate the energy consumption of office buildings in different climates when various building envelope designs are considered. © 2012 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.