Energy Performance of Buildings

Energy performance is a general and abstract concept which is illconceived
and not well-defined. International efforts expended in the study
of building energy performance are diverse and disperse.The concept of building performance’, which has only recently
received systematic study, assumes that uilding’ can be defined and theirperformance assessed (Baird, et al., 1984; BRE, 1983; Hartkopf, et al., 1992).

Although the bases for assessing energy performance of many building
components and individual systems have been fairly well established, there is
a lack of full understanding of the energy performance of the hole
building’, which involves complex interaction of the building components
and systems, and consideration of their combined dynamic behaviour.
What is building energy performance?
There is no standard and agreed definition per se of what building
energy performance is. Even the briefest review immediately reveals great
difficulties in transforming the concept of building performance into a useful
tool (Baird, et al., 1984). An encyclopaedia will perhaps tell you that
nergy’ is the capacity for doing work and erformance’ is how well the
work is done. A general definition has also been provided in ASHRAE
(1990a): nergy performance — the energy consumption or use for an
existing or proposed building.” The total building energy consumption in a
year is usually a major index of the performance. Actual energy analysis may
involve other aspects, such as monthly consumption, peak demands and
component breakdowns.