Benchmarking of energy efficiency standards for residential buildings in China

In order to benchmark the energy efficiency standards for residential buildings in China, the Hong Kong building environment assessment method (HK-BEAM) is chosen as the compliance criteria for assessment. The annual energy consumption and the overall thermal transfer value (OTTV) of a baseline residential building prescribed in the Chinese codes and the HK-BEAM are evaluated and compared by the energy budget approach. The results show that in the Chinese codes, the OTTV of the residential building is lower, but the annual energy consumption and the cooling load are higher than those in the HK-BEAM. The annual energy use difference amounts to 13.4%. All the compliance criteria except the ventilation rate and the equipment power in the Chinese codes are set higher than those in the HK-BEAM. However, the compliance criteria of the ventilation rate and the equipment power, especially the ventilation rate, result in much energy consumption, which ultimately induces a high energy budget for residential buildings.