Case Study of Industrial-Building Energy Performance in a Cold-Climate Region in a Developing Country

Most industrial buildings in developing countries such as China have excessively high energy consumption, and the portion used by HVAC systems is significant. This investigation used a winery building in a cold region in northern China as a case study to analyze industrial-building energy performance. A lack of communication, cultural differences in design requirements, and poor construction quality were the primary factors that led to excessive air leakage, insufficient building insulation, and poor indoor air distribution. This investigation developed a set of methods to evaluate building-energy use, air leakage, condensation, thermal insulation, and indoor air distribution. A number of remedial measures were proposed, and some of them have been proven to be effective. In developing countries such as China, the lessons learned in this project will be useful for designing and constructing energy-efficient industrial buildings with desirable indoor environments.