Adebisi, J and McArthur, J J (2025) HVAC characterisation of existing Canadian buildings for decarbonisation retrofit identification. Buildings & Cities, 6(1), pp. 729-746. ISSN 2632-6655
Abstract
Building archetypes are useful in building energy simulations as they simplify the modelling process. These building archetypes are classified in the Building Technology Assessment Platform (BTAP), a database built on Natural Resources Canada building codes. There are two groups: buildings established 1980 to 2004 and buildings established before 1980. The major drawback with the BTAP archetypes is that there are no considerations made regarding changes in mechanical systems in pre-1980 buildings, nor are the impacts of this evolution examined. This study expands the available archetypes by investigating typical heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems used for offices and multi-unit residential buildings in the City of Toronto by analysing data from municipal and industry partner sources to determine system characteristics for each building type for each period and suggest retrofits for the selected characteristics. This study identifies common building clusters based on building topology, size and vintage to develop more varied archetypes. By increasing the granularity of existing archetypes and presenting them for ASHRAE climate zone 5 A, retrofit modelling for Canadian buildings will improve in accuracy. Both baseline and retrofit conditions are modelled in both current and decarbonised thermal and electricity source conditions to understand the relative benefit of individual building vs district utility retrofits.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | archetype; building energy simulation; building stock; Canada; grid sensitivity; HVAC characterisation; HVAC systems; net zero; non-domestic buildings; retrofit |
| Index terms: | building technology, building stock, accuracy, ventilation, evolution, building code, air conditioning, topology, residential building, Toronto, platform, database, natural resource, Canada, non-domestic building, building energy simulation, net zero, archetype, modelling, mechanical system |
| Subjects: | environmental engineering, regulatory law, data management, professional development, energy systems, modelling and simulation, engineering systems, air quality, mechanical systems, asset management, digital design, Geography, geometry and topology, analytical methods, environmental science, environmental resource management, construction type |
| Topics: | Legal Issues, Sustainability, Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Digital Applications, Construction Technology, Business Strategy, Information Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
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