Energy and Cost Evaluation of Different HVAC Systems in an Office Building

Abstract

Researchers state that people spend about 90 percent of their time indoors, and accordingly, the place of HVAC systems in our lives is increasing day by day. This brings about an increase in energy consumption. Considering the amount of energy consumption for developed and developing countries today, it is seen that the role of HVAC systems is quite high. Therefore, energy consumption costs and investment costs are the main factors to be considered in HVAC system selection. In this study, for a sample office building, six different HVAC systems (water-cooled and air-cooled variable flow cooling systems, air handling unit system, fan coil systems, water source and air source heat pump systems and split air conditioning system) are analyzed in terms of energy consumption, initial investment costs, operating costs and ease of operation. The advantages and disadvantages of the systems were compared with each other, and as a result of the calculations, it was seen that air-cooled systems consume an average of 33% less energy than water-cooled systems and their investment costs are 30% lower.