The trade-off between deep energy retrofit and improving building intelligence in a university building

In the last three decades, deep energy retrofit measures have been the standard option to improve the existing Danish building stock performance, with conventional techniques including envelope constructions insulation, windows change and lights replacement. While such techniques have demonstrated large technical and economic benefits, they may not be the optimal solution for every building retrofit case. With the advancement in the field of smart buildings and building automation systems, new energy performance improvement measures have emerged aiming to enhance the building intelligence quotient. In this paper, a technical evaluation and assessment of the trade-off between implementing deep energy retrofit techniques and improving building intelligence measures is provided. The assessment is driven by energy simulations of a detailed dynamic energy performance model developed in EnergyPlus. A 2500 m² university building in Denmark is considered as a case study, where a holistic energy model was developed and calibrated using actual data. Different performance improvement measures are implemented and assessed. Standard deep energy retrofit measures are considered, where the building intelligence improvement measures are in compliance with the European Standard EN 15232 recommendations. The overall assessment and evaluation results will serve as recommendations aiding the decision to retrofit the building and improve the performance.