LARGE BUILDING COOLING LOAD AND ENERGY USE ESTIMATION

We present a methodology for developing a set of cooling load and ener gy estimating equations for large commercial buildings. The methodolog y is developed from parametric simulations on the DOE-2 computer code for any given generic building type and annual weather data file of th e location. The equations estimate the annual cooling energy use of a building, its peak cooling load and the sensible cooling load. Correla tions are obtained using the concept of the overall thermal transfer v alue of building envelopes and the number of cooling degree-days in a year. Other key variables include space internal loads, design outdoor -indoor temperature difference, and the global efficiency of chiller p lants. The set of simple equations are validated using results obtaine d from DOE-2 simulations of audited actual buildings. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.