Impact of meteorological factors on high-rise office building energy consumption in Hong Kong: From a spatiotemporal perspective

Abstract

This article aims to comprehensively analyse the impact of meteorological factors on the energy consumption of high-rise office buildings in Hong Kong. Fifty-seven runs of EnergyPlus simulations based on 30 years of actual hourly meteorological data between 1989 and 2018 measured from one urban and one rural site as well as the Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) were conducted to examine the joint energy impact of climate change and urban heat island (UHI) effect. Spatiotemporal inaccuracies of TMY-based simulations were discussed in error analysis by comparing with those using actual meteorological data. In longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses, significant energy impact of both climate change and UHI was found and quantitatively reported in terms of total and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) energy consumption; long-term dynamics and the winter-dominant intra-annual distribution of the UHI-driven energy discrepancies were revealed; and the inconsistency between UHI-driven energy discrepancies and temperature discrepancies was found and explained. Regression analysis shows that for high-rise office buildings in Hong Kong, energy consumption is more sensitive to temperature and moisture change in hot and humid conditions than in cold and dry conditions; and air pressure may also serve as an indicator for a rough estimation of building energy consumption.