| Summary: | The thesis investigates the life-cycle energy requirements of a generic office building. Energy
use is seen as a key determinant in many of the most serious environmental pressures
threatening human existence. Reducing current high levels of fossil fuel consumption is
imperative as a first step to addressing and solving these problems. Energy use in the
construction industry, to both operate and construct buildings, represents a significant portion
of total global energy consumption and reductions in this component of total energy use will be
essential.
The thesis examines the potential for energy reduction in office buildings by analyzing the
energy consumption characteristics of a generic 5 storey office building located in the Lower
Mainland of British Columbia. Analysis is carried out on the basis of life-cycle energy
consumption
The individual components of office building energy use, operating energy, embodied energy
and demolition energy, are calculated. In order to investigate total life-cycle energy
requirements three alternative future scenarios are proposed for the building. The direct and
indirect impacts of future changes in key energy related variable is investigated. The
relationships between the different types of energy are examined and their relative
contributions to total life-cycle energy is analyzed. Various strategies to improve energy
efficiency are examined and the total potential energy reduction is calculated.
Life-cycle energy of the study building over a 100 year life span is calculated at between 77.7
and 80.2 GJ/m2 . Operating energy represents the largest portion of building life-cycle energy,
accounting for between 80 and 87% of the total. It is also the energy component that offers the
greatest potential for achieving reductions, with potential saving of up to 60%. Embodied energy accounts for between 12 and 19% of total life-cycle energy. The maximum achievable
reduction in embodied energy is approximately 40%. Demolition energy, at less than 1 %, is a
relatively insignificant component of building life-cycle energy. The potential reduction in overall
life-cycle energy is between 57.8 and 59.2 percent.
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