An Integrated Approach of Life Cycle Cost and Life Cycle Energy for Energy Efficiency Measures in Residential Buildings

In India, the use of energy efficiency measures in small residential buildings is limited because of the negative impression of high initial cost. Very few studies have been conducted on energy efficiency measures in buildings and their long-run benefits. This research primarily investigates the influence of various parameters on the energy performance, the life cycle cost (LCC) and the life cycle energy (LCE) of residential buildings through energy simulations. This study tried to establish the trade-off between initial cost and the operating cost and also the trade-off between embodied energy and operational energy for different envelope conditions. This research also aims to demonstrate the long-run benefits of using energy efficiency measures concerning LCC and LCE in residential buildings. The different efficiency measures used in a single-family residential building include, roof insulation, alternate wall envelope material and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) efficiency. The use of materials with low thermal transmittance (U-value) value in building envelope was found to be very beneficial in lowering energy consumption, especially the cooling and heating loads. HVAC efficiency was observed to have a substantial role in reducing the energy consumption. When the mentioned combinations were combined, a massive drop of 27.61% in the energy consumption was observed, which resulted in substantial savings in LCC and LCE. The importance of choosing the building envelope materials and parameters was evident from the compliance check with ECBC–R (energy conservation code for residential buildings) of the single-family residential building.