Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study for increasing the simulation accuracy of healthcare buildings. In building design profession, the demand for accurate energy simulation of buildings at design phase is gradually becoming an essential part of the design documents as building owners and energy codes are increasingly requiring accurate energy predictions.
The case study in this paper is a cancer institute which is chosen as an example of healthcare buildings. Healthcare buildings have been major energy consumers with a significant contribution to the total annual energy consumption in commercial buildings. The total energy used by a typical healthcare building per square-foot is about 2 times the usage of a typical office building. The study simulates the annual energy consumption, and compares it against the actual consumption. This comparison further enables identification of important simulation inputs that affect the accuracy. The following parameters had an important contribution on the simulation accuracy: equipment and occupancy schedules, equipment loads, and temperature and humidity set-points. Using a set of recommended input parameters, the simulation accuracy of the electric energy was within 12% of the actual energy usage of the building. In addition, pattern of predicted energy, which represents the electricity demand, also followed the actual energy use pattern.