Post-evaluation on energy saving reconstruction for hotel buildings, a case study in Jiangsu, China

To effectively reduce the energy consumption of existing hotel buildings, it is necessary to efficiently implement building energy-saving retrofitting. In this study, the efficacy of energy-saving retrofitting of existing hotel buildings was examined. The hotel energy consumption characteristic was analyzed via an energy consumption survey, and energy saving benefits were evaluated via field tests and mathematical statistics analysis. Further, by simultaneously considering the technical application and economy, a technology and economy evaluation was conducted. Finally, regarding the comfort of users, a thermal comfort evaluation was performed using tests and questionnaires. Based on these results, the simulated energy consumption evaluation, economic, and thermal comfort indicators energy-saving retrofitting were analyzed. The results showed that the energy consumption of hotels after energy-saving retrofit is reduced by more than 25% compared to the consumption before. Among them, application of energy-efficient LED light can achieve energy-saving rate of 70.85% with highest technical efficiency of 0.70 kWh/(yuan•a) (0.104 kWh/($•a)). The average payback period of these hotels of 2.55 years and the lowest technical efficiency of 0.24 kWh/(yuan•a) (0.004 kWh/($•a)) were used as the basis of energy consumption monitoring and management platform. In addition, more than 85% of the users are satisfied with thermal and humidity environment of these retrofit hotels according to answers in questionnaires. The suitable energy-saving retrofit technologies for existing hotels were proposed, offering choice of energy-saving retrofit for similar public buildings in hot summer and cold winter areas.