A strategy for prioritising interactive measures for enhancing energy efficiency of air-conditioned buildings

Within a given budget, selection of the optimal set of measure's for enhancing the energy efficiency of a building is often based on the relative order of the feasible measures, prioritised according to either the life cycle cost saving or the economic benefit-cost ratio of the measures. A sensitivity analysis shows that, compared to the life cycle cost analysis, the benefit-cost ratio analysis is less susceptible to the influence of uncertainties in the estimates of the present value of the life cycle energy saving and cost. Where interactive measures are involved, the effects of some are dependent on the co-existence of other measures. The prioritisation determined according to the benefit-cost ratios of. individual measures, each taken in the absence of all the others, can lead to the choice of a range of measures that is below optimal. Selection of the optimal set of energy efficiency enhancement measures requires a multistep approach, which is exemplified by the case study described in the paper. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.