Factors influencing existing medium-sized commercial building energy retrofits to achieve the net zero energy goal in the United States

Despite the increased awareness of benefits and opportunities resulting from energy retrofits, there is a lack of information regarding the factors influencing the success of energy retrofits – especially deep energy retrofits – aiming to achieve a net zero energy goal. The aim of this study is to identify factors and variables that could contribute to the successful implementation of energy retrofit measures in buildings with the goal of achieving net zero energy. A database of 34 small- and medium-sized commercial building retrofit projects was developed for this analysis, which was derived from the New Buildings Institute’s Net Zero Energy Building Database. Five factor categories were investigated: physical, technical, environmental, economic, and policy. A total of 11 variables from the 5 categories were analysed. The results show that success stems from a combination of certain variables: the number of floors, the climate zone, and the building cost. In general, the results indicate a trend: compact buildings with a construction cost range between $19/m² and $42/m² in a mild climate have a higher likelihood of achieving a net zero energy goal. Also, the analysis provides new evidence toward the importance of understanding a building’s physical characteristics in an existing building energy retrofit.

尽管学界与行业对能源改造（energy retrofits）所能带来的效益与机遇的认知不断深化，但针对以实现净零能耗（net zero energy）为目标的能源改造——尤其是深度能源改造（deep energy retrofits）——其成功影响因素的相关研究仍存在显著信息缺口。本研究旨在识别可助力以净零能耗为目标的建筑能源改造措施成功落地的各类影响因素与变量。为开展本次分析，研究团队构建了包含34个中小型商业建筑改造项目的数据库，该数据集源自新建筑研究所（New Buildings Institute）的净零能耗建筑数据库（Net Zero Energy Building Database）。本次研究共调研了五类影响因素：物理属性、技术、环境、经济与政策，并对这五类下共计11个变量展开了分析。研究结果表明，项目成功取决于特定变量的协同组合：建筑层数、气候分区与建造成本。总体而言，研究结果呈现出明确趋势：在温和气候区域内，建造成本介于19美元/㎡至42美元/㎡之间的紧凑型建筑，其达成净零能耗目标的概率更高。此外，本次分析还为既有建筑能源改造中充分认知建筑物理属性的重要性提供了全新的实证依据。