Prospects of Transforming Conventional Commercial Buildings to Net Zero Energy Building – Balancing the Economic Aspects with Energy Patterns

Energy crises has been a serious concern for economies especially for developing ones. The building stocks developed through conventional methods pose serious barriers towards sustainable energy consumption patterns. The transformation of such existing facilities into Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) can offer a valuable opportunity to manage the challenging energy loads. However, cost aspect of such transformations remains the key and explored in current study to assess a breakeven point with the energy conservations. Four commercial buildings, three and four story, were selected as case studies. 3D digital models were developed for energy analysis through cloud computing. Comparative analysis for energy consumption patterns was performed in four phases. For conventional approach, the annual consumptions ranged from 310 kWh/m²/yr to 563 kWh/m²/yr. Based upon the local conditions, roof insulation and PV were adopted as NZEB parameters. This resulted a maximum energy saving of 6 %. The corresponding cost analysis observed an addition expense of almost 11 % for such incorporation with an average payback period of 4.5 years.