Proposed Legislative Model to Decrease Air Conditioning Overcooling

This publication includes a proposed legislative model to decrease air conditioning overcooling. Air conditioning is the main electricity consumer in buildings equipped with air conditioning. Overcooling below the Comfort Heat Index is not for comfort; actually it causes overcooling discomfort and a health hazard. The lower the air conditioner temperature, the longer its operating time. The proposed legislation includes four energy conservation measures: Heat Index–based control instead of conventional temperature-only control; fine-resolution control of 0.1 degree instead of the traditional 1 degree increments; minimum cooling temperature limit of 22°C, replacing common limits of 16°C; separate air conditioning control in each room. These energy conservation measures have 55% energy saving potential, about 1,000 TWh of global electricity per year, in addition to 20% peak demand mitigation potential. Unlike many other GHG mitigation measures, enforcement of the above measures does not involve expenses or investment; on the contrary, it significantly reduces energy cost (mainly due to shorter operating time) and reduces investment in oversized air conditioning units. All calculations in this work are based on the “Online Building Energy and Heat Index Simulation and Optimization – BESOO” version 544 with the real meteorological datasets for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as on the sites: https://nowagreen.ct.ws/BESO/544Jm https://nowagreen.ct.ws/BESO/544TA https://nowagreen.ct.ws/HI