ARTICLE IN PRESS

Building and Environment 42 (2007) 24982504

www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

Cooling load calculations in subtropical climate

K.W. Mui, L.T. Wong
Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Received 28 February 2006; received in revised form 6 June 2006; accepted 4 July 2006

Abstract
Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system is the major electricity consumer in an air-conditioned building; therefore,
an accurate cooling load calculation method is indispensable. ASHRAE has developed a Radiant Time Series (RTS) method to improve
the accuracy of cooling load calculation. However, outdoor design conditions and occupant load patterns vary with the buildings and
cities. This study discusses the development of a new example weather year and a mathematical model to generate design occupant load
proles using Monte Carlo simulation for a subtropical climate. The results would be useful for determining the HVAC energy
consumption in buildings in order to obtain more representative data for the prediction of annual energy consumption.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cooling load calculation; Radiant time series (RTS); Occupant load; Monte Carlo simulation

1. Introduction
There is great concern about energy consumption in
Hong Kong. Based on the record of Hong Kong energy
statistics, electricity consumption had a multiple increase
during the past 33 years [1]. In 1980s, many manufacturers
shifted their industries to Mainland due to liberalization of
the China market. The local economy changed from
manufacturing-based to commercial-based and many
commercial buildings have since been built [2].
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in
the world; in 2001 its population was 6.71 million and its
usable land was 1098.5 km2 [3]. Due to limited land supply
and high population, most of the buildings in Hong Kong
are high-rise in order to cope with the rapid development of
the society. Hong Kong is located in the subtropical
climate region and almost all of its ofce buildings are airconditioned. As air-conditioning systems consume about
half of the total electricity load in ofce buildings, an
accurate cooling load calculation method should be built
up and applied to enhance the operating efciency of airconditioning components.
Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: behorace@polyu.edu.hk (K.W. Mui),

beltw@polyu.edu.hk (L.T. Wong).
0360-1323/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.07.006

ASHRAE has established one of the most widely

known and accepted standards for the determination of
design heating and cooling loads. Earlier ASHRAE
heating and cooling load methods include the total
equivalent temperature differential/time-averaging method
(TETD/TA), the transfer function method (TFM) and
the cooling load temperature differential (CLTD)/solar
cooling load (SCL)/cooling load factor (CLF) method
[48]. It was shown that no signicant difference was found
between the peak heating loads calculated by the TFM and
TETD/TA methods [912]. For their cooling load calculations, peaks were found occurring within the same hour
though with different magnitudes. According to the
ASHRAE handbook, the TETD/TA peak cooling load
would almost reach the peak of its companion heat
gain curve with an hour delay; while the TFMs would
do so without any delay. The calculations showed that the
TFM peak-cooling load was at 87.5% of its peak-heating
load. In the calculations for all unoccupied hours, the
hourly cooling load of TFM was found substantially
greater than that predicted by the TETD/TA method;
however, the difference of their daily totals was only
0.15%. During the unoccupied hours, the peak-cooling
load predicted by the CLTD/SCL/CLF method would be
19.8% greater than that predicted by the TFM or the
TETD/TA method [13].

ARTICLE IN PRESS
K.W. Mui, L.T. Wong / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 24982504

The 2001 ASHRAE handbook illustrates a new cooling

load calculation methodradiant time series (RTS)to
replace the TETD/TA, TFM and CLTD/SCL/CLF
methods [4,5]. The primary benet of the RTS calculation
is reduced dependency on purely subjective input (e.g., a
proper time-averaging period for the TETD/TA method;
appropriate safety factors for rounding off TFM results;
suitable CLTD/CLF factors to a specic unique application) [14]. This method does not consider the factors of
zone air heat balance, exterior heat balance and interior
surface heat balance; it replaces the conduction transfer
functions with periodic response factors; and it approximates the storage and release of energy by the walls, roofs,
oors, and internal thermal mass to a predetermined zone
response [15].
RTS is a new simplied method for improving the
calculation accuracy while maintaining the design engineers ability to apply his/her experience and judgment to
the process. It allows the characterization of time delay
effects due to exterior surface and building mass in a readily
understandable and quantitative form; it also allows for
individual component contribution to the total cooling load
[1619]. As a cooling load calculation design tool, RTS is
well behaved in that it would generally over-predict
rather than under-predict the peak-cooling load [16].
Many engineering systems in buildings and their
performance are closely associated with outdoor conditions
and occupant loads. Weather data is one of the important
elements of both thermal load and energy consumption
calculations in buildings. In order to obtain more
representative data primarily for predicting energy consumption, the most average year is commonly used as a
standard reference for calculating the cooling load in airconditioned buildings. Current use of this most average
year for energy simulation in Hong Kong is an annual
weather dataset of the year 1989. This example weather
year was selected by Wong and Ngan [20]. They applied the
method recommended by Holmes and Hitchin in which the
monthly mean values of the weather parameters and their
standard deviations from the long-term mean were sought.
Other researchers also agreed that the dry-bulb temperature in 1989 made the year a suitable Test Reference Year
(TRY) and recommended it for the common assessment of
different air-conditioning systems using ASHARE procedure [2123].
The study of long-term ambient temperature analysis in
Hong Kong by Lam, Tsang and Li found that there was an
underlying trend of temperature rise in recent years (after
examining a total of 40 years (19612000) of measured
hourly temperature data) [24]. Such a temperature rise
tended to occur more frequently during the winter period
and the mid-season. The energy consumption in airconditioning systems may be affected if the trend persists.
As a result, a new example weather year has to be
developed for that climate change. By using this more
representative weather year, better estimation of energy
consumption can also be obtained.

2499

Occupant load is the other essential parameter for

building designs. Surveys of occupant load in various types
of buildings are conducted from time to time in different
countries in order to update the design practice for modern
lifestyle. Design values or proles of the occupant load in
indoor spaces have been recommended in design guides
and codes of practice [2529]. Occupant load in typical
ofce buildings in USA was studied in 1935 by Courtney
and Houghton [25]. A mean occupant load factor Of
(m2 person1 or denoted as m2 ps.1) ranging from 6 to
15 m2 ps.1 (the average is 8 m2 ps.1) would be used for
evacuation designs. Similar values have been adopted for
building egress system in Hong Kong. Time variant
occupant load proles for ofce buildings have been
investigated with a simulation model proposed [30]. A
Monte Carlo simulation technique was used to determine
the probability density function of the occupant loads for
system demands and hence the model uncertainties could
be calculated [3133].
2. Methodology
A typical weather year database is established to carry
out the energy calculation. The example weather year
selection process is based on the objective of choosing a
year in which the monthly mean values of a number of
pertinent parameters do not differ by more than a specic
number of standard deviations from their long-term mean
[34]. The pertinent parameters for selection include the
mean, maximum and minimum values of dry-bulb temperature, the mean relative humidity, the mean wind speed,
as well as the total daily solar radiation and inltration
number. The inltration number is a ventilation factor that
covers the relationship between the wind speed and the
indoor design temperature, i.e. inltration number wind
speed  (24dry-bulb).
The selection method is to calculate the difference
between the long-term mean (DLTM) and each pertinent
meteorological parameter for every month of the past
25 years.
P


Ny
pm;
y
=N

pm;
y
y
y1
DLTM
,
(1)
sp m; y
where pm; y is the mean pertinent meteorological parameter for each month of every recorded year; sp m; y is the
standard deviation of the pertinent meteorological parameter for each month of every recorded year; and Ny is the
number of recorded years.
The selection process carries on if the absolute value of
DLTM is not greater than 2. Otherwise, the year will be
rejected. If all months of the year pass this test, the year will
then be a potential example weather year. If more than
one potential example year is selected, the year with
the lowest total deviation (i.e. minimum sum of deviation
of all parameters for the year) becomes the example
weather year.

ARTICLE IN PRESS
K.W. Mui, L.T. Wong / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 24982504

2500

For the occupant load model, the probable maximum

occupant load of an ofce in Hong Kong is dened as the
minimum oor area Af (m2) allowed for an occupant
inhabiting the building space, in which the occupant load
factor Of (m2 ps.1) is given by [35]
Of O1
a

Af
,
N p;max

(2)

where Np,max (ps.) is the probable maximum number of

occupants in the space; Oa (ps. m2) is the occupant-area
ratio. While the average maximum occupant load factor has
been specied in codes of practice, these gures represent
acceptable estimates in the absence of accurate data.
However, the occupant load during working hours tof in
a typical ofce is transient; the number of occupants at a
time t can be expressed by
N p N p t N p;max ft ;

t 2 tof ,

(3)

where ft is the transient occupantload ratio at a time t

expressed as a percentage of the maximum number of
occupants in the space.
The working hours tof of a typical grade A ofce in
Hong Kong can be dened as
tof toa tab tbf ,

(4)

where tab, toa and tbf are the time periods of lunch break,
morning and afternoon sessions, respectively; i.e.,
8
tof tf  to
>
>
>
<
toa ta  to
tf 4tb 4ta 4to ,
(5)
>
tab tb  ta
>
>
:
tbf tf  tb
where to and tf are the start time and end time of working
hours; ta and tb are the start time and end time of lunch
break.
Apart from the rapid variations at the start and the
end of working hours and lunch break, the occupant
load is relatively steady and its variations are small.
The occupant load variations fi in these periods can be
written as
(
i oa; ab; bf;
fi ft;i
(6)
t 2 toa ; tab ; tbf :
For the time approaching the start and the end of
working hours and lunch break, i.e. (tti)-ti, and the
time passing away ti-(tti)+, the rapid variations of fi
would be described by
(
(
fi ftti  fi Dftti ;
i o; a; b; f;
Dftti ftti  ftti  ;
t to ; ta ; tb ; tf ;
(7)
fi

where
is the normalized occupantload ratio in time ti
and described by a logistic regression curve
fi

expki;1 ki;2 t  ti 
;
1 expki;1 ki;2 t  ti 

where k1 and k2 are the regression constants. Table 1 shows

the model parameters previously determined for some
ofces in Hong Kong.
With the new example weather year and the time variant
occupant load proles for ofces found, a cooling load
calculation was performed by the software HvacLoad
Explorer under the RTS method as mentioned in
ASHRAE research project 875 and the result was
compared with the one using current data. The software
operated through a graphical user interface (GUI) with
user-friendly dialog boxes for user input. It allowed a user
to run cooling and heating load calculations for an entire
building to determine the cooling or heating loads, the
conduction transfer function coefcients, response factors,
radiant time series, and the airow rate required for any
zone/room in the building [16]. The example ofce was
located on a typical intermediate oor of an ofce building
with a oor area Af 1200 m2. Key information of design
criteria of the ofce is shown in Table 2. Cooling loads of
the ofce were conducted on 24-h basis design days
throughout the example years and the oor peak load for
sizing the air-conditioning system components was obtained [4].

i o; a; b; f;

(8)

3. Result and discussion

The meteorological data for the years 19792003,
including the mean, maximum and minimum values of
dry-bulb temperature, the relative humidity, the wind speed
and the daily solar radiation, recorded by Hong Kong
Observatory were analyzed in this study [36]. It is
recommended that the calendar year 1991 shall be selected
as the new example year. The monthly mean weather data
of this year are summarized in Table 3. Comparing with the
old meteorological dataset (19671991) as analyzed by
Wong and Ngan [20], this new example weather year has a
trend of temperature rise, especially in winter and the midseason period, that matches the ambient temperature study
by Lam et al. [24].
Table 1
Model parameters z
Model parameter z

Average /zS

Standard deviation
//zSS

ln (Oa)
ft 10:30,14:30
foa
fab
fbf
ko,1
ko,2
ka,1
ka,2
kb,1
kb,2
kf,1
kf,2

2.680
0.815
0.950
0.470
0.919
0.636
5.909
0.085
8.200
29.02
117.0
1.682
5.428

0.426
0.022
0.029
0.040
0.020
0.225
1.022
0.320
2.503
7.127
0.0003
0.387
1.039

ARTICLE IN PRESS
K.W. Mui, L.T. Wong / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 24982504

In order to obtain the example occupant load prole, an

occupanttime load l is calculated to indicate the overall
occupant loads in a space in one day within time period t,
P
N p t
lP
; t 2 tof ,
(9)
N p tmax
where Np is number of occupants in a time period t and tof
is the occupied period of the ofce.
Occupant load simulations of 800 working days for some
ofces in Hong Kong were conducted and the distribution
Table 2
Characteristics and design criteria of the ofce building

Design criteria
Summer indoor temperature (1C)
Relative humidity (%)
Supply temperature for cooling (1C)
Ventilation rate (L/s/person)
Inltration (ach)
Ventilation system off
Ventilation system on
Sensible/latent load per person (W)
Radiant/convective fraction
Equipment load (W/m2)
Sensible heat fraction
Convective fraction
Lighting load (W/m2)
SW/LW radiant fraction
Convective fraction
Fraction of heat returned to return
duct

36  36
1296
1200
144.4/144.4/144.4/144.4/393.2
144.4/144.4/144.4/144.4/393.2
3.2
0.4

function of occupanttime load l^ was approximated by a

normal distribution (pX0.9999). Fig. 1 shows the design
occupant load proles Np(t) selected from all the simulations at condence levels xl 0.5, 0.9, 0.95 and 0.99 for the
example ofce with working hours from 9:00 to 17:45
Z

F l

l^ dl xl .

(10)

1

At the design stage of an ofce building development in

Hong Kong, the actual occupantarea ratio Oa would be
unidentied to the building designers. Usually, the
designers would assume a probable maximum occupant
load prole for calculating the cooling load prole. This
study adopted the simulated time variant occupant load
proles in Fig. 1. The hourly occupanttime load factors
lt 1 throughout a day in different condential intervals
are shown in Table 4. For contrast, Pattern A assumed all
occupants were present during ofce hours and Pattern B,
taking account of occupant load variations, was an
example input used by some local engineers.
140

24
50
14.0
10

= 0.5, 0.9, 0.95, 0.99

120
Occupant Np (ps.)

General
Floor dimension (L  M) (m)
Area per oor (m2)
Air-conditioned area per oor (m2)
Floor area for each thermal zone (m2)
RF1/RF2/RF3/RF4/RF-INT
SP1/SP2/SP3/SP4/INTERIOR
Floor to oor height (m)
Window to wall ratio

2501

0.5
0.1
72.6/59.4
0.5/0.5
12
1
0.8
20
0.24/0.24
0.32
0.2

100
80
60
40
20
0
6

12

15

18

Time t
Fig. 1. Design occupant load proles.

Table 3
New sample year 1991 (monthly mean weather data)
Month

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
AVERAGE

Air temperature
Mean maximum (1C)

Mean (1C)

Mean minimum (1C)

18.8
19.3
22.4
25.6
29.3
31
31.3
30.9
30.8
27.2
23.3
20.8
25.9

16.9
17.1
20.3
22.8
26.5
28.4
28.9
28.6
28.1
24.8
21
18.4
23.5

15.4
15.3
18.6
20.9
24.7
26.4
26.8
26.6
25.8
22.8
18.9
16.5
21.6

(+5.6%)
(+1.0%)
(+5.7%)
(+6.7%)
(+6.9%)
(+4.4%)
(0.3%)
(2.2%)
(0.7%)
(0.4%)
(1.7%)
(+4.5%)
(+2.3%)

(+7.6%)
(+3.0%)
(+9.1%)
(+3.6%)
(+5.6%)
(+3.3%)
(+0.3%)
(1.0%)
(0%)
(1.2%)
(2.3%)
(+3.4%)
(+2.2%)

Note: The value in brackets is the percentage deviated from the 1989 weather data.

(+10.8%)
(+4.8%)
(+13.4%)
(+2.0%)
(+5.6%)
(+1.5%)
(0%)
(0%)
(0.8%)
(2.6%)
(4.1%)
(+4.4%)
(+2.2%)

Mean relative
humidity (%)

Total bright
sunshine (h)

81
75
86
81
81
81
80
82
75
69
68
76
78

109.9
116.4
75.6
128.7
201.3
163.9
208.0
163.2
160.3
200.3
177.4
131.6
153.05

(+1.3%)
(+1.4%)
(+14.7%)
(5.8%)
(5.8%)
(2.4%)
(+1.3%)
(+2.5%)
(2.6%)
(5.5%)
(1.4%)
(+2.7%)
(0.1%)

21

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0

0.0

0.95

0.99

* Pattern B: Design example

** Pattern A: Without diversity factor

0.9

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

Hour

0.5

Time scale

0.0

0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.00

0.05

0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

1.00

0.40

0.31
0.30
0.30

0.28
0.28
0.28
0.28

0.23
0.25
0.23
0.24
0.27
0.27
0.28

1.00

0.95

0.96
0.98
0.96

0.91
0.91
0.92
0.90

0.75
0.76
0.75
0.76
0.87
0.87
0.87

10

1.00

0.95

0.96
0.95
0.96

0.93
0.93
0.93
0.90

0.77
0.76
0.75
0.76
0.88
0.88
0.90

11

1.00

0.95

0.97
0.96
0.97

0.91
0.94
0.90
0.91

0.74
0.76
0.75
0.78
0.85
0.89
0.87

12

1.00

0.95

0.87
0.89
0.87

0.81
0.83
0.81
0.82

0.68
0.70
0.68
0.68
0.78
0.79
0.80

13

1.00

0.45

0.51
0.52
0.52

0.49
0.47
0.48
0.50

0.38
0.40
0.42
0.37
0.45
0.44
0.42

14

1.00

0.95

0.94
0.94
0.94

0.87
0.85
0.89
0.87

0.73
0.73
0.74
0.73
0.85
0.85
0.86

15

1.00

0.95

0.93
0.93
0.93

0.90
0.89
0.89
0.88

0.74
0.74
0.73
0.75
0.85
0.85
0.85

16

1.00

0.95

0.94
0.93
0.94

0.90
0.89
0.90
0.88

0.74
0.74
0.73
0.74
0.85
0.84
0.86

17

1.00

0.95

0.83
0.80
0.79

0.76
0.78
0.78
0.78

0.64
0.63
0.65
0.65
0.76
0.76
0.74

18

1.00

0.50

0.18
0.17
0.18

0.13
0.15
0.14
0.14

0.15
0.10
0.12
0.10
0.19
0.15
0.15

19

0.00

0.25

0.01
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.01
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

20

0.00

0.10

0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

21

0.00

0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

22

0.00

0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

23

0.00

0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

24

2502

Table 4
24-h occupant patterns

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With the example weather years (1989 and 1991) and the
occupant patterns listed in Table 4 ready, it was time to
determine the design occupant load proles for ofce

Cooling load (W)

80000

Occupant load
pattern B
Occupant load
pattern A

60000
40000

= 0.5, 0.9, 0.95, 0.99

20000
0
0

12

15

18

21

24

2503

buildings in Hong Kong. The cooling load for the 24-h

design days was performed by the RTS method and plotted
in Fig. 2. As shown in the gure, by comparison with the
occupancy prole of a Hong Kong design as listed in Table
4, the differences of total cooling load in different occupant
load patterns were found varying from 1% to 5% in
different condential intervals and peak hours. However,
the cooling load variations between the new and the old
example years in different condential intervals were not
signicant, as shown in Fig. 3(a). Fig. 3(b) demonstrates
the variation between different occupant proles, it can be
concluded that the selection of an occupant prole would
affect the cooling load capacity.

Time (h)

4. Conclusion
Fig. 2. Example daily cooling load proles (weather data 1991).

80000
Weather data 1989
Occupant load pattern A
Occupant load pattern B

Cooling load (W)

+
60000

= 0.5, 0.9, 0.95, 0.99

40000

20000
20000

40000

60000

80000

Cooling load in occupant load pattern A (W)

(a)

80000

In view of growing concern over the effectiveness of

various air-conditioning system designs, in terms of energy
performance and consumption, an example weather year
and some occupant load proles of ofces have been
investigated. In this study, the usefulness of the existing
example weather year and occupant load variations was
investigated. The methods established would be useful for
an effective design and an accurate cooling load calculation
of air-conditioned buildings, in meeting the demand of
occupant loads and updated outdoor information. In
particular, a new example weather year and a mathematical
model of generating the time variant occupant load proles
using Monte Carlo sampling techniques were used as a
basis to calculate the cooling load variations. With the
integration of the time varied occupant load prole, the
difference of the cooling load capacity would vary from 1%
to 5%, but the change of the weather year was not
signicant. The proposed model would not be limited to
the cooling load capacity determination for certain ofce
buildings in Hong Kong but would also be applicable
elsewhere to various building system designs with properly
selected model parameters.

Cooling load (W)

Acknowledgement
60000

20000
20000
(b)

5%, 10% envelop

Occupant load pattern A
Occupant load pattern B
= 0.5
= 0.9
= 0.95
= 0.99

40000

40000

60000

80000

Cooling load in occupant load pattern A (W)

Fig. 3. Predicted cooling loads with weather data 1991: (a) comparing
with weather data 1989; and (b) comparing with occupant load pattern A.

This work was undertaken in the Department of

Building Services Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Funding has been received from the
HKSAR Research Grants Council and the University
(Project no. A-PG41).
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