Energy Conservation Measures and Value Engineering for Small Microgrid: New Hospital as a Case Study

Energy conservation measures can not only improve energy efficiency; it can also enhance microgrid resilience. This paper aims at investigating energy conservation in a small microgrid, using a new hospital in Riyadh city as a case study, to satisfy the Saudi Building Code (SBC part 601) requirement of energy conservation as the first case. The second case study aims to apply and simulate additional advanced energy conservation requirements. The new hospital has considered energy conservation measures uch as upgraded Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), lighting type effect, thermal insulation, and window material. These energy conservation considerations made a difference in the annual energy saving and efficiency of its microgrid. This study used Autodesk Revit software to obtain building information modeling (BIM) and eQUEST to perform energy simulations. The two software programs are integrated together to perform comprehensive energy simulations with detailed building information from the model by Autodesk Green Building Studio (GBS). The energy conservation measures mainly focused on energy management and saving in the building’s electrical installations. All utilized equipment in the hospital should follow the Saudi standards issued by the national authorities. The simulation results revealed a noticeable annual energy saving of up to 19.82% for the second case, using a great thermal resistance building envelope, energy-saving lighting system, and highly rated Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) HVAC system compared to the first case. More than 100,000 SR in yearly energy saving was achieved by implementing the second case study. Applying the Value Methodology (VM) to the proposed hospital in this study saved more than 700,000 SR in the initial cost of the hospital.