Building Energy Efficiency Design for Waiting Halls of Railway Stations in the Hot- summer and Cold-winter Region

Abstract

Waiting halls of railway stations are typically structured as large-spaced buildings and consume a large amount of energy. This study aimed to explore the effect of the law of thermal properties of waiting hall enveloped in railway stations on building energy consumption and to disclose the energy-saving potential of waiting hall of railway stations. A waiting hall model based on the waiting hall of the Chengdu Railway Station was established using the Quick Energy Simulation Tool (eQUEST). Numerical simulation on energy consumption of waiting hall was conducted by changing the performance parameters of building envelope and area ratio of skylight and sun-shading mode. The influences of thermal properties of building envelope on energy consumption were discussed. Results demonstrate that, when the waiting hall of the railway station applies a glass curtain wall as the envelope, the coated insulting glasses used contribute to the low building energy consumption with an energy saving rate of 5.3%. With the increase in area ratio of skylight, building energy consumption decreases first and then increases. The rate reaches the valley at 20% area ratio of skylight. Sunshading measures on the glass curtain wall and skylight, especially external sun-shading measure, can significantly reduce building energy consumption. The findings provide theoretical basis for building energy efficiency design for the waiting halls of railway stations in regions with hot summer and cold winter, and have important theoretical significance and engineering application value in promoting building energy efficiency design in the said regions.

Reduction Strategies for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from High-Speed Railway Station Buildings in a Cold Climate Zone of China

“…Research concentrating on railway station buildings, especially the high speed type, is relatively limited; some of the existing literature takes into account reduction measures for energy consumption that are directly correlated to operational emissions, such as: the relationship between energy consumption and passenger flow density [16]; energy efficiency measures on performance parameters of a building envelope, area ratio of skylight and sun shading mode [17]; energy saving approaches that place greater emphasis on the reduction of air infiltration [18]; triadic relation among lighting comfort level and lighting energy consumption [19]; intelligent control strategies as feasible energy saving solutions [20]; and energy efficient analysis on construction scale, space design, function layout, and operation mode [21,22]. Energy potential in conventional stations or HSRS has been analyzed in different domestic regions.…”

“…The green railway stations rating program of the Indian Green Building Council aims to reduce the adverse environmental impacts due to station operation and maintenance [15]. Despite all of this, earlier studies on railway station buildings mainly focused on energy efficiency [16][17][18][19][20][21][22], indoor thermal comfort [23,24], and ventilation and air quality evaluation [25,26]. Some research discussed the environmental impacts of the railway transport sector, in which railway stations are usually considered as a part of the whole infrastructure.…”