Effect of building regulation on energy consumption in residential buildings in Korea

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy demand for the building sector constituted about 25.3% of the final energy use in South Korea. The energy demand for residential buildings counts for 50.3% of the building sector and has also increased by 2.9 percent every year. The Korean government has shifted focus and is now promoting energy efficiency within the building sector and has set long-term energy conservation goals. Despite these efforts to minimize building energy, the Korean government has changed the building regulation to allow remodeling of the balcony space as a living space. Remodeling the balcony space to become an indoor space means that a buffer space for the outdoor environment is lost, causing thermal discomfort and discomfort glare and moreover, increasing the heating and cooling energy demand in residential buildings. Also, it results in an increase in building energy demand in South Korea. In this study, the effect of the alteration of balcony space on the indoor thermal environment and the heating and cooling energy demand of residential buildings in Korea were investigated by field measurement and simulation. From the measurement results, the indoor temperature of the condition without a balcony was 0.8 °C lower than that with a balcony. The heating and cooling load of the unit without the balcony space was 39% and 22% higher, respectively, than that of the unit with the balcony space. This increase results in considerable energy loss in the national scale and the ratio will be 0.3% of the final energy use in Korea. Also, it represents about 1.3% of the final energy use within the building sector of Korea.