Multi-Objective Optimization for the Energy, Economic, and Environmental Performance of High-Rise Residential Buildings in Areas of Northwestern China with Different Solar Radiation

Abstract

Currently, the construction and operation of buildings are responsible for 36% of global final energy usage and nearly 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. From the perspective of sustainable development, and taking into account economy and thermal comfort, it is crucial to consider the influence of multi-objective realization on design parameters. In this paper, high-rise residential buildings in the cities of Xi’an and Yulin, which have differences in solar radiation, in the western solar enrichment area of China are taken as the research objects. The four objectives of building energy consumption, thermal comfort, life-cycle cost, and life-cycle carbon emissions are weighed using the SPEA-2 algorithm by adjusting eleven design variables, thereby obtaining the Pareto non-dominated solutions. The TOPSIS method is applied to obtain the suitable parameter combinations under different scenarios. The results show that the differences in climate and solar radiation influence the solution distribution, the range of objective function values, and the values of the design variables in Pareto non-dominated solutions. The obtained optimal scheme for the Xi’an area has an energy-saving rate of 61.7%, a TDHP improvement rate of 20.3%, an LCC of 254.8 CNY/m2, and an LCCO2 of 72.3 kgCO2/m2. The corresponding values in the Yulin area are 69.7%, 19.4%, 230.2 CNY/m2, and 0 kgCO2/m2. This reflects the potential of solar energy utilization to reduce buildings’ energy consumption and carbon emissions. The methodology and findings can provide references for high-rise residential building design in Northwestern China.