Utilization of Wind Energy in Fast Developing

High-Rise Buildings
A Case Study of the Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou, China
Rasha Mazen*1, Magdy Radwan2 and Mohamed Abdel-Samiea2
1
Architectural Department, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt
2
Architectural Department, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
* Corresponding Author: rasha_mazen05@yahoo.com
Abstract:
This paper is aimed at estimating the possible energy generation by wind in high rise buildings. The
71-strory, 310m height Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China is selected as a case study. The tower
being designed as office building for Chinese National Tobacco Company (CNTC) headquarters has a
2
2
total gross area of 210,000 m of which 40,000 m for 5-story basement. The energy demand of the
tower including the office spaces as well as the technical systems such as water pump system,
elevators, control and IT system, fire protection system, etc. is assessed also in the paper. This
estimates how high the energy generation by wind contributes significantly to the energy demand of
the tower.
Keywords:
Energy Demand, High-Rise Buildings, Renewable Energy, Wind Energy.

1. Introduction
One of the largest companies, in Guangzhou, is the Guangdong Tobacco Company,
which is part of the Chinese National Tobacco Company (CNTC). In 2005, SOM
(Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) was hired to design a headquarters tower for CNTC. The
tower is located on the Pearl River and its name in China is Pearl City.
The Pearl City covers an area of 10636 m2 and includes an office tower and podium with a
floor area ratio of 16. The tower was developed into a 71-story building with height of 310
m and total gross area of 210,000 m2 of which 40,000 m2 for 5-story basement for parking
garage. The podium with associated conference facilities is a 3-story building with height
of 27 m (Extravagant Network, 2009), Fig. (1).

1. Operable skylight
2. Business Club
3. Typical Office Floor
4. Integrated Wind Turbine
5. Podium
6. Cafeteria
7. Double-decker Elevator
8. Parking Garage

Fig (1): The Pearl City.

This tower takes advantage of both high energy-efficiency building design and solar and
wind power to generate energy for its consumption. Therefore, this tower is considered
the first one in the world to integrate different technologies, being capable of significantly
reducing the amount of energy consumption when compared with a building of this size
and type.
1

This paper is aimed at assessing the energy demand of the Pearl River Tower including
electrical energy for lighting, cooling and energy for equipment, air conditioning energy as
determined by internal and external loads as well as services loads (elevators, fire fighting
systems,etc). This is in addition to the estimation of the energy generated by wind
turbines, one of the renewable energies utilized in the tower.

2. Wind Energy utilization in this tower:

Wind energy is a clean fuel source and doesn't pollute the air unlike power plants that rely
on combustion of fossil fuels with a subsequent production of atmospheric emissions that
cause acid rain or greenhouse gasses. Consistent with the high performance approach to
building design, the use of wind turbines on the Pearl River Tower is significantly
enhanced by their integration with building architecture.
In Pearl River Tower, eight wind turbines are located (Hansen, 2007) at openings of
dimension 6 x 6.8 m2 on two mechanical floors between the three main sections of the
tower. Confining the turbines to the mechanical floors reduces the noise and vibration and
also simplifies maintenance (Stewart, 2006). The Pearl River tower implements vertical
axis Darreius wind turbines, Fig. (2), as they are capable of harnessing winds from
prevailing wind directions with minor efficiency loss. The turbines are located on both the
north and south sides of the tower in order to take advantage of prevailing southern winds
(Fortmeyer, 2007, Wong, 2007). The wind causes a large build-up of positive pressure on
the windward side of the building. Vortex shedding around the sides and over the top of
the building creates a large negative pressure on the leeward side of the building. In
allowing air to pass through the building openings, the differential pressure from front to
back is reduced and the forces on the building are, in turn, reduced (Stewart, 2006,
Fortmeyer, 2007), Fig. (3). This approach from the structural point of view allows for a
reduction in the quantity of steel and concrete to maintain building's stability (Frechette
and Gilchrist, 2008). The shape of the building's faade accelerates (Stewart, 2006,
Fortmeyer, 2007) the wind through the turbines. SOM engineers initially estimated that the
wind speed would increase to 1.5 times the actual ambient wind, but the funnel shape of
the structure at the mechanical floors resulted in increase of the wind speed by a factor as
high as 2.5 (Koerner, 2006, Hansen, 2007).

Fig (2): The vertical axis Darreius wind turbine.

Fig (3): Air flow through building openings.

3. Energy Demand of Pearl River Tower

The same as for any building, the energy requirement of Pearl River Tower being an
administrative building can be classified as electric energy, air-conditioning energy and
energy for service loads. The electric energy includes that for cooling, equipment and
lighting. The air conditioning energy is to cover internal and external loads requirements.
The internal loads are due to office equipment, office lighting and heat given off by people
in the office. The external loads depend greatly on the surface proportion of the glazing as
well as the sun-protection tools on the facades of the tower. Thus, the transmitted sun
irradiance through the tower faade and associate space heating represent an extra load
2

on the air-conditioning system. The service loads of the tower include power demand for
basement, water pump system, fire-fighting system, control & IT system and kitchenettes.
3.1 Design Considerations:
A survey on 6000 buildings in the USA showed a range of total electricity
consumption for offices and commercial buildings between 165 and 220 kWhm-2a-1. If
about 60 kWhm-2a-1 is subtracted for lighting and 50 kWhm-2a-1 for cooling, this
corresponds to average electricity consumption for equipment between 55 and 110
kwhm-2h-1 (Eicker, 2009).
About 50% of internal loads are caused by office equipment such as PCs (typically
150W including the monitor), printers (190 W for laser printers, 20 W for inkjets),
photocopiers (1100 W), etc., which leads to an area-related load of about 10 15
Wm-2. Modern office lighting has a typical connected load of 10-20 Wm-2 at an
illuminance of 300 - 500 lx. The heat given off by people is around 5-7 Wm-2 in an
office (Eicker, 2009).
External loads depend on the ratio between window and floor surface area and the
chosen shading system. For ratios between 0.1 and 0.7, the transmitted external
loads are between 8 and 60 W m-2 of average surface area of the building (Eicker,
2009).
The elevators in the building are so fast with an average speed of 9 m/s and about
1.6 ton load. The power demand of such elevator is 178 kW (Mizuguchi, et.al, 2005).
The average power demand of the basement was assumed 10 Wm-2 (Siemens,
2008). For a building with 11-stories and floor area of 1350 m2, the average power
demands for water pump system, fire fighting system, control & IT system and
kitchenettes are 30, 6, 55 and 3 KW, respectively (Siemens, 2008).
3.2 Estimation of Different Loads
3.2.1 Electric Energy:
Assuming the number of working hours per day is 10 averaged over the week
days. The building has total gross area 170,000 m2.
3.2.1.1 Cooling Energy: The specific energy consumption for cooling is selected at
50 kWhm-2a-1. Therefore, the power required to fulfill the building demand of
cooling energy is estimated as 50 x 170,000 / (10 x 365) = 2329 kW or 2.3 MW.
3.2.1.2 Equipment Energy: The specific energy consumption for equipment is
selected at the maximum value which is 110kWhm-2a-1. Therefore, the power
required to fulfill the building energy demand for equipment is estimated as 110 x
170,000 / (10 x 365) = 5123 kW or 5.1 MW.
3.2.1.3 Lighting Energy: The specific energy consumption for lighting is selected at
60kWhm-2a-1. Therefore, the power required to fulfill the building demand of
illumination energy is estimated as 60 x 170,000 / (10 x 365) = 2795 kW or 2.8
MW.
Therefore, the total power to meet the cooling, equipment and lighting energies is
equal to 2.3 + 5.1 + 2.8 = 10.2 MW.
3.2.2 Air Conditioning Energy:
3.2.2.1 Internal Loads:
As the building has total gross area 170,000 m2, then office area is
assumed 0.75 x 170,000 = 127,500 m2 for 75% occupation of offices from
the building area.

3.2.2.1.1 Internal load due to office equipment: The energy consumption for
internal load due to office equipment is selected at the maximum value,
which is 15 Wm-2. Therefore, the power required to meet the internal load
(due to office equipment) on the air-conditioning system is estimated as 15
x 127,500 = 1,912,500 W or 1.9 MW.
3.2.2.1.2 Internal load due to office lighting: The energy consumption for
internal load due to office lighting is selected at the maximum value which
is 20 Wm-2. Therefore, the power required to meet the internal load (due to
office lighting) on the air-conditioning system is estimated as 20 x 127,500
= 2,550,000 W or 2.6 MW.
3.2.2.1.3 Internal load due to persons in office: The energy consumption for
internal load due to presence of persons in the office is selected at the
maximum value which is 7 Wm-2. Therefore, the power required to meet the
internal load (due to people in the office) on the air-conditioning system is
estimated as 7 x 127,500 = 892,500 W or 0.9 MW.
Therefore, the total power to meet all internal loads on the air-conditioning
system is 1.9 + 2.6 + 0.9 = 5.4 MW.
3.2.2.2 External Load
The energy consumption for external load is selected at the maximum
value which is 60 Wm-2 of building surface area. As the tower has total
gross area 170,000 m2, then the area per story is 170,000 / 71 = 2394 m2
as the Pearl River Tower consists of 71 stories. Assuming the floor area is
rectangular in shape with length to breadth ratio equals to 5 : 1. Therefore,
the length is 109.4 m and the breadth is 21.9 m. Subsequently, the surface
area of the building is expressed as 2 x (length + breadth) x building height.
The building height is 310 m and the surface area is 81,406 m2. The power
required to meet the external load on the air-conditioning system is
estimated as 60 x 81,406 = 4,884,360 W or 4.9 MW.
Therefore, the power required to meet the internal and external loads on
the air-conditioning system is 5.4 + 4.9 = 10.3 MW.
3.2.3 Energy Demand of Service Loads:
3.2.3.1 Elevators load: The Pearl River Tower has 1 escalator, 12 passenger
elevators and 4 freight elevators. Assuming the power demand is the same for all
elevators and escalator, i.e., = 178 kW. Therefore, the total power for operation of
the building elevators and escalators is 178 x 17 = 3026 kW = 3 MW.
3.2.3.2 Basement load: The gross area of the 5-story basement is 40,000 m2 and
the average power demand is 10 Wm-2. Therefore, the power required for the
basement load is 40,000 x 10 = 400,000 W = 0.4 MW.
3.2.3.3 Water pump load: The power demand for the pump system is assumed to
be proportional to the building height and the floor area. The power demand for a
building with 11-story and floor area of 1350 m2 is 30 kW. Therefore, the power
demand for pump system in the pearl tower is 30 x (2394 / 1350) x (71 / 11) = 343
KW = 0.34 MW.
3.2.3.4 Fire fighting load: Similar to the water pump load, the power demand for
the fire fighting load is 6 x (2394 / 1350) x (71 / 11) = 68 KW = 0.07 MW.
3.2.3.5 Control & IT system load: Also, the power demand for the Control & IT
system load is 55 x (2394 / 1350) x (71 / 11) = 630 KW = 0.63 MW.

3.2.3.6 Kitchenette load: In analogy to the control & IT system load, the power
demand for the Kitchenette load is 3 x (2394 / 1350) x (71 / 11) = 34 KW = 0.03
MW.
Therefore, the power requirement for all service loads is 3 + 0.4 + 0.34 + o.o7 +
o.63 + 0.03 = 4.4 MW
Therefore, the total power demand to serve all the loads as listed above is 10.2 +
10.3 + 4.4 = 24.9 MW.

4. Renewable Energy Sources

The Pearl River Tower utilizes the wind and solar energy seeking "high performance
building". This paper is focused on the utilization of the wind energy in the tower.
4.1 Wind speed at turbine location
The ambient wind speed in Guangzhou at 10 meters height lies in the range 9 - 16
km/hr, i.e., 2.5 - 4.5 m/s. The wind speed increases with height according to Hellman's
equation (Hier, 2005):
vw (h) = vw(10) (h / 10)

(1)

Where vw(h) = speed of wind at height h (m/s), vw(10) = speed of wind at height 10 m
and is Hellman's constant ( = 0.34 for neutral air above human inhabitated areas).
The wind turbines are installed at the mechanical floors, which are assumed at heights
100 and 200 m. This assumes that the mechanical floors are located approximately at
one-third and two-third of the building height (= 310 m).
Based on an ambient wind speed of 3.5 m/s (average value) at height 10 m, the wind
speed at height of 100 m is 3.5 x (100 / 10)0.34 = 7.6 m/s and the wind speed at height
of 200 m is 3.5 x (200 / 10)0.34 = 9.7 m/s.
Due the funnel shape of the openings where the turbines are located, the wind speed is
increased 2.5 times its ambient value. Therefore, the wind speed, where turbines are
located at the lower mechanical floor, is 2.5 x 7.6 = 19 m/s, and the wind speed, where
turbines are located at the upper mechanical floor is 2.5 x 9.7 = 24.25 m/s.
4.2 Turbines' useful power
The useful power developed by a wind turbine depends on the turbine radius R, wind
speed at turbine location v, air density (= 1.225 kg/m3) and turbine efficiency as
determined by the following equation (Dillon, 2010):
P = 0.5 x x R2 x v3 x

(2)

The turbines employed in the tower are the Darreius turbines of efficiency 35%
compared to 25% for the horizontal-axis turbines. The turbine radius is 5 m to suit the
opening dimensions at the mechanical floors (Dillon, 2010).
Therefore, the useful power developed by one turbine at the lower mechanical floor is
0.5 x 1.225 x 25 x 193 x 0.35 = 115,485 W = 0.12 MW.
The useful power developed by one turbine at the upper mechanical floor is 0.5 x
1.225 x 25 x 24.253 x 0.35 = 240,104 W = 0.24 MW.
The total useful power developed by the eight turbines, four at each mechanical floor is
4 x (0.12 + 0.24) = 1.44 MW.
The above calculations are repeated over the wind speed range from 2.5 to 4.5 m/s in
Guangzhou.
4.3 Wind energy contribution to building demand

Figure (4) shows the power generated by turbines and the percentage by which wind
contributes to the tower energy for different values of wind speed. The figure indicates
that the wind turbines contribute to the building's energy needs by about 2 - 12% which
is slightly higher than the published value (Epstein, 2008). This is because the power
demand of the podium was not considered as its dimensions are missing in the
literature.
15

Generated Power
(MW)

Contribution
Percentage (%)

10
5
0

2.5

3
3.5
4
Wind Speed, (m/s)

4.5

Fig (4): Wind power generated and energy contribution for different wind speeds.

5. Conclusions
1- The energy demand of the Pearl River Tower is estimated as equal to 10.2 MW for
electric energy, 10.3 MW for air-conditioning energy and 4.4 MW for service loads.
2- The energy generation by wind turbines used in the tower lies in the range from 0.5
MW to 3 MW depending the wind speed in Guangzhou.
3- The wind energy contributes slightly to the tower energy requirements as reported in
the literature.

6. References
Dillon, Brendan (2010), "Pearl River Tower: Harvesting the wind for to make glorious
building of natural energy", www.docstoc.com/docs/84042767/Pearl.
Eicker, Ursula(2009), "Low Energy Cooling for Sustainable Buildings", J. Wiley &
Sons, pp.1-20.
Epstein, Kyra (2008), "How Far Can You Go?", Guangzhou High Performance Buildings,
Winter, pp. 22 - 29.
Extravagant Network (2009), "The world's first "zer energy" concept unveiled in
Guangzhou office", http://re.chinaluxus.com/Bss/20091225/2076.html.
Fortmeyer, Russel (2007), "SOM's Pearl River Tower", Architectural Record,
http://archrecord.construction.com/features/digital/archives/0612casestudy-1.asp.
Frechette, Rogers and Gilchrist, Russell (2008), "Towards Zero Energy - A case study
of the Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou, China", CTBUH 8th World Congress, pp. 1-11.
Hansen, Brett (2007), "China to construct "Zero Energy" Skyscraper", Civil Engineer,
Vol. 77, No. 1, pp. 10-11.
Hier, Siegfried (2005),"Grid Integration of Wind Energy Conversion Systems", John
Wiley & Sons, Chic ester, USA, pp. 40-45.
Koerner, Preston (2006), "Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou, China", Jetson Green,
http://jetsongreen,typepad.com/jetson_green/2006/08/pearl_river_tow.html.
Mizuguchi, Hiroaki, Nakagawa, Toshiaki and Fujita, Yoshiaki (2005), "Breaking the
1000mpm Barrier: High speed elevators", Elevator World, September, pp. 71-76.
Siemens (2008), "Application Manual - Planning for a High-rise Building: Totally
Integrated Power", www.siemens.com/tip.
Stewart, Jude (2007), "Super tall and ultra green", MetropolisMag. Org;
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/stroy,php?arid=2227.
Wong, Michelle (2007), " The Pearl River Tower: Skyscraping Innovations", California
Engineer, Vol. 86, No. 1, pp. 13-15.