To evaluate whether air conditioning energy consumption after building operations meet the requirements of an energy-saving design

lacks a unified standard owing to the different usage behaviors

which often results in deviations and miscalculations. Based on this research background

this study proposes an index of air conditioning operation degree hours by combining three factors: air conditioning set temperature

operation days

and daily operation hours. Combined with the characteristics of residential air conditioning in the Yangtze River region

the air conditioning behavior is divided into economic

comfortable

and high consumption types. The operation degree hours of typical cities and the critical values of the three models were calculated. A relative energy consumption index is proposed by comparing the actual air-conditioning operation degree hours of residences with the corresponding critical value in the air conditioning behavior mode

and the energy consumption levels can be compared with each other. Taking two residential buildings in different areas as examples

the reliability and effectiveness of the operation degree hours were verified

and the R-squared was above 0.93. The application of this evaluation method of air conditioning energy consumption in residential buildings is illustrated

and the energy consumption characteristics of air conditioning and relative energy consumption level of two cases in different regions were analyzed. The results show that the relative energy consumption indices is 9.8% and 73.1% for Residences 1 and 2

respectively. Residence 1 is more energy-efficient

excluding the influence of weather conditions and air-conditioning behavior.