Personalized Optimization of Energy Costs and Productivity in Commercial Buildings

At the same time that building engineers are targeting reduction of buildings’ environmental impact, such as energy consumption and greenhouse emissions, indoor environment of dwellings should also be considered carefully. Indoor environment quality of an office has significant effect on the performance and productivity of its occupants. In order to provide satisfactory indoor environment, timely energy-related decisions should be taken by energy management system. Several inputs that are changing continuously, such as energy prices, indoor and outdoor environment parameters, occupants’ presence, activities and preferences are required for decision-making. The main interest of this research is to propose a method which is capable of improving occupants’ productivity in commercial buildings, while keeping energy saving objective as a priority. There are differences between thermal preferences of the occupants, as well as their behavior toward energy consumption. Proposed method take into account these differences, by presenting two personalized variables, Maximum Comfort Temperature and Tolerance Range of occupants, and introduced them into energy and comfort management. The operation of proposed method is analyzed by annual energy performance simulation of a single-floor commercial building in Montreal, Canada. Based on the provided results, the proposed method is capable of improving productivity of occupants, by up to $800 per month, while reaching energy savings’ objectives. It is also observed that the potential for productivity improvement is higher during warm season, compared to cold season of Montreal

Keywords:

Energy Intelligent Building , Energy Efficiency , Integrated Building Control , Building Simulation , Productivity , Thermal Comfort , Indoor Air Quality