VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York
Abstract
Around 55 countries have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality, and reducing energy consumption in buildings is a critical step toward that goal. Buildings consume around 40% of the world’s annual energy, and the efficiency of building systems plays a significant role in overall energy savings. However, regions with varying temperatures may experience significant differences in annual equipment efficiency, leading to energy waste. To address this issue, a study aimed to develop algebraic control strategies to operate equipment efficiently under various atmospheric temperature conditions. This study developed algebraic control designs for distributing loads among one to ten pieces of chillers using the SequentialLoad, UniformLoad, SequentialUniformPLR, and Optimal algorithms provided by EnergyPlus. Energyplus, evaluated as reliable software by applying various thermodynamic theories among building energy simulation programs, was used for simulation. The target building for the simulation was a medium-sized office building based on the U.S. Department of Energy’s reference building, which covers approximately 70% of buildings in each of the 12 major climate zones in the United States. As the target building was located in Incheon, South Korea, a medium-sized office building model based in Chicago with a similar climate to Incheon was used. As a result, operating two chillers with SequentialLoad and SequentialUnifromPLR algorithm has about 11% cooling energy saving effect than operating one chiller. The amount of energy saving increases as the number of operating chillers increases, but the energy saving effect started to flatten out at five chiller usage.
Kwang Ho Lee is an Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, College of Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea. He received his Ph.D. from the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include advanced HVAC system control.
Jiwon Park is a master’s student and Korea University, Seoul. She received her B.Arch at Korea University in 2022. She is currently a visiting scholar in the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division at Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory (LBNL). Her main concern in the building technology field is building energy optimization and human comfort.
Jaehwan Cha is a master’s student at Korea University, Seoul. He received his B.Arch at Korea University in 2023. His research interests include building energy management systems and mechanical systems of buildings. In addition, Jaehwan is passionate about improving buildings’ energy efficiency and sustainability and has gained practical experience through internships and extracurricular activities.
Sang Hoon Lee is a senior scientific engineering associate in the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. in Building Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a LEED-accredited professional with USGBC and a Facility Management Professional with IFMA. His current research focuses on building energy modeling and simulation methods in various fidelities for various energy efficiency, resiliency, sustainability, indoor thermal comfort, and environmental analysis.