Low energy buildings have attracted lots of attention in recent years. Most of the research is focused on the building construction or alternative energy sources. In contrary, this paper presents a general methodology of minimizing energy consumption using current energy sources and minimal...

In this paper, a method for determining the optimum use of a superheater and/or recuperator in a binary geothermal power plant is developed. Additionally, a multi-objective optimization algorithm is developed to intelligently explore the trade-off between specific work output and specific heat...

This paper investigates the potential for coordinated control of a large number of residential air conditioning systems to achieve substantial reductions in peak electricity demand. To do so, an extensive data set including home energy audits, homeowner surveys, and electricity meter...

In this paper we deal with the problem of efficiently optimizing microgrid operations while satisfying a time-varying request and operation constraints. Microgrids are subsystems of the distribution grid comprising sufficient generating resources to operate in isolation from the main grid, in a...

This paper investigates the potential of using occupancy information to realize a more energy efficient building climate control. The study focuses on Swiss office buildings equipped with Integrated Room Automation (IRA), i.e. the integrated control of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning...

This paper defines and simulates a closed-loop optimal control strategy for load shifting in a plant that is charged for electricity on both time-of-use (TOU) and maximum demand (MD). A model predictive control approach is used to implement the closed-loop optimal control model, and the...

Thermal comfort is an important concern in the energy efficiency improvement of commercial buildings. Thermal comfort research focuses mostly on temperature control, but humidity control is an important aspect to maintain indoor comfort too. In this paper, an optimal humidity control model...

This paper describes an approach to the formulation of a model-based predictive control (MPC) algorithm for the cooling plant of a building under a time-dependent electricity price profile. The mechanical system includes a three-stage chiller and an ice bank used for thermal energy storage...

Modern control methods such as Model Predictive Control (MPC) are getting popular in recent years in many fields of industry. One of the branches that have witnessed great increase of interest in use of the MPC over the last few years is the building climate control area. According to the...

We propose several control algorithms and compare their performance and complexity through simulations; the control algorithms regulate the indoor climate of commercial buildings. The goal of these control algorithms is to use occupancy information to reduce energy use—over conventional...