An Approach for Energy Conservation Management Systems in Buildings

Making decisions about energy conservation options in buildings can be rather problematic as they involve several tradeoffs between project stakeholders. Furthermore, the level of details required in making a decision by building designer and project manager is different from that of building owners or investors. The former requires great details and technical knowledge that can be used to achieve desired energy conservation levels in the building. This is considered as Detailed Design Level, DDL. The later requires an abstract level of details for demonstrating the potential of different energy conservation scenarios to the clients or stakeholders in terms of cost and energy conservation levels. This is called the Client Demonstration Level, CDL. In this paper, we are proposing a two-level management system that can be used for supporting energy conservation decisions in buildings. The proposed system consists of four main parts; Energy Semantic Network, ESN, databases; a simulation and optimization module; risk- based LCA/LCC Module; and a user interface. The ESN database includes relevant data about building database, energy supply systems database, demands, and control network database. The proposed, two levels, system is a pilot system to deal with the scope difference in the problem formulation. For example, a macro-level, such as that of CDL, should present various energy conservation scenarios, their economic possessions (the scenario application costs) and their potential environmental benefits in an abstract level of details. Based on decisions made at the CDL, the designers can determine detailed design specifications that meet these decisions, such as the optimal sizing of the HVAC system, rigorous models considering the energy demand and supply control, life cycle costing optimization and environmental feasibilities and risks. A simple description of the system is presented here.