A Comparison of Economic MPC Formulations for Thermal Building Control

We investigate different formulations of economic model predictive control for thermal building control. Specifically, we study the trade-off of (possibly conflicting) objectives like temperature tracking, saving energy, and minimizing energy cost. We compare the proposed formulations to conventional proportional control for a modern office building. Our findings indicate that, if price incentives are sufficiently high, a concrete core activation system significantly increases the load shifting capabilities of office buildings.