Accurate metering and billing of ambient loop systems

Abstract

• Accurate billing of ambient loop systems requires complex metering and billing strategy. • Tenants exchanging energy via an ambient loop offers potential energy savings. • Transparency of energy usage gives tenants control to reduce energy consumption. In order to reduce the operational energy consumption in the heating and cooling of buildings, the building industry is exploring methods of combining district heating and cooling networks where tenants’ premises are equipped with individual water source heat pumps. This has the potential to create an ambient loop where tenants can exchange heat with each other, and a main source of heating or cooling can top up the energy demand of the loop. A challenge that arises in such a system is how the landlord can accurately bill tenants when energy is shared between tenants via the landlord's services loop. This study takes a theoretical approach on one potential solution where the billing model is developed to use data from energy meters and electricity meters, analyze the operational modes of the components in the system and proportion the energy usage accordingly.