Business Processes and Comfort Demand for Energy Flexibility Analysis in Buildings

Stylianos K Karatzas,Athanasios P Chassiakos,Anastasios I Karameros

doi:10.3390/en13246561

Stylianos K Karatzas, Athanasios P Chassiakos + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en13246561

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Dec 12, 2020
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Patras

Abstract

Occupant behavior and business processes in a building environment constitute an inseparable set of important factors that drives energy consumption. Existing methodologies for building energy management lag behind in addressing these core parameters by focusing explicitly on the building’s structural components. Additional layers of information regarding indoor and outdoor environmental conditions and occupant behavior patterns, mostly driven by everyday business processes (schedules, loads, and specific business activities related to occupancy patterns and building operations), are necessary for the effective and efficient modeling of building energy performance in order to establish a holistic energy efficiency management framework. The aim of this paper was to develop a context-driven framework in which multiple levels of information regarding occupant behavior patterns resulting from everyday business processes were incorporated for efficient energy management in buildings. A preliminary framework evaluation was performed in a multifaceted university building involving a number of spaces, employees, business processes, and data from sensors and metering devices. The results derived by linking operational aspects and environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, and luminance) to occupant behavior underlying business processes and organizational structures indicated the potential energy savings: a max of 7.08% for Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), 19.46% for lighting and a maximum of 6.34% saving related to office appliances.

Highlights

Energy efficiency is considered to be a critical part of the European energy strategy supporting the key targets of the European Union (EU) 2020 energy policy
This paper proposes a context-driven energy management framework focusing on human factors and business processes hosted in the building
We developed a flexibility framework where information from the different layers of the building organization regarding consumption devices and equipment, environmental conditions, and occupant behavior patterns driven by everyday business processes were incorporated into the effective and efficient management of building energy performance

Summary

Introduction

Energy efficiency is considered to be a critical part of the European energy strategy supporting the key targets of the European Union (EU) 2020 energy policy. Buildings are a significant part of the urban ecosystem, which accounts about 40% of the European energy requirements [1]. Of the energy consumed within buildings applies during their operational phase [2], while 70% of this amount derives from occupant behaviors and automated control decisions related to the business processes hosted and executed according to the building’s operational plans [3]. An important aspect contributing to the variability of energy consumption in buildings is the management of the activities carried out in the building. Operational activities are an integral part of business processes, accounting for more than 30% of total energy consumption [4]. Among the various factors contributing to this variability is the behavior of end-users in the processes conducted in the building [1,5,6,7,8]

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