Possibilities of Energy Efficiency Experimental Research Using MLBE Building’s Automation and Control System

Abstract

Due to the increasing requirements in the field of buildings’ energy saving, impossible to meet only due to the thermal insulation of the building envelope, it is necessary to pay attention to the energy efficiency of technical installations and application of automatic control systems. Computer simulations on the building structure or functioning of its individual installations in the context of limiting its energy consumption, performed by Design Builder – type computer programs, are a very useful tool. However, in the case of simulation studies on the impact of automatic control systems on energy efficiency, the results are often overly optimistic – they are overestimated in comparison to results achieved in actual environments. Therefore, the results obtained should be validated in an actual environment. This paper presents the Małopolska Laboratory of Energy Efficient Building (MLBE) of Cracow University of Technology, which provides an opportunity to perform experimental actual scale research of building automation systems to improve buildings energy efficiency and occupants’ comfort. This paper includes a detailed description of MLBE’s building automation and control system. Furthermore, this paper presents possibilities and an example methodology of energy efficiency’s experimental study using BACS system.