Simulation-Assisted Management and Control Over Building Energy Efficiency – A Case Study

The specific aim of this research paper is to demonstrate how much energy use will be reduced if the simulation -assisted building energy management and control system is applied to a representative large office building. The methodology applied includes: (1) choosing an appropriate building simulation software to assess energy savings, (2) selecting a representative building and then creating the building model for simulation, (3) identifying the year with available weather data and actual building energy consumption data for the building selected, and then calibrating the simulation model using the actual building energy consumption, (4) selecting proper energy-saving strategies and applying them to obtain hourly energy use for a day. The optimal temperature schedule that saves the most energy was identified. Cost effectiveness studies were performed to evaluate how much annual energy saving has been achieved by using the management and control optimization strategy and how long it will pay back.