Control strategies for decreasing energy costs and increasing self-consumption in nearly zero-energy buildings

This article presents an extensive evaluation which analyzes the contribution of several control methods to decreasing the energy consumption associated with heating and cooling of buildings and the contribution of the local energy production to minimizing energy costs in nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB). A set of three heating and cooling control methods is mixed with a set of cost-based optimum allocation of on-site energy production using linear programming, variable indoor temperature setpoint for following the production curve and a battery storage system. When designing nZEBs, the aim is not only to reduce the energy consumption, but also to reduce the lifecycle costs, and a big part of them is associated with energy needed for heating and cooling. nZEBs are supposed to have local renewable energy generation, which must be consumed in a cost optimal way for keeping the total lifecycle costs low. This research helps nZEB design collectives to assess the opportunity of implementing controls as the ones described in this study and policy makers to extrapolate the results and estimate how the energy consumption reduction targets can be reached by implementing such technologies. The analysis of the control strategies is made based on real buildings located in Bucharest, Romania.