HVAC energy savings, thermal comfort and air quality for occupant-centric control through a side-by-side experimental study

Meng Kong, Bing Dong, Rongpeng Zhang and Zheng O'Neill

Applied Energy, 2022, vol. 306, issue PA, No S0306261921012903

Abstract: Building sensing technologies have evolved rapidly in the last two decades in aid of monitoring building environment and energy system performance. A series of occupancy sensing systems were developed to track the occupant behavior in the indoor space. Occupancy-based building system control is defined as a control method that adjusts the building system operation schedules and setpoints based on the measured occupant behavior and has been identified as a smart building control strategy that can improve building energy efficiency as well as occupant comfort. Some studies demonstrated energy-saving potential and comfort-maintaining capability from occupancy-based control. This study adopted a first-of-its-kind side-by-side experimental approach to quantify the performance of the occupancy-based control in commercial buildings. Three state-of-the-art occupancy sensing technologies were integrated into the real-time Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system control in this study. Their detection accuracy and its effectiveness on energy-saving and thermal comfort were analyzed. It was found that the occupancy-based control can maintain good thermal comfort and perceived indoor air quality with a satisfaction ratio greater than 80%. Although the daily energy-saving varied with occupancy sensor accuracy and outdoor environment conditions, the weekly averaged energy saving was between 17 and 24%.

Keywords: Occupancy sensing; Occupancy-based control; Side-by-side experiment; Energy savings; Thermal comfort; Indoor air quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.117987

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