tools for improving energy efficiency in buildings
Buildings are
increasingly technologically sophisticated; however, a transactive approach and
platform to coordinate energy systems allowing building owners and grid service
providers to participate in a shared energy economy that efficiently utilizes
and conserves resources, as well as deliver energy-efficiency services, has yet
to be attained.
homes and commercial buildings account for
40 percent of total primary energy consumption
Manufacturers of
building equipment and appliances have developed proprietary platforms that
provide limited forms of transactive communication and interfaces, however these
platforms are narrowly applied and are not compatible with equipment and
appliances from other manufacturers.
Distributed control
and sensing software platforms are designed to manage a wide range of
applications, including HVAC systems, electric vehicles, distributed-energy and
whole building loads. Software agents
allow communication between the power grid and physical devices or systems in a
building to coordinate energy use and shift energy loads to off-peak times; also,
communication between devices within a building and between buildings to
facilitate the delivery of energy-efficiency services to buildings.
best practices for use in the small and
medium-sized commercial buildings market
Transactional Energy
integrates the concepts of transaction-based energy and transaction-based
control with a market platform whereby:
transactions are
negotiated exchanges of products, services, and rights enabling value allocations;
controls are
means of executing transactions through automatic control of building equipment
and other energy systems in response to data and value streams;
applications
include capabilities, such as mobility, communications, autonomy and
self-organization. Transaction-based
energy is a structure that combines information, data and energy
infrastructure to enable energy-based transactions and services for energy
providers and customers and balance all energy needs against available
resources.
Transaction-based frameworks describe the digital infrastructure, hardware and communications
network that enables the trade of goods and services between participating
parties, leading to a better use of available resources and a more efficient
power system.
Building diagnostic and controls, primarily in the commercial buildings sector, are being developed
and deployed, with application-based systems implementing strategies, that
increase efficiency levels while improving resource allocation. Building
controls and algorithms can also be part of retrofits in existing buildings,
resulting in energy savings over time through improved operation and
maintenance.
The introduction
of sensors and controls, as well as information technology and communication
protocols between the buildings and the electric grid, has led to digitized
sensing, metering, controls and communication. This smart grid revolution is
adding intelligence to the energy ecosystem, allowing power generators and grid
operators to see the system at unprecedented levels of granularity. Added to
these developments is the proliferation of photovoltaic cells, small-scale
natural gas generators, as well as other distributed generation sources; giving
building owners additional opportunities to reduce their energy costs and
increase the reliability of their supply.
buildings as dispatchable assets that
absorb fluctuations of intermittent renewable energy
Transaction-based building controls realize benefits by enabling automatic, market-based intra-building
efficiency optimizations on a larger scale and beyond via interactions between
various components in a complex energy system controlled by negotiating
immediate and contingent contracts on a regular basis in addition to the
conventional command and control pattern.
Existing buildings
retrofits with transaction-based automatic fault detection and diagnostics and
controls technologies on various types of commercial equipment provide insights
into current and projected energy use, comfort preferences of tenants and
generation capacity from distributed resources. This added technology base
fulfills two main purposes:
owners and tenants
benefit from the diagnostics, commissioning and retuning capabilities;
sensing and metering
technology provide building-specific advice to owners, outlining return on
investments and timescales for efficiency upgrades or calculate energy
wasted per year.
Transaction-based controls
provide specific advice for occupants willing to trade comfort and convenience
by adjusting thermostat settings by letting temperatures fluctuate within a
pre-determined band and getting compensated for the change:
End-user services include
building diagnostics and valuations, which support the operations and
maintenance of end-use assets while managing overall customer comfort and
convenience.
Market services support the
efficient utilization of resources and assets by helping customers modify their
energy consumption behavior through mechanisms such as time-of-use and
real-time pricing.
Grid services include
ancillary or regulatory services, such as equipment power quality related
performance modification that buildings could provide using transactive
mechanisms, with compensation through new contracts or tariffs.
Social services may include
participation in energy efficiency or emissions cap-and-trade markets using
transactive mechanisms.
Connect with Tema
For Transaction-based Energy Systems
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