Integrated Optimization of Energy Costs and Occupants’ Productivity in Commercial Buildings

Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) of an office has significant effect on the performance and productivity of its occupants. The level of occupants’ satisfaction from IEQ is generally expressed by their thermal comfort, indoor air quality and visual comfort. In order to provide acceptable comfort levels, timely energy-related decisions should be taken by energy management system. Several inputs that are changing continuously, such as energy prices, sets of indoor and outdoor environment parameters, occupants’ presence, activities and preferences are required for decision-making. Therefore, there is a need for a well-structured method to reach optimum decisions for energy costs and occupants’ IEQ. The main interest of this research is to propose a Multi-Objective Optimization (MOOP) method for energy and comfort management in commercial buildings. The proposed method is capable of providing situation-specific economic optimum indoor conditions, based on the combination of thermal comfort, indoor air quality and energy costs, as well as energy prices, occupancy information and types of occupants’ activities. The operation of proposed method is analyzed by annual energy performance simulation of a commercial building in Montreal, Canada. Based on the provide results, the proposed MOOP method is capable of improving productivity of occupants, by up to $1000 per year per person, while reaching energy savings objectives. It is observed that the potential for productivity improvement is higher during the swing and warm seasons, compared to the cold season.

کلیدواژه ها:

Energy Efficiency ، Integrated Building Control ، Building Simulation ، Productivity ، Thermal Comfort ، Indoor Air Quality ، Multi-Objective Optimization ، Energy Intelligent Building