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At least 199 records · Page 11

Evaluation of smart charging for electric vehicle-to-building integration: A case study

Higher electric vehicle (EV) adoption will stress the importance of demand flexibility to achieve more economic, efficient, and reliable grid operation. Charging technologies will be paramount in shifting temporally to better fit the variable generation of wind and solar. As such, analysis is warranted on the benefits of EV charge scheduling with respect to installation cost, operation cost, difficulty of implementation, and grid flexibility. We tackle this by analyzing the cost savings of implementing an EV charge scheduling infrastructure to reduce demand charges and installation costs. In this paper, we analyze a case study for operation of 16 level 2 chargers and 1 fast charger for two different building types. We then evaluate various test phases for controlling building and charging loads using an adaptive charging network (ACN) algorithm to characterize the ACN’s potential to reduce overall project cost.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

Enhancement of phase change material hysteresis model: A case study of modeling building envelope in EnergyPlus

Nowadays, buildings are expected to offer demand side services to the power grid to enhance the electrical load flexibility, which leads to the concepts of grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs). Phase change material (PCM)-based thermal energy storage has seen increasing attention in recent years for peak load shifting of grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs). Numerical models are critical tools for design and evaluation of PCM-integrated systems. Most industrial-grade PCMs are reported to melt/freeze over a temperature range instead of at a unique temperature. Such thermal hysteresis effect significantly affects the reliability of simulation results because not only the heat transfer process depends on melting and freezing temperatures, the PCM thermal properties change significantly during the phase change process as well. This study is aimed to develop a model for the PCMs used in the building envelope with the capability to accurately simulate hysteretic behaviors. Further, this model is based on a two-phase assumption and is implemented in a whole building energy performance simulation program (i.e., EnergyPlus). A comparison between numerical results and experimental data shows that during a complete phase transition, the two-phase model could achieve a good agreement with the experimental data. During a partial phase transition, the two-phase model could lead to significant improvements compared to other alternative PCM models, including the existing PCM model in EnergyPlus. Last, whole building simulations were performed to study this model's performance regarding heating/cooling loads and zone mean air temperature of a given building. The results show that the difference in hourly heating/cooling loads introduced by the models was less than 1% in design conditions, while significant changes were observed in both hourly heating/cooling loads and zone mean air temperature when the PCM envelope underwent partial phase transition processes.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

B654 Cooling Scheme Case Study [Slides]

Building 654 is physically located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). LLNL is located roughly 45 minutes to the east of San Francisco at the edge of the SF Bay Area. The footprint for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is roughly a square mile. Building 654 was built in 2016 as part of the Livermore Computing Group. Building 654 supports unclassified computing at LLNL.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Case Study: Leveraging GenAI to Build AI-based Surrogates and Regressors for Modeling Radio Frequency Heating in Fusion Energy Science

This work presents a detailed case study on using Generative AI (GenAI) to develop AI surrogates for simulation models in fusion energy research. The scope includes the methodology, implementation, and results of using GenAI to assist in model development and optimization, comparing these results with previous manually developed models.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Case Study: Leveraging GenAI to Build AI-based Surrogates and Regressors for Modeling Radio Frequency Heating in Fusion Energy Science

This work presents a detailed case study on using Generative AI (GenAI) to develop AI surrogates for simulation models in fusion energy research. The scope includes the methodology, implementation, and results of using GenAI to assist in model development and optimization, comparing these results with previous manually developed models.

Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)↗

Veterans Commissioning Training Program for Commercial Healthcare Facilities [Final Report]

This project was designed to develop a building energy training curriculum, with hopes for creating immediate, long-term job opportunities for returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans as energy commissioning agents within both public and private sectors. As part of this proposed effort, an online version of the curricula were developed in part using a modified version of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) Certified Building Commissioning Professional program. Case studies utilizing building information modeling (BIM) data from actual retrocommissioning projects and 3D gaming platform were developed as part of the curriculum. In addition to using materials from existing literature, the PIs also conducted scientific-based research on energy retrofitting related to building envelopes using numerical simulation approach. And the research findings and recommendation were incorporated in the developed curriculum. Currently, there are a lack of scientific-based guidance on envelope retrofitting practice. Many retrofitting practices were based on experiences, and are limited by the lack of scientific evidence. Existing retrofitting training material have limitations due to this missing piece. We have succeeded in producing some scientific evidence to guide and provide solutions to some building envelope design and retrofitting. The results from some of our research using computational fluid dynamics have demonstrated the feasibility of using our recommended solutions. Research results and findings were disseminated to the research and industry communities through conference papers (Appendix B) and presentations (Appendix C), and some results and findings were incorporated into the developed training curriculum (Appendix A).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Technology Solutions Case Study: Balancing Hydronic Systems in Multifamily Buildings, Chicago, Illinois

In multifamily building hydronic systems, temperature imbalance may be caused by undersized piping, improperly adjusted balancing valves, inefficient water temperature and flow levels, and owner/occupant interaction with the boilers, distribution and controls. The effects of imbalance include tenant discomfort, higher energy use intensity and inefficient building operation. In this case study , Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit and Elevate Energy. explores cost-effective distribution upgrades and balancing measures in multifamily hydronic systems, providing a resource to contractors, auditors, and building owners on best practices to improve tenant comfort and lower operating costs.

balance↗

Cloud-Control of Legacy Building Automation System: A case study

As Internet of Things devices and cloud-based platforms become more mature, Energy Management and Information Systems (EMIS) are increasingly gaining momentum in the building industry. In large commercial buildings, Fault-Detection and Diagnostic (FDD) and energy information systems (EIS) are now established technologies with tens of providers and thousands of deployment sites across North America. The new frontier for the EMIS technology is now represented by control systems that use advanced system optimization (ASO) methods to improve the operations of the HVAC system. Given the complexity of the integration of such systems with the existing building automation systems (BAS) and the higher risk involved with direct control of the HVAC, these systems are still emerging in the market. This paper presents the results of a project in which a start-up company partnered with a research institution to develop a cloud-based software EMIS solution and deployed it in a university campus in California. The software system included advanced sensing, data acquisition, storage and advanced control and analytics applications developed on top of the native BAS. The new platform controls ten buildings on the campus and the FDD and the ASO applications deployed on this platform were able to generate energy savings of up to 35% and 25% in certain buildings for each functionality respectively. Where the platform did not save energy, it improved building service (air quality). Lessons learned include the importance of collaborating with and training the building operators and evaluating whether the legacy system can work reliably with the new technology.

Prakash, Anand Krishnan↗

Roof-Mounted Solar Array -- Leased Building

This case study describes how WDT Indio retrofitted its 40-year-old, 32,000-square-foot building. It discusses how the company installed a 138-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array to offset 80% of the building's energy consumption, resulting in faster leasing due to high tenant demand for efficient spaces.

office, commercial, solar PV, roof-mounted, photov↗

A Big Role for Plugs: Getting to Zero - Plug Load Strategies for Zero Energy Buildings

This case study describes the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) renovation of the historic Wayne N. Aspinall Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse. It focuses on how GSA preserved the historic features and achieved Zero Energy Building status by reducing the building’s energy consumption, with a significant focus on reducing plug and process load energy use.

government, office, zero energy, plug loads, plug ↗

Implementing High-Efficiency Rooftop Units in Leased Buildings

This case study details a project completed by Efficiency Vermont to install 66 high-efficiency rooftop unit replacements on a large 140,000-square-foot office building, which realized 163 kW in electricity demand reduction and $93,000 annual utility cost savings.

utility, project financing, office building, comme↗

Applying Energy Data Tools to Inform the Valuation of Commercial Buildings

This case study describes a suite of free tools from DOE and EPA ENERGY STAR® and how users have applied them to enhance the value of commercial office building data through various aspects of energy and building performance. The tools addressed are EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, DOE’s Building Energy Asset Score, and DOE’s Building Performance Database.

energy data, commercial, office, data tools, comme↗