Quantifying the human-building interaction: Considering the active, adaptive occupant in building performance simulation
Authored by Jin Wen, Jared Langevin, Patrick L Gurian
Date Published: 2016
DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.09.026
Sponsors:
United States National Science Foundation (NSF)
Platforms:
EnergyPlus
MATLAB
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Flow charts
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
This paper introduces a Human and Building Interaction Toolkit (HABIT)
for simulating the thermally adaptive behaviors and comfort of office
occupants alongside building energy consumption. The toolkit uses the
Building Controls Virtual Test Bed (BCVTB) to co-simulate a
field-tested, agent-based behavior model with an EnergyPlus medium
office model. The usefulness of the toolkit is demonstrated through a
series of zone and building-level case study simulations that examine
the wisdom of pairing local heating and cooling options with strategic
thermostat set point offsets, judging from the energy, Indoor
Environmental Quality (IEQ), and cost perspectives.
Results generally suggest that trading efficient local heating/cooling
options for whole space conditioning has both energy and comfort
benefits, saving up to 28\% of monthly HVAC energy while improving the
acceptability of thermal conditions in a Philadelphia climate.
Nevertheless, cost analysis shows that the fuel source of conserved
energy must be considered- particularly in the case of personal heater
use, which adds to electric plug loads and associated utility and CO2
emissions,cost penalties. Moreover, costs from even small changes in
simulated occupant productivity tend to overwhelm energy costs, suggesting the need to improve the accuracy and precision of available
productivity models across multiple seasons and climates. (C) 2015
Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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