Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds
Digitalization offers new, unprecedented possibilities to increase the energy efficiency and improve the indoor conditions in buildings in a cost-efficient way. Smart buildings are seen by many stakeholders as the way forward. Smart buildings feature advanced monitoring and control systems that allo...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Energies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/4955 |
| _version_ | 1797406639744090112 |
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| author | Davide Rolando Willem Mazzotti Pallard Marco Molinari |
| author_facet | Davide Rolando Willem Mazzotti Pallard Marco Molinari |
| author_sort | Davide Rolando |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Digitalization offers new, unprecedented possibilities to increase the energy efficiency and improve the indoor conditions in buildings in a cost-efficient way. Smart buildings are seen by many stakeholders as the way forward. Smart buildings feature advanced monitoring and control systems that allow a better control of the buildings’ indoor spaces, but it is becoming evident that the massive amount of data produced in smart buildings is rarely used. This work presents a long-term evaluation of a smart building testbed for one year; the building features state-of-the-art monitoring capability and local energy generation (PV). The analysis shows room for improving energy efficiency and indoor comfort due to non-optimal control settings; for instance, average indoor temperatures in all winter months were above 24 °C. The analysis of electricity and domestic hot water use has shown a relevant spread in average use, with single users consuming approximately four times more than the average users. The combination of CO<sub>2</sub> and temperature sensor was sufficient to pinpoint the anomalous operation of windows in wintertime, which has an impact on energy use for space heating. Although the quantification of the impact of users on the overall energy performance of the building was beyond the scope of this paper, this study showcases that modern commercial monitoring systems for buildings have the potential to identify anomalies. The evidence collected in the paper suggests that this data could be used to promote energy-efficient behaviors among building occupants and shows that cost-effective actions could be carried out if data generated by the monitoring and control systems were used more extensively. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:29:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-69330a5f6a6e488da270828e63f44bb9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:29:27Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-69330a5f6a6e488da270828e63f44bb92023-12-03T14:57:58ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732022-07-011514495510.3390/en15144955Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab TestbedsDavide Rolando0Willem Mazzotti Pallard1Marco Molinari2Energy Technology Department, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvägen 68, 100 44 Stockholm, SwedenEnergy Technology Department, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvägen 68, 100 44 Stockholm, SwedenEnergy Technology Department, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvägen 68, 100 44 Stockholm, SwedenDigitalization offers new, unprecedented possibilities to increase the energy efficiency and improve the indoor conditions in buildings in a cost-efficient way. Smart buildings are seen by many stakeholders as the way forward. Smart buildings feature advanced monitoring and control systems that allow a better control of the buildings’ indoor spaces, but it is becoming evident that the massive amount of data produced in smart buildings is rarely used. This work presents a long-term evaluation of a smart building testbed for one year; the building features state-of-the-art monitoring capability and local energy generation (PV). The analysis shows room for improving energy efficiency and indoor comfort due to non-optimal control settings; for instance, average indoor temperatures in all winter months were above 24 °C. The analysis of electricity and domestic hot water use has shown a relevant spread in average use, with single users consuming approximately four times more than the average users. The combination of CO<sub>2</sub> and temperature sensor was sufficient to pinpoint the anomalous operation of windows in wintertime, which has an impact on energy use for space heating. Although the quantification of the impact of users on the overall energy performance of the building was beyond the scope of this paper, this study showcases that modern commercial monitoring systems for buildings have the potential to identify anomalies. The evidence collected in the paper suggests that this data could be used to promote energy-efficient behaviors among building occupants and shows that cost-effective actions could be carried out if data generated by the monitoring and control systems were used more extensively.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/4955building energy performanceindoor environmental qualitymonitoring systembuilding system controlsmart building |
| spellingShingle | Davide Rolando Willem Mazzotti Pallard Marco Molinari Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds Energies building energy performance indoor environmental quality monitoring system building system control smart building |
| title | Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds |
| title_full | Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds |
| title_fullStr | Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds |
| title_short | Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds |
| title_sort | long term evaluation of comfort indoor air quality and energy performance in buildings the case of the kth live in lab testbeds |
| topic | building energy performance indoor environmental quality monitoring system building system control smart building |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/4955 |
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