Energy management system (building management)

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An Energy Management System is, in the context of energy conservation, a computer system which is designed specifically for the automated control and monitoring of those electromechanical facilities in a building which yield significant energy consumption such as heating, ventilation and lighting installations. The scope may span from a single building to a group of buildings such as university campuses, office buildings, retail stores networks or factories. Most of these energy management systems also provide facilities for the reading of electricity, gas and water meters. The data obtained from these can then be used to perform self-diagnostic and optimization routines on a frequent basis and to produce trend analysis and annual consumption forecasts. [1] [2]

Contents

Energy management systems are also often commonly used by individual commercial entities to monitor, measure, and control their electrical building loads. Energy management systems can be used to centrally control devices like HVAC units and lighting systems across multiple locations, such as retail, grocery and restaurant sites. Energy management systems can also provide metering, submetering, and monitoring functions that allow facility and building managers to gather data and insight that allows them to make more informed decisions about energy activities across their sites.

Smart Energy Management System (SEMS) usually refers to energy management systems capable of dynamically adapting and efficiently managing new energy scenatrios with minimal human intervention through the use of artificial intelligence. These systems typically include self-supervised learning (SSL) machine learning models for energy consumption and generation forecasting which allows for better planning of the operation of energy infrastructure. The models also typically take into account energy price data and through the use of mathematical optimization algorithms (typically linear programming) are able to minimize the energy costs of a given system.

Smart Energy Management Systems (SEMS) are used in both residential sector, such as SoliTek NOVA [3] and in commercial/insdustrial applications of various types [4] . SEMS plays a key role in most smart grid concepts as it enables use cases such as virtual power plants and demand response [5] .

As electric vehicle (EV) charging becomes more popular smaller residential devices that manage when an EV can charge based on the total load vs total capacity of an electrical service are becoming popular. [6] The global energy management system market is projected to grow exponentially over the next 10–15 years.

Protocols

In residential settings, the S2 Standard was developed in 2010. [7] The S2 Standard provides a standard communication protocol, enabling communication between smart devices and an EMS. It is an open source protocol for the energy management of energy intensive devices found in the build environment, such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, batteries, (hybrid) heat pumps and white goods. It is built in such a way that it can work with any flexible device from any manufacturer, and that it would work for any energy management use case. The standard was ratified as a European standard by the European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization (CENELEC) in 2018, in the form of the EN 50491–12 series. [8] [9]

An EMS can provide energy efficiency through process optimization by reporting on granular energy use by individual pieces of equipment. Newer, cloud-based energy management systems provide the ability to remotely control HVAC and other energy-consuming equipment; gather detailed, real-time data for each piece of equipment; and generate intelligent, specific, real-time guidance on finding and capturing the most compelling savings opportunities. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power-line communication</span> Type of network

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy conservation</span> Reducing energy consumption

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demand response</span> Techniques used to prevent power networks from being overwhelmed

Demand response is a change in the power consumption of an electric utility customer to better match the demand for power with the supply. Until the 21st century decrease in the cost of pumped storage and batteries, electric energy could not be easily stored, so utilities have traditionally matched demand and supply by throttling the production rate of their power plants, taking generating units on or off line, or importing power from other utilities. There are limits to what can be achieved on the supply side, because some generating units can take a long time to come up to full power, some units may be very expensive to operate, and demand can at times be greater than the capacity of all the available power plants put together. Demand response, a type of energy demand management, seeks to adjust in real-time the demand for power instead of adjusting the supply.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Building science</span>

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Energy Management Software (EMS) is a general term and category referring to a variety of energy-related software applications which may provide utility bill tracking, real-time metering, building HVAC and lighting control systems, building simulation and modeling, carbon and sustainability reporting, IT equipment management, demand response, and/or energy audits. Managing energy can require a system of systems approach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hassan Farhangi</span>

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Occupant-centric building controls or Occupant-centric controls (OCC) is a control strategy for the indoor environment, that specifically focuses on meeting the current needs of building occupants while decreasing building energy consumption. OCC can be used to control lighting and appliances, but is most commonly used to control heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). OCC use real-time data collected on indoor environmental conditions, occupant presence and occupant preferences as inputs to energy system control strategies. By responding to real-time inputs, OCC is able to flexibly provide the proper level of energy services, such as heating and cooling, when and where it is needed by occupants. Ensuring that building energy services are provided in the right quantity is intended to improve occupant comfort while providing these services only at the right time and in the right location is intended to reduce overall energy use.

References

  1. ↑ "Advanced Sensors and Controls for Building Applications: Market Assessment and Potential R&D Pathways (Brambley 2005)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  2. ↑ "Energy Consumption Characteristics of Commercial Building HVAC SystemsVolume III: Energy Savings Potential (Roth 2002)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  3. ↑ "Smart Plan B – Home Battery SoliTek Nova". www.solitek.eu. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  4. ↑ "AGreatE Global Locations and BESS Distribution Offices". AGreatE. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  5. ↑ "Demand response". IEA. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  6. ↑ "EV Charging Electrical Energy Manager". Black Box Innovations. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  7. ↑ "Home". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  8. ↑ "NEN-EN 50491-12-2:2022 en". www.nen.nl. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  9. ↑ "CENELEC - CLC/TC 205". standards.cencenelec.eu. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  10. ↑ S. G. Liasi and S. M. T. Bathaee, "Optimizing microgrid using demand response and electric vehicles connection to microgrid," 2017 Smart Grid Conference (SGC), Tehran, 2017, pp. 1-7.
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