Module C. Energy-efficient Buildings Control

Energy consumption in the buildings sector amounts to 40% of overall energy consumed in the world, and thereby buildings consume about 50% of energy on ensuring proper climate conditions in them. Since the process of energy system decarbonization demands that the energy consumption sector becomes controllable and predictable as much as possible, control of energy consumption in buildings, especially predictive control, becomes more and more important. In order to get the students acquainted with energy-efficient control in buildings, especially predictive control, the course elaborates the following topics. Structure of the building comfort-related systems. Building elements that are relevant for comfort control and their models: rooms/zones with respect to climate-comfort related variables -- temperature, CO2 concentration and humidity; actuators in zones – fan coils, radiators, surface heating/cooling, ventilation units; units for preparation and distribution of heating/cooling medium – heat pumps, heat exchangers, thermal storages and air handling units. Integration of thermal energy flows from building comfort systems with electrical energy flows, with a short overview of electrical generation/storage/consumption systems in buildings connected in a building microgrid. Simple energy- and cost-efficient control strategies for buildings climate-comfort on different control levels – zones, central heating/cooling medium preparation, building microgrid. Concept of predictive control on different control levels in buildings and underlying mathematical programming procedures.