![]() ![]() Therefore, an optimum occupant presence schedule may significantly reduce the overall energy consumption of buildings. There are, however, other dominant parameters for the energy consumption of HVAC systems, but studies show that controlling the attendance time of people can be effective in managing building energy consumption, , ]. The presence of occupants in buildings is one of the most important parameters in the buildings that affect the energy consumption of HVAC systems. In this context, according to the United States Energy Information Agency (EIA), HVAC systems are responsible for about 42% of the electricity consumption in commercial buildings in the U.S. Since buildings account for 30%–40% of society's energy demand, they have the potential to alleviate the worldwide energy-related issues. Furthermore, it was concluded that virtual learning is an excellent approach in universities to control the number of infections and energy consumption.Ĭlimate change, environmental issues, and the energy crisis has made energy management more important than before. It was concluded that an optimal population distribution can reduce the number of infected people by up to 56% and energy consumption by 32%. Results of this optimization algorithm for 5 consequent winter and summer days, represent optimum occupant distribution patterns, associated with minimum energy consumption and COVID-19 infected people for winter and summer.īuilding air exchange rate, class duration, and working hours of the university, as the COVID-19 controlling approaches were studied, and promising results have been obtained. Energy consumption is evaluated by EnergyPlus, then it is supplied to the algorithm through a co-simulation communication between EnergyPlus and MATLAB. This multi-objective optimization problem, with the objective functions of energy consumption and COVID-19 infected people, is solved by NSGA-II algorithm. This study aims to seek the optimum occupant distribution patterns that account for the lowest number of infected people and minimum energy consumption.Ī university building located in Tehran has been chosen as a case study, due to its flexibility in performing various occupant distribution patterns. Studies on the transmission of COVID-19 virus have indicated a direct relationship between occupant density and COVID-19 infection risk. ![]() HVAC systems energy consumption is highly dependent on the number of occupants. ![]() ![]() The occupant density in buildings is one of the major and overlooked parameters affecting the energy consumption and virus transmission risk in buildings. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |