I-Corps: Energy conservation network software that simultaneously audits, monitors, and manages energy use in buildings in real-time

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the potential development of an energy conservation network software for improved energy management of commercial buildings. Buildings account for nearly 40% of the US's total energy consumption. The proposed technology is software that simultaneously audits, monitors, and manages a building’s energy use and its distributed energy resources in real-time. The auditing application periodically computes a comprehensive audit analysis based on the ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) standard, then automatically recommends potential energy savings measures. The monitoring application could provide device-level and aggregated real-time measurements of all building power-consuming equipment. The management application could accurately forecast building thermal comforts and optimizes building operational power demands for efficient load shedding plans and demand response activities. In addition, the applications are designed for easy control of all Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in any building. These functionalities may create opportunities for energy savings, efficiency gains, and incentivized building–grid operations, which may benefit utility providers and consumers. This I-Corps project is based on the potential development of an energy conservation network software that may improve the energy management of commercial buildings. The proposed technology includes three functionalities including an auditing functionality using pattern recognition to determine anomalies in building equipment operation and a database of major equipment and appliance manufacturers to recommend replacements and compute potential savings. Management functionality is based on an advanced building thermal dynamics model and a model-predictive optimization algorithm that may predict hour ahead thermal comforts and optimal temperature setpoints as well as a simplified display of predicted building zone temperature. The monitoring functionality employs smart equipment sensors in a configurable mesh design to potentially provide real-time, device-level and aggregated monitoring of equipment data using a simplified internet-based communication architecture that eliminates proprietary equipment within the building automation system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.