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Net-zero energy building clusters emulator for energy planning and operation evaluation
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Net-zero energy building clusters emulator for energy planning and operation evaluation

Xiwang Li and Jin Wen
Computers, environment and urban systems, v 62
Mar 2017
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2016.09.007View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (Publisher-Specific) Open

Abstract

Co-simulation Distributed energy systems Net-zero building cluster Net-zero buildings Smart grids
The emergence of smart grids, Net-zero energy buildings, and advanced building energy demand response technologies continuously drives the needs for better design and operation strategies for buildings and distributed energy systems. It is envisioned that similar to micro-communities in a human society, neighboring buildings will have the tendency to form a building cluster, an open cyber-physical system to exploit the economic opportunities provided by smart grids and distributed energy systems. To realize this building cluster envision, it requires better urban energy planning and operation control strategies to determine which type of buildings should be clustered and what operation strategies should be implemented to fully utilize the potential in load aggregation, load shifting, and resource allocation. However, most of the current tools are focusing on single buildings or devices, which are not suitable for building cluster studies. To this end, this study proposes to develop a Net-zero building cluster emulator that can simulate realistic energy behaviors of a cluster of buildings and their distributed energy devices as well as exchange operation data and control schemes with real-world building control systems. The developed emulator has the flexibility to integrate with different buildings and distributed energy systems to study the performance of this building cluster to propose suggestions in urban energy planning and operation. To show the application of this emulator, a proof-of-concept demonstration is also presented in this paper. •Proposed and developed a Net-zero building cluster emulator using robust simulation models.•Connected all the simulation models and realized the information exchanging among all this simulation modules.•Demonstrated a proof-of-concept operation test and verified the module connection and information exchanging.

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42 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#13 Climate Action
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
#7 Affordable and Clean Energy

InCites Highlights

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Engineering, Environmental
Environmental Studies
Geography
Operations Research & Management Science
Regional & Urban Planning
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