Understanding Energy Efficiency as a Dynamic Resource In the Built Environment

Effectively managing the thermal equilibrium of a building using dynamic modulation is a complex process that requires continuously optimizing energy flow to ensure occupant comfort and maximum energy efficiency. The first steps towards maintaining a building at equilibrium are to calculate its energy leak rate and determine the ideal HVAC system settings to ensure optimal levels for the power-to-thermal load relationship.

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However, both the energy leak rate and the power-to-thermal load relationship are themselves dynamic, which means that they change over time as the various factors that impact energy flow change over time, including occupancy, weather conditions, and demand.

Maintaining energy balance requires calculating all of the energy flowing into the building, including purchased energy and appliances, lighting, and people, and then balancing those inputs with thermal losses due to such factors as ventilation, infiltration, and drain water. But these factors are dynamic, not static, so the thermal equation for a building—and each building has its own unique equation—is constantly changing as conditions change. As a result, effectively maintaining a building at balanced thermal equilibrium also requires finding ways to accurately predict how these inputs and outputs change over time and to ensure that all systems react to these predicted changes in the best possible way…

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