scholarly journals Methodology for the Quantification of the Impact of Weather Forecasts in Predictive Simulation Models

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Lucas Segarra ◽  
Hu Du ◽  
Germán Ramos Ruiz ◽  
Carlos Fernández Bandera

The use of Building Energy Models (BEM) has become widespread to reduce building energy consumption. Projection of the model in the future to know how different consumption strategies can be evaluated is one of the main applications of BEM. Many energy management optimization strategies can be used and, among others, model predictive control (MPC) has become very popular nowadays. When using models for predicting the future, we have to assume certain errors that come from uncertainty parameters. One of these uncertainties is the weather forecast needed to predict the building behavior in the near future. This paper proposes a methodology for quantifying the impact of the error generated by the weather forecast in the building’s indoor climate conditions and energy demand. The objective is to estimate the error introduced by the weather forecast in the load forecasting to have more precise predicted data. The methodology employed site-specific, near-future forecast weather data obtained through online open access Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The weather forecast providers supply forecasts up to 10 days ahead of key weather parameters such as outdoor temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction. This approach uses calibrated EnergyPlus models to foresee the errors in the indoor thermal behavior and energy demand caused by the increasing day-ahead weather forecasts. A case study investigated the impact of using up to 7-day weather forecasts on mean indoor temperature and energy demand predictions in a building located in Pamplona, Spain. The main novel concepts in this paper are: first, the characterization of the weather forecast error for a specific weather data provider and location and its effect in the building’s load prediction. The error is calculated based on recorded hourly data so the results are provided on an hourly basis, avoiding the cancel out effect when a wider period of time is analyzed. The second is the classification and analysis of the data hour-by-hour to provide an estimate error for each hour of the day generating a map of hourly errors. This application becomes necessary when the building takes part in the day-ahead programs such as demand response or flexibility strategies, where the predicted hourly load must be provided to the grid in advance. The methodology developed in this paper can be extrapolated to any weather forecast provider, location or building.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Lucas Segarra ◽  
Germán Ramos Ruiz ◽  
Vicente Gutiérrez González ◽  
Antonis Peppas ◽  
Carlos Fernández Bandera

The use of building energy models (BEMs) is becoming increasingly widespread for assessing the suitability of energy strategies in building environments. The accuracy of the results depends not only on the fit of the energy model used, but also on the required external files, and the weather file is one of the most important. One of the sources for obtaining meteorological data for a certain period of time is through an on-site weather station; however, this is not always available due to the high costs and maintenance. This paper shows a methodology to analyze the impact on the simulation results when using an on-site weather station and the weather data calculated by a third-party provider with the purpose of studying if the data provided by the third-party can be used instead of the measured weather data. The methodology consists of three comparison analyses: weather data, energy demand, and indoor temperature. It is applied to four actual test sites located in three different locations. The energy study is analyzed at six different temporal resolutions in order to quantify how the variation in the energy demand increases as the time resolution decreases. The results showed differences up to 38% between annual and hourly time resolutions. Thanks to a sensitivity analysis, the influence of each weather parameter on the energy demand is studied, and which sensors are worth installing in an on-site weather station are determined. In these test sites, the wind speed and outdoor temperature were the most influential weather parameters.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pouriya Jafarpur

The study describes the results of climate change impact assessment on building energy use in Toronto, Canada. Accordingly, three future weather data sets are generated and applied to the energy simulation of 16 building prototypes. Both statistical and dynamical downscaling techniques are used to generate the future weather files. The results indicate an average decrease for the future in the range of 18-33% in heating EUI, and an average increase of 16-126% in cooling EUI, depending on the baseline climate and building type. In addition, the GHG emissions for each building model are presented. It is concluded that the application of future weather files for building performance simulation leads to a better quantification of building energy demand in the future than a historical weather file. Furthermore, the results demonstrate the need to modify and adapt existing building modelling regulations and to plan future building according to the future climate.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krarti Ahmed ◽  
Luis E. Ortiz ◽  
J. E. González

Buildings in major metropolitan centers face increased peak electrical load during the warm season, especially during extreme heat events. City-wide, the increased demand for space cooling can stress the grid, increasing generation costs. It is therefore imperative to better understand building energy consumption profiles at the city scale. This understanding is not only paramount for users to avoid peak demand charges but also for utilities to improve load management. This study aims to develop a city-scale energy demand forecasting tool using high resolution weather data interfaced with a single building energy model. The forecasting tool was tested in New York City (NYC) due to the availability of building morphology data. We identified 51 building archetypes, based on the building function (residential, educational, or office), the age of the building, and the land use type. The single building simulation software used is energyplus which was coupled to an urbanized weather research and forecasting (uWRF) model for weather forecast input. Individual buildings were linked to the archetypes and scaled using the building total floor area. The single building energy model is coupled to the weather model resulting in energy maps of the city. These maps provide an energy end-use profile for NYC for total and individual components including lighting, equipment and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC). The methodology was validated with single building energy data for a particular location, and with city-scale electric load archives, showing good agreements in both cases.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pouriya Jafarpur

The study describes the results of climate change impact assessment on building energy use in Toronto, Canada. Accordingly, three future weather data sets are generated and applied to the energy simulation of 16 building prototypes. Both statistical and dynamical downscaling techniques are used to generate the future weather files. The results indicate an average decrease for the future in the range of 18-33% in heating EUI, and an average increase of 16-126% in cooling EUI, depending on the baseline climate and building type. In addition, the GHG emissions for each building model are presented. It is concluded that the application of future weather files for building performance simulation leads to a better quantification of building energy demand in the future than a historical weather file. Furthermore, the results demonstrate the need to modify and adapt existing building modelling regulations and to plan future building according to the future climate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 06056
Author(s):  
Kuo-Tsang Huang ◽  
Yu-Teng Weng ◽  
Ruey-Lung Hwang

These future building energy studies mainly stem from hourly based dynamic building simulation results with the future weather data. The reliability of the future building energy forecast heavily relies on the accuracy of these future weather data. The global circulation models (GCMs) provided by IPCC are the major sources for constructing future weather data. However, there are uncertainties existed among them even with the same climate change scenarios. There is a need to develop a method on how to select the suitable GCM for local application. This research firstly adopted principal component analysis (PCA) method in choosing the suitable GCM for application in Taiwan, and secondly the Taiwanese hourly future meteorological data sets were constructed based on the selected GCM by morphing method. Thirdly, the future cooling energy consumption of an actual office building in the near (2011-2040), the mid (2041-2070), and the far future (2071-2100), were analysed. The results show that NorESM1-M GCM has the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) as opposed to the other GCMs, and was identified as the suitable GCM for further future climate generation processing. The building simulation against the future weather datasets revealed that the average cooling energy use intensity (EUIc) in Taipei will be increased by 12%, 17%, and 34% in the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s, respectively, as compared to the current climate.


Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 574
Author(s):  
Muhammad Hilal Khan ◽  
Azzam Ul Asar ◽  
Nasim Ullah ◽  
Fahad R. Albogamy ◽  
Muhammad Kashif Rafique

Energy consumption in buildings is expected to increase by 40% over the next 20 years. Electricity remains the largest source of energy used by buildings, and the demand for it is growing. Building energy improvement strategies is needed to mitigate the impact of growing energy demand. Introducing a smart energy management system in buildings is an ambitious yet increasingly achievable goal that is gaining momentum across geographic regions and corporate markets in the world due to its potential in saving energy costs consumed by the buildings. This paper presents a Smart Building Energy Management system (SBEMS), which is connected to a bidirectional power network. The smart building has both thermal and electrical power loops. Renewable energy from wind and photo-voltaic, battery storage system, auxiliary boiler, a fuel cell-based combined heat and power system, heat sharing from neighboring buildings, and heat storage tank are among the main components of the smart building. A constraint optimization model has been developed for the proposed SBEMS and the state-of-the-art real coded genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem. The main characteristics of the proposed SBEMS are emphasized through eight simulation cases, taking into account the various configurations of the smart building components. In addition, EV charging is also scheduled and the outcomes are compared to the unscheduled mode of charging which shows that scheduling of Electric Vehicle charging further enhances the cost-effectiveness of smart building operation.


Author(s):  
K. Lin ◽  
W. Zhai ◽  
S. Huang ◽  
Z. Liu

Abstract. The impact of future climate change on the runoff for the Dongjiang River basin, South China, has been investigated with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). First, the SWAT model was applied in the three sub-basins of the Dongjiang River basin, and calibrated for the period of 1970–1975, and validated for the period of 1976–1985. Then the hydrological response under climate change and land use scenario in the next 40 years (2011–2050) was studied. The future weather data was generated by using the weather generators of SWAT, based on the trend of the observed data series (1966–2005). The results showed that under the future climate change and LUCC scenario, the annual runoff of the three sub-basins all decreased. Its impacts on annual runoff were –6.87%, –6.54%, and –18.16% for the Shuntian, Lantang, and Yuecheng sub-basins respectively, compared with the baseline period 1966–2005. The results of this study could be a reference for regional water resources management since Dongjiang River provides crucial water supplies to Guangdong Province and the District of Hong Kong in China.


Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javanroodi ◽  
M.Nik

Urbanization trends have changed the morphology of cities in the past decades. Complex urban areas with wide variations in built density, layout typology, and architectural form have resulted in more complicated microclimate conditions. Microclimate conditions affect the energy performance of buildings and bioclimatic design strategies as well as a high number of engineering applications. However, commercial energy simulation engines that utilize widely-available mesoscale weather data tend to underestimate these impacts. These weather files, which represent typical weather conditions at a location, are mostly based on long-term metrological observations and fail to consider extreme conditions in their calculation. This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of hourly microclimate data in typical and extreme climate conditions on the energy performance of an office building in two different urban areas. Results showed that the urban morphology can reduce the wind speed by 27% and amplify air temperature by more than 14%. Using microclimate data, the calculated outside surface temperature, operating temperature and total energy demand of buildings were notably different to those obtained using typical regional climate model (RCM)–climate data or available weather files (Typical Meteorological Year or TMY), i.e., by 61%, 7%, and 21%, respectively. The difference in the hourly peak demand during extreme weather conditions was around 13%. The impact of urban density and the final height of buildings on the results are discussed at the end of the paper.


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