A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO ANALYSIS AND IDENTIFICATION OF CONTROLS-RELATED ENERGY INEFFICIENCY

摘要

Because buildings consume in excess of one third of endusernenergy in the U.S., the U.S. Environmental ProtectionrnAgency (EPA) has designed and promoted severalrnprograms for the purposes of increasing energy efficiencyrnin the building sector. An EPA study showed that the siternenergy intensity of Energy Star labeled buildings was 44rnpercent lower than that of average commercial buildings.rnWhile substantial energy efficiency has been achieved duernto the labeling program, the malfunction of componentsrnassociated with the control system has been found to be therncause for inefficient energy operation of some buildingrnheating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.rnAs identified by EPA, the building control malfunctionsrncreate negative impacts on indoor environmental qualityrnincluding thermal comfort and air quality. The objective ofrnthis study is to discuss how the controls-related problemsrnthat cause energy inefficiency are analyzed and identified.rnIt is found that such problems can be categorized intornhardware, software, and human factor categories. Thernhardware problems are divided into four sub-categoriesrnidentified as input devices, controllers, controlled devices,rnand communications. The software problems are classifiedrninto four sub-categories, namely, input/outputrnimplementation, programming, operation system, and datarnmanagement. The human factor problems are dividedrnamong four sub-categories identified as operator error,rnoperator unawareness, operator interference, and operatorrnindifference. The results from studying numerous casernstudies are reported.