The Future of Buildings

Jud Virden

Associate Laboratory Director

2

Lighting controls and color rendition Building controls with deep learning Healthy buildings

3

Three examples: healthy, efficient, productive

Nursing home studies showed that

controllable lighting reduces

agitation 41% and reduces

nighttime sleep disturbances 50%.

Achieved 50% savings in a real-

world field trial of data-driven

control methodologies combined

with deep learning.

Comfortable buildings increase

occupant productivity by 5.7% and

reduce absenteeism 37%.

————————————————————————————

Drgoňa, J. (2019). Stripping off the implementation complexity of

physics-based model predictive control for buildings via deep

learning.

————————————————————————————

Miller, N. (2019). Measuring Light Exposure and its Effects on

Sleep and Behavior in Care Center Residents.

Royer, M. (2019). Experimental validation of color rendition

specification criteria based on ANSI/IES TM-30-18.

————————————————————————————

Wang, N. (2020). Energy and Health Nexus: Making the Case for

Building Energy Efficiency Considerations of Occupant Health

and Productivity.

June 19, 2020

4

Thinking about healthy… a framework

• Integrate occupants’ productivity and wellbeing with energy efficiency measures

• Quantify potential financial benefits of technology

• Develop a “program-in-a-box” to help facility managers make informed decisions about building

retrofits and operation

June 19, 2020

Wang, N. (2020). Energy and Health Nexus: Making the Case for Building Energy Efficiency Considerations of Occupant Health and Productivity.

Image source: https://blogs.solidworks.com/solidworksblog/2020/04/covid-19-simulation-and-computational-fluid-dynamics.html

New $3.3M DOE program to better understand viral fate and transport for COVID-19

• Study aerosol transport within and between rooms and in building HVAC systems using simulation and field experiment

• Quantify risk of infection under different conditions (occupant density, humidity, outdoor air ventilation rates, airflow management between spaces, filtration)

• Understand virus transmission via various materials and water systems

National Labs:

Ames, ANL, BNL, LANL, LBNL, LLNL, ORNL, PNNL, SLAC, SRNL, SNL

6

LBNL’s FLEXLAB

Putting it all together…

1. Understand pathogen tracing and aerosol movement

2. Develop control strategy

3. Normalize productivity

4. Establish resiliency

June 19, 2020

Transforming Future Energy Systems

Johney Green, Associate Laboratory DirectorJune 8, 2020

NREL | 8

• Connected Communities • Advanced Building Construction• Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

Integrated with Renewables

Enabling large-scale deployment of distributed energy resources through advancements in optimization, control, data analytics, and complex system simulation

Connected Communities

NREL | 10

Intelligent and Connected Communities

NREL is partnering with home builders and utilities to develop and validate a hierarchical control systems for enhancing grid reliability and resilience of a residential community with high PV penetration.

Home Energy Management System (HEMS) + Community Aggregator:HEMS: Manage behind-the-meter resources and preserve homeowner privacy.Community Aggregator: Coordinate homes in a community and respond to utility control.

Advanced Building Construction (ABC)

NREL | 12

Optimizing Integration of Energy Efficiency Strategies and Advanced Controls

Leveraging benefits of higher quality, improved productivity, and labor cost savings of emerging factory construction to deliver cost effective, energy efficiency, integrated grid interactive controls, and renewable integration.

Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Integrated with Renewables

NREL | 14

DescriptionDevelop cyber-secure Home Battery System (HBS) controls that deliver high-reliability demand response while avoiding negative homeowner impacts.

TechnologiesConnected home appliances, rooftop solar, grid, energy storage. Designed for future integration of other technologies: EVs, wind, fuel cells, etc.

Project ImpactEnables design approaches for connected home energy systems that is applicable to developers, appliance manufacturers, regulators and utilities nationwide as home automation is adopted.

Partners & Industry Advisory Board

foresee™ - User-Centric Home Energy Management System for Energy Efficiency and

Demand Response

www.nrel.gov

Thank you

This work was authored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR BETTER BUILDINGS

SURESH SUNDERRAJANAssociate Laboratory DirectorEnergy & Global Security

June 8, 2020

DATA AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

17

NOVEL SENSOR SYSTEMS

18

LOW COST ELECTRIC SUBMETER

▪ Revenue grade metering at low cost with easy installation

▪ First meter ready for “energy-as-a-fuel” regulation changes

▪ Applicable to buildings and manufacturing

▪ Breakthrough method to locate air leaks using sound waves

▪ Allows leak testing in all seasons and phases of construction

▪ Improves energy efficiency, thermal comfort, air quality

▪ Low power

▪ Active or passive

▪ Wireless (RF, Antenna)

▪ Conformal, flexible or embedded

▪ Low cost massive implementation

SONIC LEAK QUANTIFIER PRINTED SENSORS

10 µm

NEXT-GENERATION MATERIALS AND SUSTAINABILITY

19

ADVANCED FILTERS USING

ELECTROSPUN NANOFIBERS

▪ Nanofibers modified with embedded inorganic materials that inhibit or kill microorganisms

▪ Enhanced filter media may offer longer lifetimes and enhanced filtration (0.3 µm) for improved indoor air quality

▪ Blocks/allows infrared based on ambient temperature, while maintaining visible light transmittance

▪ Enables passive thermal comfort with significant energy saving

▪ Life Cycle Analysis tools address embodied energy and emissions for buildings/facilities and manufacturing

▪ GREET® tool kit is available for use

– Gold standard in Transportation,

expanded for Buildings

– Open source

– Data generation/traceability

SMART WINDOW FILMS USING

THERMOCHROMIC MATERIALS

ACHIEVING CORPORATE

SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy use

in Technologies (GREET)

Better Buildings: Summer Webinar Series

BEHIND THE METER

DISTRIBUTED ENERGY

RESOURCES:

BEST PRACTICES FOR INTEGRATING

DERS INTO COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

July 8

PROGRAM DESIGN WITH

EVERYONE IN MIND:

LOW-INCOME SOLAR

PROGRAM STRATEGIES

July 9

THE DYNAMIC DUO:

UNLEASH PUBLIC SECTOR ENERGY

SAVINGS WITH FINANCING AND

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

July 14

CASE IN POINT:

OREGON’S RECENT EFFORTS TO

REDUCE PLUG LOAD ENERGY

CONSUMPTION

July 22

STRATEGIES TO COMBINE

ENERGY + HEALTH UPGRADES

IN MULTIFAMILY HOUSING

July 21

EVERYONE HAS A

DATA CENTER:

HOW TO BE AN ENERGY

CHAMPION FOR YOURS

July 28

SUCCEED WITH

SUBMETERING:HOW TO MAKE THE BUSINESS CASE

August 4

NEXT-GENERATION BUILDING

PERFORMANCE POLICIES:

MAXIMIZING ENERGY SAVINGS AND

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

July 16

Dr. Jud VirdenPacific Northwest National Laboratory

jud.virden@pnnl.govAdditional

Questions?

Please Contact Us

Better Buildings Solution Centerhttps://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/

General Inquiriesbetterbuildings@retechadvisors.com

Program Supportksanderson@retechadvisors.com

Follow us on Twitter@BetterBldgsDOE

Dr. Johney GreenNational Renewable Energy Laboratory

Johney.Green@nrel.gov

Dr. Suresh SunderrajanArgonne National Laboratory

ssunderrajan@anl.gov

Alex FitzsimmonsU.S. Department of Energy

alexander.fitzsimmons@ee.doe.gov