Saving Energy in Small Office Buildings

Roland Piquepaille writes "Precooling a structure in the morning before temperatures rise has been done before. It later saves energy during times of peak demand and you might even have done it intuitively at home. But now, engineers from Purdue University have developed a control algorithm which promises to reduce energy consumption -- and electricity bills -- by as much as 30 percent for small office buildings which represent the majority of commercial structures. So far, this method has only been tested in California, but the researchers say that their control software could be used anywhere after minor adaptations."

Comments

Article Summary is Wrong

[fv]

Roland's article summary is wrong. He says that the algorithm "promises to reduce energy consumption -- and electricity bills -- by as much as 30 percent", but the article states that "When the thermostat settings are adjusted in an optimal fashion, the result is a 25 percent to 30 percent reduction in peak electrical demand for air conditioning.". So extra cooling before peak hours certainly reduces your peak AC usage, but you won't reduce your total electrical consumption much. Unless your utility charges you less for non-peak usage (some do), then the article states that you may get "about $50 in annual savings per 1,000 square feet of building space". In other words, your total electrical usage stays basically the same.

-Fyodor
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Re:Article Summary is Wrong

[mboverload]

Power plants are built to to supply peak demand.

When these methods are used, the peaks are less. Thus you contibute in a small way towards less coal/gas going into the air.