TECHNIQUES FOR SAVING BUILDING ENERGY CONSUMPTION

• US 20140067145A1
• Filed: 08/29/2013
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Shu, Fang Rui
• Granted Patent: US 9,996,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method and system for reducing building energy consumption is provided. The method is provided for saving building energy consumption by obtaining at least one energy use strategy in association with a current or future activity in a building. The method includes aggregating activity data from at least one system associated with the current or future activity and estimating an energy demand level based at least on the aggregated activity data. The method also includes generating at least one energy use strategy based at least on the estimated energy demand.

Claims

1. A method for saving building energy consumption by obtaining at least one energy use strategy in association with a current or future activity in a building, comprising:

aggregating activity data from at least one system associated with said current or future activity;

estimating an energy demand level based at least on said aggregated activity data; and

generating at least one energy use strategy based at least on the estimated energy demand.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of energy use strategies are available further comprising executing said energy use strategy for a plurality of devices in said building.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein executing said energy use strategy is in response to a demand side management request such that said devices can be adjusted continually, further comprising:

upon receiving said demand side management request, selecting from said plurality of energy use strategies, at least one energy use strategy suitable for a particular selected time line;

determining at least one device to be adjusted in said building;

generating a control command for lowering at least one load related to said device to be adjusted; and

sending said control command to said device to be adjusted; and

adjusting said device correspondingly.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein executing said energy use strategy further comprises:

sending in advance at least one energy use strategies to at least one device to be adjusted in association with said current or future activity in said building.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the estimating an energy demand based at least on said aggregated activity data further comprises:

estimating the energy demand at a certain time by adding together energy consumption of one or more devices to be adjusted related to said current or future activity at that certain time, wherein said adjustment is also determined at least based on a power rating associated with said device.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said of adjusted is at least based on a device categories, device use duration and number of persons attending said device.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said one or more systems comprise a collaboration software system.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said activity data are anonymized before being aggregated.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the aggregating activity data coming further comprises:

representing in the form of a table a plurality of current or future activities happening at a certain place and at different times or at different places.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the generating said energy is based at least on a category selected from the group consisting of rated power consumption, control capabilities of a plurality of devices, and a desired total amount of desired device adjustment.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the desired total amount of adjustment is obtained by comparing the estimated energy demand and a power grid load distribution pattern and said power grid load distribution pattern is obtained based on historical data of power grid load.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said energy use strategy executing module is further configured to:

upon receiving said management request is received, selecting from said one or more energy use strategies an energy use strategy suitable for a particular time;

determining a device to be adjusted in said building;

generating a control command for lowering a load with respect to said determined device to be adjusted;

sending said control command to said devices to be adjusted;

adjusting said device correspondingly.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the energy use strategy executing module is further configured to:

sending in advance said one or more energy use strategies to one or more devices to be adjusted in association with said one or more current or future activities in the building;

estimating energy demand at a certain time by adding together energy consumption of one or more devices to be adjusted.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said energy consumption estimate in said building at a certain time is determined based power rating of at least one device associated with a current or future activity.

16. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said one or more systems comprise a collaboration software system.

17. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said activity data are anonymized before being aggregated.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the activity data aggregating module is further configured to aggregate activity data coming from one or more systems and associated with said current or future activities.

19. The apparatus according to claim 11, a desired total amount of adjustment is obtained by comparing the estimated energy demand and a power grid load distribution pattern.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said power grid load distribution pattern is obtained based on historical data of a power grid load.

12. An apparatus for saving building energy consumption, comprising:

a module having a processor configured for generating an energy use strategy in association with a current or future activity in a building;

an energy use strategy executing module configured to execute said one or more energy use strategies for a plurality of devices to be adjusted in said building in response to a demand side management request;

said energy use strategy obtaining module further comprising;

an activity data aggregating module configured to aggregate activity data for said current or future activities;

an energy demand estimating module configured to estimate an energy demand based on said aggregated activity data; and

an energy use strategy generating module configured to generate said energy use strategy based on said estimated energy demand.