Method and system for calculating energy metrics of a building and one or more zones within the building

• US 8,370,093 B1
• Filed: 03/04/2012
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itron, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Comverge Incorporated (Itron, Inc.)
• Inventors: Adams, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Raymond, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/411,619
• Time in Patent Office: 338 Days
• Field of Search: 702/62, 702/130, 702/136, 702182-185
• US Class Current: 702/62
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/47 Responding to energy costs
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/523 for displaying temperature data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/12 of the outside air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 30/00 Adapting or protecting infrastructure or their operation

Abstract

A method and system can provide building energy performance metrics that can help identify specific zones within a building which may have energy efficiency problems. The method and system can collect data from: indoor temperature sensors and humidity sensors present in each zone of a building; one or more temperature sensors and humidity sensors present outside of the building; one or more utility meters; and one or more HVAC devices. This data from the sensors can be aggregated and formed into a first profile. The energy efficiency calculation system can analyze the first profile to provide various energy performance metrics which can include, but are not limited to, energy efficiency ratios for air conditioners, the R-value or thermal resistance of the building, an amount of heat loss for the building, energy consumption by the building, current HVAC performance parameters, and utility usage comparisons.

Claims

1. A system for calculating energy metrics of a building comprising:

a first environmental sensor for measuring at least one of a temperature and a relative humidity of a first zone contained within the building;

a second environmental sensor for measuring at least one of a temperature and a relative humidity of a second zone contained within the building;

a thermostat in communication with the first and second environmental sensors, for passing data from the environmental sensors to a data acquisition unit;

the data acquisition unit storing and formatting the data received from the environmental sensors into a profile; and

an efficiency calculation system for receiving the profile from the gateway and determining one or more energy metrics for the first and second zones within the building, the efficiency calculation system providing energy metrics from other similar buildings in a geography containing both the building and other similar buildings.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a third environmental sensor for measuring at least one of a temperature and a relative humidity which is external relative to the building.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the thermostat comprises a display for presenting data.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a gateway in communication with data acquisition unit, for receiving and converting the profile from a first communications protocol to a second communications protocol.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the efficiency calculation system generates a recommendation on how to improve an efficiency metric of the building.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the efficiency calculation system generates a user interface which is presented on the display of the thermostat.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the efficiency calculation system generates a user interface which is presented on the display of the thermostat, the user interface also presenting the recommendation on how to improve an efficiency metric of the building.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the efficiency calculation system receives data from one or more HVAC devices coupled to the building.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the efficiency calculation system receives data from one or more utility meters coupled to the building.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the utility meters are managed by an advanced metering infrastructure.

11. A method for calculating energy metrics of a building comprising:

measuring at least one of a temperature and a relative humidity of a zone contained within the building;

measuring at least one of a temperature and a relative humidity which is external relative to the building;

formatting data received from the environmental sensors into a profile;

determining one or more energy metrics for the building based on the profile;

providing energy metrics from other similar buildings in a geography containing both the building and other similar buildings; and

identifying a particular zone within the building which may have energy efficiency issues.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising converting the profile from a first communications protocol to a second communications protocol.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing one or more recommendations for increasing energy efficiency for the particular zone within the building.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating a user interface which is presented on a display of a thermostat.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying the one or more recommendations with the user interface.

16. A computer-implemented system for calculating energy metrics of a building comprising:

means for measuring at least one of a temperature and a relative humidity of a zone contained within the building;

means for measuring at least one of a temperature and a relative humidity which is external relative to the building;

means for formatting data received from the environmental sensors into a profile;

means for determining one or more energy metrics for the building based on the profile;

means for providing energy metrics from other similar buildings in a geography containing both the building and other similar buildings; and

means for identifying a particular zone within the building which may have energy efficiency issues.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising means for converting the profile from a first communications protocol to a second communications protocol.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising means for providing one or more recommendations for increasing energy efficiency for the particular zone within the building.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising means for generating a user interface which is presented on a display of a thermostat.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising displaying the one or more recommendations with the user interface.