Lowest cost building technology selection for energy efficient design

Abstract

The thesis project explores the use of an optimization methodology for selecting the lowest monetary cost combinations of technologies to meet a set operational energy efficiency targets for buildings. The optimization approach, which is operated on a normative energy model, is compared with existing prescriptive methodologies for selecting technology combinations and a metric is developed for ranking their effectiveness; the E/C Ratio. The energy savings/ cost ratio is also the objective function that the optimization algorithm is set to maximize. The optimization routine is coded in to a custom MATLAB script and is used in two case studies to optimize a proto-typical Korean apartment and office building. The optimization methodology finds technology combinations that are much more cost effective than the prescriptive methodology at meeting an energy savings target and can generically be applied to other buildings given a palette of technology alternatives and the corresponding cost data.