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Cooling Strategies Based on Indicators of Thermal Storage in Commercial Building Mass
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Date
1985
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu)
Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu)
Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu)
Abstract
Building thermal mass and multi-day regimes of
hot weather are important, yet poorly understood,
contributors to cooling energy requirements. This
paper develops load-shifting sub-cooling and precooling
equipment operating strategies to address a specific instance of this phenomenon, in which thermal
storage by building mass over weekends exacerbates
Monday cooling energy requirements. The study
relies on computer simulations of energy use for a
large, office building prototype in El Paso, TX
using the DOE-2 building energy analysis program.
The economic value of the strategies is evaluated
with direct reference to utility rate schedules and
a crude measure of thermal storage is related to the
energy impacts of the strategies. The indicators
are based on core zone air temperatures, which are
sampled a t night when HVAC systems are not in use.
The suggestion is made that the results and proposed
strategies could be adapted for use by computerized
energy management systems to reduce building energy
operating costs.