Development of a Novel Air-Conditioning Method for Energy Savings in Commercial Building Under Time of Use Electricity Pricing

The commercial buildings are consuming about 30% of total energy used in Korea. And a large amount of energy consumption in commercial buildings is consumed by HVAC(Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system. Therefore, if we can reduce the energy consumption in HVAC or air-conditioning system in commercial buildings, the overall energy consumption in Korea can be reduced. Currently, an electricity charge called Time of Use (TOU) is applied to typical commercial buildings. This paper proposes the novel energy management method where the temperature setting of air-conditioning system are adjusted to minimize the use of electrical energy while indoor comfort level is retained. The simulation test for a typical commercial building shows that the proposed method gives over 10% savings in electricity bills and electricity consumption compared to the conventional air-conditioning method.