Energy Management System (EMS): The Impact of Natural Ventilation and Shading Control on Thermal Performance of University Building in Winnipeg, Canada

Abstract

High-performance buildings often depend on well-designed and operated windows and shading. This study aims to optimize the operation of shading devices and use of natural ventilation in a university building with a highly glazed facade, located in extreme continental climate. To meet this aim, a detailed building energy model of the university building was developed in EnergyPlus. After that, the Energy Management System was used to test and develop optimal shading and natural ventilation control strategies that minimize energy consumption while maintaining and potentially improving the indoor environmental quality. The results show that an integrated approach for automatic control of shading is more efficient compared to the individual strategies and can reduce the cooling and heating energy demand by around 20% and 5.6%, respectively. Moreover, the findings indicate that appropriate ventilation control strategies can reduce the overheating time by 75 hours.