46. Determining the Performance Characteristics of a White-Box Building Energy System Model and Evaluating the Energy Consumption

Building energy models are developed to evaluate the energy performance of a particular building design and to develop cost-estimation and energy-saving strategies that can be implemented. Present study develops a methodology where a building energy system model is developed based on the fundamentals of the building energy physics. Both sensible and latent thermal energy transfer processes are considered for development of the building energy model. Performance characteristics of the model are determined by developing a state-space building energy model and then evaluating the step response of the developed white-box model. Settling time, peak time, rising time, steady-state error and overshoot are determined for each state of the building energy system model under study. Modelling methodology adopted shall enable the developer or designer to evaluate the system’s performance before implementing any control strategy which would lead to reduced complexity, cost-reduction in troubleshooting and better stability. Daily, weekly and monthly energy consumed by HVAC and lighting systems of the building energy system model are 16.8, 41.9 and 139.67 kWh, respectively.