Environmentally active buildings: the controls challenge: Fid-Bau Portal

Environmentally active buildings: the controls challenge

Ward, J. K. / Wall, J. / Perfumo, C.

The widespread deployment of air-conditioning systems has added significant flexibility to building design and form. This flexibility has not, however, been without its costs. In Australia, commercial buildings account for over 25% of national electricity use and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. Naturally ventilated and mixed mode buildings, controlled for adaptive thermal comfort and integrated with renewable energy generation, provide a pathway towards net zero-energy buildings. This vision is not without complexity – requiring occupant comfort, building dynamics and weather and usage patterns to be integrated into an appropriate control strategy. In this article we outline approaches and factors that challenge the controls design of such buildings, including some of our experiences with commercial buildings in Australia. We suggest that substantial emissions reductions can only be achieved through closely coupling controls to local climate and adaptive occupant comfort – not just responding to conditions alone, but implementing adaptive, predictive and ‘occupant aware’ controls towards achieving a low-energy future.