Benchmarking systems from a sample of reference buildings need to be developed to conduct benchmarking processes for the energy efficiency of commercial buildings. However, not all benchmarking systems can be adopted by public users (i.e., other non-reference building owners) because of the different methods in developing such systems. An approach for benchmarking the energy efficiency of comme...

The main objective of this work is to develop a method for sizing window area based on the consumption of electricity in commercial buildings, when integration of daylight and artificial light with hybrid ventilation is considered. The method allows the estimation of the potential for electricity savings and the evaluation of the daylighting performance. Models operating with artificial and nat...

Direct current (DC) electricity distribution systems have been proposed as an alternative to traditional, alternating current (AC) distribution systems for commercial buildings. Partial replacement of AC distribution with DC distribution can improve service to DC loads and overall building energy efficiency. This article develops (i) a mixed-integer, nonlinear, nonconvex mathematical programmin...

California is a leader in automating demand response (DR) to promote low-cost, consistent, and predictable electric grid management tools. Over 250 commercial and industrial facilities in California participate in fully-automated programs providing over 60 MW of peak DR savings. This paper presents a summary of Open Automated DR (OpenADR) implementation by each of the investor-owned utilities i...

Sensorized commercial buildings are a rich target for building a new class of applications that improve operational and energy efficiency of building operations that take into account human activities. Such applications, however, rarely experience widespread adoption due to the lack of a common descriptive schema that would enable porting these applications and systems to different buildings. O...

HVAC systems constitute ∼ 40% of energy in commercial buildings, and faults in HVAC account for 5% to 20% of its energy consumption. Typically, HVAC in modern buildings are managed using Building Managing Systems (BMS), and fault detection is one of the essential services provided by BMS to keep HVAC operational. We study the fault management practices followed in real commercial buildings, and...

Buildings with cast-in-situ reinforced concrete shear walls are widespread in many earthquake-prone countries and regions, such as Canada, Chile, Romania, Turkey, Colombia, the republics of the former Soviet Union, etc. This type of construction has been practiced since the 960s in urban regions for mediumto high-rise buildings (4 to 35 stories high). Shear wall buildings are usually regular in...

In future planning of the city, it is very important to consider the proper intelligent integration of renewable energy sources into the built environment for developing smart cities. Analysis of the wind velocity profile in the built environment is very important for finding out the energy content in the wind and also to analyze the performance of wind turbines in the built environment. In thi...

Motivated by a desire to discover how buildings operate in practice and inspired by the pioneering PROBE Studies (post-occupancy review of buildings and their engineering) the author has spent the last decade investigating both the design and the users’ perceptions of (mainly) sustainable buildings. This has involved visiting some 60 commercial or institutional buildings worldwide, interviewing...

Josh Wall, Ph.D. Member ASH RAE Jiaming Li, Ph.D. Sam West HV AC {}Stems typicai!J consume the largest portion of energy in buildings, particular!J in the commercial sector. It is reported that commercial buildings account for almost 20% rf the US national energy consumption, or 12% rf the national contribution to annual global greenhouse gas emissions. From 15% to 30% rf the energy waste in co...