Impacts on the cost savings potential for using passive thermal storage for cooling control

This study evaluates the impacts on the cost savings potential with using passive thermal storage for cooling control. A simulation tool is developed to determine near-optimal control strategies and model the building energy usage and demand. This tool is then used to evaluate the individual and combined impacts of numerous building and system characteristics, utility rate structures, and climates. Cost savings are found by comparing the costs between the optimized precooling strategies and conventional night setback control for the months of August and September.; Utility rates, internal loads, building mass level, and equipment efficiency are shown to have the largest impacts on cost savings. This savings potential is dominated largely by the building core and internal gains. Building envelope characteristics do not significantly impact savings. Testing of realistic utility rates further demonstrates the significant impact of rates on cost savings. Also, while climate affects the magnitude of the savings, the relative impacts of each of these factors are largely independent of weather. Anecdotal evidence suggests that precooling buildings as long as possible during the off-peak period provides the most significant cost savings and that peak demand can effectively be reduced through the controlled release of thermal storage during the on-peak period. Two simplified precooling strategies are also tested and demonstrate the possibility for cost effective heuristic precooling guidelines. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...