SPATIAL OPTOMIZATION OF HEATING SETBACK

In Hungary from the total energy consumption of the country 30% is caused by the heating, ventilationand air conditioning systems of buildings. The energy saving and environment protection possibilities inthe building sector are permanently flared due to the development of building industry, newsub-systems and materials of buildings and HVAC systems. Exploiting the advantages of buildinginformatics and building survey systems significant reduction of the energy consumption can beobtained. Using different simulation or optimization software new energy saving possibilities could beanalyzed and new solutions might be found. Let us consider a building built from room-units/cells like aRubik cube. These cells are interconnected and they are permanently in interaction with the externalenvironment. Also interactions between different cells may appear. In our paper we have analyzed theeffects of temperature control in the cells on the total energy consumption of a building. The buildingmodel in our example has 27+1 units. The question is: what will happen with the energy consumption ofour building if we have a night set back or the heating was stopped in a room. Our research proves that,at given boundary conditions, there is a spatial configuration of heating setback which will lead tominimal energy consumption. If the analyzed building is an office building, hotel or apartment house theowner may obtain energy saving not only through time control and setback but even with spatialsetback of the heating system. The saved energy quantity, up to 25%, depends on the configuration oftenements or hired offices, their position in the building/Rubik cube and their relation with the otherrooms for rent.