Occupant-Centric Building Decarbonization
Project overview
This project focuses on developing occupant-centric strategies for building decarbonization, particularly in large building facilities, using the Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport as a living lab. It emphasizes the importance of building occupants in the transition to clean energy and aims to address the gap between projected and actual building performance. The project proposes optimizing operational aspects such as heating, cooling, and ventilation based on occupancy, automating fault detection and electrifying main heating sources. By implementing Occupant-Centric Control (OCC) strategies, the project aims to reduce building energy consumption by up to 40 per cent, enhance occupant health and comfort, and minimize environmental impact. It will demonstrate prototype implementations of OCC strategies, assess improvements in energy use, GHG reduction, occupant comfort, and indoor air quality and serve as a precursor to a more comprehensive project aimed at achieving carbon neutrality for major building facilities.
Key project details
| Principal investigator | Mohamed Ouf, assistant professor, Building Engineering, Concordia University |
Co-principal investigators |
Burak Gunay, associate professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University; Liam O’Brien, professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University; Liangzhu Leon Wang, professor and associate director of the Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies, Concordia University; Radu Zmeureanu, professor, Building Engineering, Concordia University |
Research collaborators |
Ursula Eicker, Concordia University; Mazdak Nik-Bakht, associate professor, Concordia University; Jenn McArthur, associate professor, Toronto Metropolitan University |
| Non-academic partners | Montréal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, National Research Council of Canada, Delta Controls |
| Research Keywords | occupant-centric controls, occupant comfort, building electrification, fault detection and diagnostics, indoor air quality, building resilience, living labs |
| Budget | Cash: $280,000 In-Kind: $100,000 |
Research focus
Benchmarking occupancy, comfort, energy use and indoor air quality
This phase aims to establish benchmarks for occupancy, comfort, energy use, and indoor air quality and will be broken down into three parts. Part 1 will focus on energy benchmarking through the analysis of sub-metering data and the development of virtual meters for estimating energy flows in the airport. Part 2 will benchmark occupancy and comfort by analyzing spatial and temporal patterns and soliciting occupant feedback. Part 3 will be dedicated to indoor air quality benchmarking using CO2 and other indicators.
Developing occupant-centric control approaches to optimize heating and cooling
This phase centers on optimizing heating and cooling operations. Step one involves occupancy modeling using historical data to predict occupancy patterns. Step two will be proposing adjustments to heating and cooling schedules based on these patterns. Step 3 will build on this by adjusting setpoints preemptively based on forecasted occupancy, enhancing energy efficiency and occupant comfort.
Developing occupant-centric control approaches to optimize ventilation
This phase aims to optimize ventilation operations. Occupancy metrics and CO2 levels will be used to propose changes in ventilation sequences and then we will employ predictive models for preemptive adjustments, ensuring optimal indoor air quality without compromising energy efficiency.
Implementing fault detection and diagnostics
This phase focuses on automating fault detection and diagnostics, starting with analyzing historical data to identify sub-optimal operations and faults within HVAC systems. Then fault detection and diagnostics rule sets will be developed using advanced data mining methods.
Analyzing system level synergies for electrification and resilience
This phase will focus on conducting a feasibility study with a system-level analysis of the airport operations to identify potential synergies between different components and buildings and to develop a transition roadmap for electrification and deep energy retrofits. It also assesses system resilience against extreme weather events, contributing to sustainable and resilient airport operations.
Measurement, verification and knowledge transfer
The final phase will assess the effectiveness of implemented occupant-centric control (OCC) strategies in reducing energy use and improving comfort and air quality. It leverages benchmarks established in the first phase for measurement and verification. Additionally, this phase includes dissemination activities to share findings with relevant stakeholders across the industry.
Non-academic partners
Thank you to our non-academic partners for your support and trust.
