Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2018

Document Type

Problem/Project Report

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Industrial and Managements Systems Engineering

Committee Chair

Bhaskaran Gopalakrishnan

Committee Co-Chair

Ashsish Nimbarte

Committee Member

Kenneth H. Means

Abstract

Building Energy Management System (BEMS) is a computer-based system that can control, monitor and optimize energy consumption of the buildings. Though there are many advancements in this technology, many residential users who plan to install this technology are unaware of its economic feasibility. To determine the economic feasibility, the user should know the energy costs associated with the current HVAC system and the proposed HVAC system after installing BEMS and the implementation costs associated with the installation of the system. The work that is being proposed here is to develop a software that allows the user to observe the estimated energy costs associated with a HVAC system after installing a smart thermostat based BEMS. The main factors considered to develop the model are occupancy of the rooms, weather factor, volume of the room, building envelope and thermostat set point. Also, the software will need some inputs from the user to run the simulation. The software will simulate the energy usage of the HVAC system for one year with a frequency of 30 minutes. This helps the users to evaluate the economic feasibility of the smart thermostat based BEMS, thus helping them to make a decision. A sensitivity analysis is performed to know the effect of each factor on the energy consumption.

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