IEA EBC Task 84 – Demand Management of Buildings in Thermal Networks

When integrating residents and buildings into district heating/cooling (DHC) systems, knowledge of energy requirements is important. For residents, energy is mostly an invisible entity and often simply consumed on demand with little reflection on the impact this has on the connected heating/cooling grid. Experiments with the power grid have shown that occupants are to some extent flexible in their power consumption, responding for example to time-based pricing. Response to heating/cooling needs is different and results in challenges relating to comfort issues, control of space heating/cooling, hot water use, and current weather. Knowing how to engage occupants is critical to improving the management of heating/cooling and potentially adjusting demand or shifting it over time using e.g. storage.

The overall goal of the project is to provide comprehensive knowledge and tools for successful implementation of load management in buildings in DHC grids, thus enabling buildings to play a flexible role in the system. The work of the project will explore a) the technical and socio-economic challenges, b) how these can be overcome for different building typologies, climate zones and local conditions, and c) how building-side digitization measures can enable and optimize load control.

To achieve the overall goal of the project, the project has the following specific objectives:

• To provide knowledge about the partners/actors involved in the energy chain and about cooperation models/tools for successful load management.
• To classify, evaluate and provide design solutions for new and existing building heating and cooling systems for successful load management in different DHC networks.
• To classify, evaluate and provide design solutions for new and existing building heating and cooling systems for successful load management in different DHC networks.
• To provide knowledge and promote adaptation and visualization of Task results through case studies.Die Bereitstellung von Wissen und Förderung der Anpassung und Visualisierung von Task-Ergebnissen durch Fallstudien.