Energy flux optimization in future buildings

Abstract

With the steadily increase of electrical power demand, the pressure on the power grid as well as electricity power bills keep rising. One way of resolving the first issue consists of building more traditional power generation units (fossil, nuclear, hydroelectric …) and building a stronger grid. However, with the democratization of alternative green energy sources more elegant solutions are now becoming viable. Indeed, in the last decade solar panels have not only become affordable but also more efficient. Tackling the energy problem this way permits to relieve the grid but more importantly can also reduce the electricity bill of the user. But given the fluctuant nature of solar energy a smart planning and usage of such energy sources has to be undertaken. In that context a global energy flux optimization is proposed. The latter aims at optimizing the internal (within the house) and external (to and from the main power grid) energy fluxes in a building that is equipped with: solar panels (and the required hardware for domestic voltage generation), a control station (that performs the optimization process and manages the energy fluxes), a battery (for local energy storage), an electrolyzer system (for the car gas production, compression and storage) and a fuel cell powered car This article is the first step of the total energy chain simulation; the article is divided in two main sections. First the different components are described, from a hardware point of view; their interconnections are also highlighted. Focus is naturally given to the control station, which is the core of the energy flux handling. Second, the chosen energy flux modeling formalism will be presented. In that section the optimization (i.e. cost function and constraints) are also discussed in detail. Finally, the conclusion puts in perspective the evolution of the project from a hardware test bench to a fully equipped house.