Enhancing smart building performance with waste heat recovery: Supply-side management, demand reduction, and peak shaving via advanced control systems

Abstract

With the increasing use of smart building technologies in modern infrastructures, a growing focus is on developing intelligent energy systems. This study focuses on a crucial part of this transition by investigating the application of a rule-based control method to harness the heat from wastewater to warm the ventilation lines in residential buildings. This research intends to enhance the integration of smart buildings into modern energy systems by prioritizing optimal performance and using creative control methods, mainly robust rule-based control schemes, thereby addressing current gaps and contributing to overall improvement. The proposed system’s effectiveness is assessed and compared with a conventional model without the developed smart strategy from all facets. The system’s performance was assessed using hourly, monthly, seasonal, and annual metrics, with a detailed sensitivity analysis conducted to evaluate the proposed control strategy’s practicality. The findings reveal that the intelligent ventilation system achieves approximately 10% higher efficiency and conserves over 1.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Economically, the model demonstrates its feasibility through a marked reduction in heating costs, decreasing from 54.9 USD/MWh to 30.7 USD/MWh despite an initial investment of 29,032 USD. The results also show that the smart integration system maintains elevated supply air temperatures during colder months, enhancing thermal efficiency and reducing reliance on external heat sources. Economic analysis further identifies the energy wheel as the largest cost component, representing 50% of the total investment. Monthly variations in heat recovery from wastewater and production via the energy wheel suggest that integrating these elements through a dynamic control system leads to significant operational savings and reduces the need for local district heating. During peak demand periods, radiators serve as the primary heating source. Air-handling units provide necessary ventilation and supplemental heating, allowing for efficient energy distribution and management across all seasons.