Modeling ZNE Consumption Targets
Spring 2021 - ABT 212
Energy budgets are based on the idea that energy demand must equal or fall short of energy production in order for a building or collection of buildings to reach ZNE status. The usefulness and accuracy of these budgets is thereby reliant on an accurate accounting of the anticipated energy production of onsite generators as well as onsite energy demand. For the West Village, both of these are predicted by an existing model. This model is what informs the West Village Energy Dashboard and is pivotal in the accuracy and success of the project as a whole. The current model framework limits its ability to accurately predict both energy production and demand. Most notably, the model is built off the base assumption that monthly energy demand and production remain the same year-to-year. While this is a good baseline to start predictions and budgets at the beginning of a year, the model lacks any dynamic inputs and therefore is inflexible when there is a discrepancy between the current and previous years’ energy generation and production. These discrepancies can occur due to fluctuations in weather, occupancy behaviors, and more. Our team was tasked with improving this model’s accuracy.