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Development of Thermal Comfort-Based Controller and Potential Reduction of the Cooling Energy Consumption of a Residential Building in Kuwait

Author

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  • Jaesung Park

    (Energy Efficiency Building Materials Center, Energy Division, Korea Conformity Laboratories (KCL), 73 Yangcheong 3-gil, Ochang-eup, Cheongju-si, Chungbuk 28115, Korea)

  • Taeyeon Kim

    (Department of Architecture & Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, Korea)

  • Chul-sung Lee

    (Future Agricultural Research Division, Korea Rural Research Institute, 870 Haean-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do 15634, Korea)

Abstract

In Kuwait, where the government subsidizes approximately 95% of residential electricity bills, most of the country’s energy consumption is for residential use. In particular, air-conditioning (AC) systems for cooling, which are used throughout the year, are responsible for residential electric energy consumption. This study aimed to reduce the amount of energy consumed for cooling purposes by developing a thermal comfort-based controller. Our study commenced by using a simulation model to investigate the possibility of energy reduction when using the predicted mean vote (PMV) for optimal control. The result showed that control optimization would enable the cooling energy consumption to be reduced by 33.5%. The influence of six variables on cooling energy consumption was then analyzed to develop a thermal comfort-based controller. The analysis results showed that the indoor air temperature was the most influential factor, followed by the mean radiant temperature, the metabolic rate, and indoor air velocity. The thermal comfort-based controller-version 1 (TCC-V1) was developed based on the analysis results and experimentally evaluated to determine the extent to which the use of the controller would affect the energy consumed for cooling. The experiments showed that the implementation of TCC-V1 control made it possible to reduce the electric energy consumption by 39.5% on a summer representative day. The results of this study indicate that it is possible to improve indoor thermal comfort while saving energy by using the thermal comfort-based controller in residential buildings in Kuwait.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaesung Park & Taeyeon Kim & Chul-sung Lee, 2019. "Development of Thermal Comfort-Based Controller and Potential Reduction of the Cooling Energy Consumption of a Residential Building in Kuwait," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:17:p:3348-:d:262406
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Abdulelah D. Alhamayani & Qiancheng Sun & Kevin P. Hallinan, 2022. "An Improved Method to Estimate Savings from Thermal Comfort Control in Residences from Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat Data," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-12, May.
    2. Bader Alshuraiaan, 2021. "Renewable Energy Technologies for Energy Efficient Buildings: The Case of Kuwait," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Abdulelah D. Alhamayani & Qiancheng Sun & Kevin P. Hallinan, 2021. "Estimating Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat-Enabled Thermal Comfort Control Savings for Any Residence," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Isaac Machorro-Cano & Giner Alor-Hernández & Mario Andrés Paredes-Valverde & Lisbeth Rodríguez-Mazahua & José Luis Sánchez-Cervantes & José Oscar Olmedo-Aguirre, 2020. "HEMS-IoT: A Big Data and Machine Learning-Based Smart Home System for Energy Saving," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-24, March.
    5. Ahmed, Wahhaj & Asif, Muhammad, 2021. "A critical review of energy retrofitting trends in residential buildings with particular focus on the GCC countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Radwan A. Almasri & Nidal H. Abu-Hamdeh & Abdullah Alajlan & Yazeed Alresheedi, 2022. "Utilizing a Domestic Water Tank to Make the Air Conditioning System in Residential Buildings More Sustainable in Hot Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Marek Borowski & Klaudia Zwolińska & Marcin Czerwiński, 2022. "An Experimental Study of Thermal Comfort and Indoor Air Quality—A Case Study of a Hotel Building," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.

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