Commercial Buildings as a Resource in a Collaborative Smart Grid

April 19, 2010
Paul Wright | CITRIS Program, University of California at Berkeley

New science and technology will be described for buildings as a resource within an adaptive (“smart”) grid. We consider a holistic definition of a smart grid that begins at the point of generation and ends at the point of use, including transmission and distribution systems as well as internal building circuits and loads. While the research considers the control of an individual building and the objective of substantially reduced energy, it also “looks outward.” In the context of day-ahead, hour-ahead, and real-time knowledge of the availability of renewable energy sources, and environmental conditions, our research aims to show that a collection of “smart buildings” can play a major role in (1) aggregated Demand Response (DR) techniques; (2) the opportunistic and optimized use of a wide range of renewable energy resources (which are often transient in their availability) relative to power grid conditions; (3) and in the most ambitious longer-term research project, show that a collection of such buildings could work in concert to stabilize certain conditions on the grid. This Berkeley-based research group (including Lawrence Berkeley Labs) has been funded since 2003 by the PIER program of the California Energy Commission. The Auto-DR project at the Demand Response Research Center of LBL supports DR direct control, bidding, and pricing options. The DR research on the Berkeley campus has been more concerned with the enabling science and technology for residential DR systems. Research results include a Programmable Communicating Thermostat (PCT); supporting control algorithms; and sensor-based wireless systems for residential control of devices and HVAC.

For additional information, see:
http://www.citris-uc.org/publications/articles/listening_price_power_new_generation_thermostats_can_save_california_billions

Speaker Details

Paul K. Wright is the Director of CITRIS – the Center for Information Technology in the Interests of Society. It serves 4 UC campuses and hosts many multi-disciplinary projects on large societal problems such as energy and the environment; IT for healthcare; and intelligent infrastructures such as: public safety, water management and sustainability. He is also a professor in the mechanical engineering department, and holds the A. Martin Berlin Chair.