Concerns of global warming, rising oil prices, energy security,

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1 Energy Efficiency as Clean Energy Solution Orion Zavalani, Aida Spahiu and Lindita Dhamo Abstract Concerns of global warming, rising oil prices, energy security, and a rapid destruction of natural resources, have caused clean energy solutions to gain worldwide attention. There are different drivers to achieve this goal. One of them is the application of energy efficient technology to increase the bottom line. The integration of information technology in the management of engineering systems of residential and commercial buildings is an example of a viable energy efficiency product. This paper presents a case where Building Automation Systems technology is applied successfully to achieve energy efficiency goals. The average energy footprint of the building with 24 floor and m 2 surfaces for the years was 100 kw h/m 2 /year which presents a very good result and is in accordance with the energy efficiency goals of a lot of European countries. Polytechnic University of Tirana Polytechnic University of Tirana Polytechnic University of Tirana Page 1 of 12

2 Keywords Energy, Efficiency, Automation, Building, Technology. Introduction Concerns of global warming, rising oil prices, energy security, and a rapid destruction of natural resources, have caused clean energy solutions to gain worldwide attention. At times, the drivers of this change are grounded in the need to examine the environmental impact of technology. At other times, the drivers are economic such as the application of energy efficient technology to increase the bottom line [1, 2, 3]. An element to maximizing clean energy resources is to apply existing technologies in different ways. The lead time to develop an energy efficiency (versus energy producing) product is relatively short, and less capital intensive. Investment opportunities in this market remain viable. The use of information technology for the management and control of energy in residential and commercial buildings through integration of all engineering systems known as Building Automation Systems (BAS) technology is an example of a viable energy efficiency product. BAS enables energy savings by using coordinated control capabilities for management of electrical loads, optimization of equipment utilization and demand, track of real-time power conditions, analyze of power quality and power factor. This way it combines clever energy savings scenarios with improved performance of the engineering systems of the building. BAS application may construct automatically historical trends to reveal energy waste or unused capacity and verify efficiency improvements and allocate costs. The system also can collect, analyze and disseminate the reliable and detailed supply and demand energy statistics. Historically BAS have been used since the early 20th century for the automatic control of Heat, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. Today, the indoor climate control remain still the main focus of this technology [3, 4, 6], but the progress in technology and the reduction of BAS device costs has open the road for other building service systems to benefit from BAS as well. For example, the demand control of lighting systems through BAS can significantly contribute to energy saving [4, 5, 7]. The energy efficiency of residential and commercial buildings depends majorly on how the various energy-using engineering systems work together rather than depending on the efficiencies of the individual engineering device. Literature reference [4] findings underline Page 2 of 12

3 that at system level, savings opportunities are generally many times what can be achieved at device level and that these savings can often be achieved at a net investment-cost savings. Depending on the particular structure of the engineering systems of the building, multiple approaches to distribute energy efficiency functionalities are viable [3]. The field of BAS during last decades has been dominated by proprietary solutions. But during the last decade, even market leaders are gradually abandoning proprietary designs pushed by market demand for open systems. The significant feature of open systems is the ability to keep the system design open for future integration requirements. Since building installations are long-lived, system evolution is an important issue [11]-[18]. To promote and ensure open systems solutions official standards bodies have been created in the United States and in a number of European countries [8, 9, 10]. Open systems standard protocols which cover BAS applications in their entirety are BACnet, LonWorks and EIB/KNX. They all have achieved considerable significance in the worldwide market (in case of BACnet and LonWorks) or in the European market (in the case of EIB/KNX) and are often chosen by both customers and system integrators for complete system solutions. Case study Investments in the construction sector and especially in building construction are the most important investments in Albania. BAS technologies are relatively new and imported from the neighbouring countries. The market of information and intelligent technologies like BAS is unstable but there are a lot of successful examples [19]-[22]. Energy efficiency is part of energy intelligence. In this paper we are presenting a case of using BAS technology for the intelligent control of energy used in a 24-floor, 32,000 m 2 surface, businesses and commercial center in Tirana. The system integrates all engineering systems within the building via a bus connection to a single communicating system. This enables the optimal and energy efficient interaction of these systems, which is almost impossible with conventional technology. The design of the system is realized by the first author in 2005 and the construction works of the building were finished in In figure 1 is presented Page 3 of 12

4 an artistic view of this building. BAS was designed to provide a total integration of all engineering service and Figure 1: View of the building design as constructed security systems of the building through an open, interoperable and portable system. Specifically the following engineering systems have been included in the integrated open system: 1. Electrical systems (power supply substation, UPS, generators, metering, lighting) 2. Mechanical systems (HVAC) 3. Lifts and Escalators ( movement, doors, alarms) 4. Water systems (water supply pumping, metering, leakage, depot levels) 5. Security and video surveillance (CCTV, access control, voice alarm evacuation system) 6. Safety systems, (fire detection, water leakage detection, emergency lighting) All data are collected in a control room within the building (over a secure Intranet) and can be accessed also remotely by a standard Web Browser over Internet. BAS is designed to provide monitoring, control, alarm and operational Page 4 of 12

5 services for all integrated engineering systems of the building based on pre defined algorithms or operator decisions. The protocol of communication of the integration system was selected EIB/KNX because in the Albanian market the existing expertise is mainly for EIB/KNX productions. This means that the construction and maintenance costs shall be lower compare to other systems. Another factor was the fact that EIB/KNX can be extended more easily to new needs of the building in the future and with less time and financial investment [3]. The selected hardware architecture of the BAS implemented in the building consists of an Ethernet backbone that runs between floors and independent KNX floor networks. This Ethernet LAN permits the exchange of data between the floor s KNX networks to the control room through IP/KNX gateways. In the control room is installed a building supervision software that run on a server structured computer. This software permits the display and control of all devices connected to the KNX infrastructure, the security system and the fire detection system via local client PC and/or via WEB clients. The independent KNX floor network permits to divide the local traffic data from the building traffic data. Only the most important data will be routing to the backbone, the result is a reliable data transmission and an optimized network use. For each engineering system of the building an automatic sequence of operations for efficient use of energy is provided. The compilation of sequence operations algorithms, called also scenarios has been one of the most crucial parts of the design. Example: Streamlined constant light control system is used on shopping center floors. Constant light control is implemented with Merten light sensor and KNX-DALI gateways where is possible to use the external natural light in addition to the artificial light. The goal of the control is to maintain a lux value constant on the area during all the day and to save energy. Figure 2 shows the control block scheme for handling lights constant. The integration software selected was evision2 which is composed by several software components with different specific aims, interoperating in a full multitasking system in order to provide a flexible, modular and scalable solution as depicted in figure 3. In figure 4, 5 and 6 are shown BAS architecture and its details. System functionalities are broken up into different levels, presenting the incarnation of the automation pyramid. Page 5 of 12

6 Figure 2: Control block scheme for handling lights constant Figure 3: Software structure and possible interaction In figure 7 and 8 are presented some examples of application running screens. Figure 7 shows lighting layout of a floor of the building. It allows the operator to control remotely the lighting fixtures operation and to intervene by switching them remotely in case that there is no person in the rooms or if he judge that users are using more lighting than necessary. In figure 8 there is an example of menu manipulation for creating efficiency Page 6 of 12

7 Figure 4: BAS architecture Principal scheme energy scenarios as they are decided during the designing process. Services are standard Unix daemons written in C language with standard libraries. Operating system needed for execution is Linux, FreeBSD. SOAP communication with web application is based on open source gsoap library, using standard RPC SOAP protocol. evision2 client software interface is written in Lab View G language. Operating system needed for execution is Microsoft T M Windows XP pro T M. The web application is entirely developed in PHP language with object-oriented approach, using standard PHP libraries and features. Data storage is based on My SQL database engine with strictly usage of standard SQL language. Web server required is Apache or fully PHP/cgi compliant web server. SOAP communication with services (or third party applications) is based on open source nusoap PHP library, using standard RPC SOAP protocol. General features of this system are usability, scalability, customizability, security and portability. Since 2008, the building is in use with more than 80% of its capacity. The average energy footprint of the building, which satisfies all the needs for the period , was 100kWh/m 2 /year which compare with 200Wh/m 2 /year of the first year and 135kWh/m 2 /year of the second year is a very good result and in accordance with the energy efficiency goals of a lot of European countries [15]. Page 7 of 12

8 Figure 5: BAS architecture Distribution - Ethernet backbone and independent KNX floor networks. Figure 6: Details of independent KNX floor networks. The installed system ensures not only the energy efficient operation of all engineering systems of the building but it can be used for detecting uncommon energy consumption patterns due to defects or unauthorized innervations in the Page 8 of 12

9 HCTL Open Int. J. of Technology Innovations and Research (IJTIR) Figure 7: Monitor screen - Layout of a floor lighting remote on line monitoring Figure 8: Monitor screen Example of menus for scenario configuration network. For more with a few additional investments the system may remotely diagnose and auto heal all electromechanical equipments of the building [3, 5, 7]. The system has also the potential to improve also, the energy measure efficiency by helping to quantify the savings from any other sources like diesel generator sets, renewable energy sources that have to be developed in the future, etc. Page 9 of 12

10 References Conclusion Clean energy solutions are gaining worldwide attention and have come to dominate the energy policy world widely. Energy efficiency is considered as a driver to achieve this goal. This paper presents a successful application of integration of information technology in the management of engineering systems in a 24- floor residential and commercial building which increase the energy efficiency through different strategies compiled for energy efficiency called also scenarios. The result is very impressive because the average energy footprint of the building during the period was 100kWh/m 2 /year which is a very good result and in accordance with the energy efficiency goals of a lot of European countries. References [1] O. Zavalani. Clean technology and the development perspective in Albania. Low-Cost Solar Cells 2011: Opportunities and challenges for green energy. Conference proceedings pp (2011). FEIT, UKIM,Skopje, Rep. of Macedonia. [2] O. Zavalani and A.Spahiu. Barriers and approaches in the development of renewable resources in rural Albania. Energy Market (EEM), 8th International Conference. (2011) pp [3] O. Zavalani. Reducing energy in buildings by using energy management systems and alternative energy-saving systems. Energy Market (EEM), 8th International Conference. (2011) pp [4] O. Zavalani, J.Kacani and P.Marango. Innovative approach in designing of a new business and shopping center. International Conf. on RE (ICRE2010), Damascus, (2010). [5] O. Zavalani and Y.Luga. Innovative approach to identify energy and water savings in municipality facilities in Albania. Proceedings of the selected papers of Applied automatic systems Conference UKSIM (2010), Pisa, Italy. [6] H. Arkin and M. Paciuk, Evaluating intelligent buildings according to level of service systems integration, Autom. Construction, vol. 6, no. 56, pp , (1997). Page 10 of 12

11 References [7] O. Zavalani. A prototype system for non-intrusive monitoring of electrical loads. MTA Review, 9 (3), pp (2009). Romania [8] Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS), Part 2: Hardware, ISO Std , (2004). [9] J. K. W. Wong, H. Li, and S. W. Wang, Intelligent building research: a review, Autom. Construction, vol. 14, no. 1, pp , (2005). [10] Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS), Part 5: Data Communication Protocol, ISO Std , (2003). [11] Data Communication for HVAC Applications, Field Net, Part 2: Protocols, Eur. Pre-Standard , (1998). [12] Data Communication for HVAC Applications, Automation Net, Part 1: BACnet, Profibus, WorldFIP, Eur. Pre-Standard , (1999). [13] Information Technology Home Electronic System, Guidelines for Product Interoperability, Part 1: Introduction, ISO/IEC Std , (2004). [14] S. T. Bushby, BACnet: a standard communication infrastructure for intelligent buildings, Autom. Construction, vol. 6, no. 56, pp , (1997). [15] D. Loy, D. Dietrich, and H. Schweinzer, Open Control Networks. Norwell, MA: Kluwer, (2004). [16] LonMark International. [Online]. Available: org [17] KNX Specifications, Version 1.1, Konnex Association, Diegem, Belgium, (2004). [18] Konnex Association. [Online]. Available: [19] O. Zavalani, M. Braneshi and Y. Luga. Technology transfer and building automation systems in Albania. IFAC-PapersOnLine: International Stability, IFAC Workshop on Supplemental Ways for Improving International Stability 8 (1), (2010). Page 11 of 12

12 References [20] O. Zavalani, N. Baci, and S. Martini. Automation systems in building construction sector in Albania. International Review of Automatic Control (IREACO). 3 (4), pp (2010) [21] O. Zavalani. The framework of investments for building automation systems in Albania. ETAI / AAS / DECOM-IFAC- 09. ETAI, IFAC, in co-operation with CAS/CIS/CSS IEEE. pp (2009) [22] A. Spahiu, O. Zavalani and L. Dhamo. Eficensa e energjis n ndricimin rrugor. Conference proceedings. A016, UPT, ISBN (2011) This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (http: //creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). c 2013 by the Authors. Licensed and Sponsored by HCTL Open, India. Page 12 of 12