Impact of a tariff based heating load control on energy, comfort and environment: a parametric study in residential and office buildings

Abstract : In the perspective of systematic deployment of smart meters and smart HVAC systems, energy price is a possible incentive to automatically shift consumption from a constrained time-slot (e.g. around 7:00 pm) to a relaxed one (in the night). Such load shedding mechanisms are already in place in France for domestic hot water usage and are likely to be broadened to heating systems. This paper investigates the impact of an automatic tariff-based heating load control on the energy consumption, load curve, thermal comfort and environmental impact for the end-user. To achieve this study a method has been developed to assess the performance of a control strategy associated with a tariff signal through simulations. This method has been applied to different control strategies and tariff signals for several combinations of buildings and heating control systems. This work focuses on the existing building stock - with its main variations in terms of insulation, typology or heating control under different climatic conditions - while capturing the fundamental of building thermal response with the help of thermal simulation. This paper explains the methodology and the parametric study and shows that load shedding has limited advantages in terms of spared energy and comfort but can have a real effect on the heating load curve. Due to its systematic coverage this work aims at completing the current literature focused either on one technology or on control strategies.