PI: Farrah Moazeni

Co-PI(s): Javad Khazaei, Shalinee Kishore, Shamim Pakzad, Rick Blum

University: Lehigh University

Industry partner: Honeywell Technologies

Future buildings and homeowners will routinely “talk” with the grid and other energy sources to seamlessly coordinate the supply and demand resulting in energy and cost savings while enhancing the grid flexibility and resilience. The ambitious objectives of proposed research consist of incorporation of smart building technologies, including bi-directional control of electric vehicle storage, combined heat and power (CHP) generation, renewable energy, battery storage, and air conditioning units into the building energy management system. The resulting smart building system can seamlessly interact with the grid energy management system in order to achieve

  1. efficiency; persistent low energy use that minimizes demand on grid resources,
  2. connectivity; through two-way communication with flexible technologies, the grid, and building occupants,
  3. flexibility; through dynamic control of loads and distributed generation, thermal energy management considering the comfort levels of occupants, and energy/demand shifting through electric vehicles, renewable energy, and storage units,
  4. and smartness; supported by sensors and controls that co-optimize efficiency, flexibility, and occupant preferences.

We are partnering with Honeywell Technologies, a leader in building control systems and monitoring with a broad range of applications to airports, data centers, and industrial facilities to deliver the objectives of this research. Together, we will develop a novel building control system considering various energy resources that optimizes the building energy management system while supporting the grid needs in real-time. The PITA award will bring expertise in multidisciplinary areas of civil and environmental engineering, electrical engineering, and information technologies together with industry involvement to address the critical need of grid resilience through smart building technologies.