Abstract
Gregor Henze has been involved in building sciences research for 20 years, both in the United States and Europe. This seminar will offer a discussion of case studies of sustainable energy research applied to commercial buildings and an outlook on the need for future advances. The first part of the seminar will discuss low-exergy building systems for new building design. The rising interest in heating and cooling concepts based on renewable energy sources fosters the development and utilization of low-exergy systems applying natural low-temperature heat sources in the winter and high-temperature heat sinks in the summer (e.g., ambient air, ground water, soil). By using low temperature differences, those system solutions allow for an easier implementation of renewable energy sources into the built environment, as well as promoting a low-exergy demand for space heating and cooling. The second part of the seminar will cover a range of opportunities for applying advanced controls in commercial buildings, including associated challenges. In particular, model based predictive control applied both in real time or offline along with experimental and simulation results will be discussed. An area of current interest is the transition from numerically challenging model predictive control to simpler near-optimal heuristics by means of rule extraction.
Biography
Gregor P. Henze, Ph.D., P.E. is a professor of architectural engineering at the University of Colorado, where his teaching focuses on thermal environmental engineering, mechanical systems design, building control and automation systems, advanced solar systems, and sustainable building design. His research emphasizes model predictive optimal control of building energy systems and building thermal mass, control strategies for mixed-mode buildings that incorporate both natural and mechanical ventilation, uncertainty quantification of occupant behavior and its impact, low-exergy building energy systems climates, and energy forecasting. Prof. Henze is a professional mechanical engineer, certified high-performance building design professional (HBDP), active member of ASHRAE, associate editor for ASME’s Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, as well as Fellow of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute.