Scientific articles
Digital twin of the Live-In Lab Testbed KTH: development and calibration
Marco Molinari and Davide Rolando
Abstract
In the last decade, the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has enabled unprecedented possibilities to tackle worldwide ambitious sustainability targets. Demonstration facilities like the KTH Live-In Lab are fundamental for the adoption of ICT solutions for energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings. The Live-In Lab monitoring infrastructure enables the creation of a digital-twin, which facilitates a cost effective development, testing and implementation of advanced control and fault detection strategies. The paper proposes a calibration methodology for the thermal model (energy and comfort) of the Live-In Lab, developed in IDA-ICE, to be deployed as a digital twin. The methodology first screens the parameters with most impact on energy use and then calibrates the model minimizing the error in both indoor comfort and energy use with a weighting parameter β. Calibration results are then validated against the measured data. The results of this paper will be instrumental to the improvement of control systems and it will facilitate the study of behavioral aspects of the energy use.
BuildSIM-Nordic 2020 Selected papers
Long-Term Evaluation of Comfort, Indoor Air Quality and Energy Performance in Buildings: The Case of the KTH Live-In Lab Testbeds
Davide Rolando, Willem Mazzotti Pallard and Marco Molinari
Abstract
Digitalization offers new, unprecedented possibilities to increase the energy efficiency and improve the indoor conditions in buildings in a cost-efficient way. Smart buildings are seen by many stakeholders as the way forward. Smart buildings feature advanced monitoring and control systems that allow a better control of the buildings’ indoor spaces, but it is becoming evident that the massive amount of data produced in smart buildings is rarely used. This work presents a long-term evaluation of a smart building testbed for one year; the building features state-of-the-art monitoring capability and local energy generation (PV). The analysis shows room for improving energy efficiency and indoor comfort due to non-optimal control settings; for instance, average indoor temperatures in all winter months were above 24 ◦C. The analysis of electricity and domestic hot water use has shown a relevant spread in average use, with single users consuming approximately four times more than the average users. The combination of CO2 and temperature sensor was sufficient to pinpoint the anomalous operation of windows in wintertime, which has an impact on energy use for space heating. Although the quantification of the impact of users on the overall energy performance of the building was beyond the scope of this paper, this study showcases that modern commercial monitoring systems for buildings have the potential to identify anomalies. The evidence collected in the paper suggests that this data could be used to promote energy-efficient behaviors among building occupants and shows that cost-effective actions could be carried out if data generated by the monitoring and control systems were used more extensively.
Using Living Labs to tackle innovation bottlenecks: the KTH Live-In Lab case study
Marco Molinari, Jonas Anund Vogel and Davide Rolando
Abstract
The adoption of innovation in the building sector is currently too low for the ambitious sustainability goals that our societies have agreed upon. The concept of smart building, for instance, is being implemented too slowly. One of the main reasons for this is that technologies have to be proven effective and reliable before being introduced at large scale in buildings. Testbeds and demonstrators are seen as a crucial infrastructure to test and demonstrate the impact of solutions in the building sector and hence facilitate their adoption in buildings. The KTH Live-In Lab is a platform of building testbeds designed to this scope. This work describes the Live-In Lab vision, approach, technical features, provides an overview on the multidisciplinary projects that it has enabled and discusses its replicability.
Using Living Labs to tackle innovation bottlenecks: the KTH Live-In Lab case study (pdf 521 kB)
Co-Creation in Living Labs to Accelerate Innovation
Jonas Anund Vogel, Ellen Van Bueren, Leendert Verhoef, Brian Goldberg, Per Lundqvist and Emma Sarin
Abstract
Innovation in the construction sector occurs as stepwise reconfigurations of subsystems, but sometimes the effect of many systems coincides and there is so called radical change. Stepwise reconfigurations of individual systems such as windows, insulation, and heat recovery systems have made it possible to heat buildings with preheated inlet air instead of water radiators. Thus, making building more sustainable, cheaper and resource-efficient; the potential for radical change has been achieved. The question is then why not every new building uses preheated inlet air? The reason is not the lack of innovation or new technologies. It is rather connected to malfunctioning structures related to incentives, collaboration, testing, and validation, resulting in norms and standards that aim to reproduce existing technologies, preferring incremental innovations over radical ones. This article argues that testbeds and Living Labs are a way to work on complex, multi-stakeholder and urgent problems in a co-creative way. In these labs there are possibilities to test technologies, in systems, in real buildings and cities. There are possibilities to follow-up, measure and adjust; to live, study, work and develop. The Living Labs have the potential of making new technologies standard to use in the course of years instead of decades and thus minimize unnecessary use of resources linked to the construction and use of buildings. In addition, it will help to make technologies more user-friendly, considering user needs, wishes and experiences, thus contributing to the effectiveness of the technologies developed and tested.
Co-Creation in Living Labs to Accelerate Innovation (pdf 328 kB)
ICT in the built environment: Drivers, barriers and uncertainties
Marco Molinari, Olga Kord
Abstract
Buildings are major contributors to energy use and environmental impact in developed societies. If the ambitious sustainability targets of modern societies are to be met, energy use in the built environment must be addressed as a central issue. New momentum on achieving energy efficiency in the building sector has been triggered by information and communication technology (ICT). New opportunities bringing the concept of smart building closer to reality are offered e.g. by innovative sensing techniques, extensive and cost-efficient data collection and analysis, advanced controls and artificial intelligence. However, these opportunities are associated with cost and uncertainties regarding whether the investment costs are paid back in terms of energy savings, whether indoor comfort and air quality and improved, the drawbacks in term of increased maintenance effort, complexity, reliability and resilience, the effects in terms of user interaction, how data security is affected and the long-term effects on society. This paper critically analyses recent research findings and reviews the pros and cons of some promising ICT techniques being applied in the building sector. It exemplifies drivers and barriers to implementation of advanced controls and artificial intelligence in buildings, based on findings from two test-beds in Stockholm, and discusses the implications of these findings for future research
ICT in the built environment: Drivers, barriers and uncertainties (pdf 552 kB)
End-user activities context information management framework for sustainable building operation
Elena Malakhatka, Per Lundqvist
Abstract
The concept of sustainable buildings includes not only technological aspects related to energy efficiency and resources usage optimization, but also aspects related to end-users’ comfort, wellbeing, and everyday needs support. To understand the end-users’ life activities in general and their preferences in particular, is necessary to enrich standard Building Management Systems (BMS) with human-generated and personal data. In this conceptual paper, we present an end-user context information management framework, which includes a reasoning layer, an acquisition layer, and a dissemination layer. The proposed framework is currently implemented in the KTH Live-in-Lab – a fully equipped testbed for research and innovation in the build environment.
End-user activities context information management framework (pdf 1.4 MB)