A STUDY OF OCCUPANCY PRESENCE ON ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR PLUG LOADS, LIGHTINGS AND AIR CONDITIONING IN AN OFFICE ENVIRONMENT USING SMART TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract

As Singapore progresses towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly nation, more buildings are encouraged to embrace a greener design by reducing the use of energy as much as possible. Offices and commercial buildings comprise a great proportion of the buildings in Singapore and the main proportion of energy consumption from these buildings can be attributed to office plug loads, lightings and air conditioning loads. However, there are limited researches carried out to demonstrate the amount of energy saving potential achievable by incorporating the use of multimodal sensors and smart plugs. Hence, this study is designed to focus on energy consumption patterns in relation to occupancy to attempt to identify the possible cost savings that could be achieved. To analyse the energy consumption of each workspace, the lighting level and the temperature of the office environment, 22 multimodal sensor boxes and smart plugs were deployed to occupants across 2 offices and data was collected 24 hours a day, throughout the entire study period of 9 weeks. Through this study, it was established that power consumption and lux levels share a similar trend and temperature trends were also consistent with each office’s operating hours. From the analysis of the trends, occupancy presence could be determined and measures could be developed to achieve greater energy savings when electrical appliances are not in use so as to achieve a more sustainable environment.