Energy Optimization in Smart Buildings using Intelligent Fuzzy Ventilation

Buildings around the world are consuming a significant amount of energy. Up to 64% of the power is consumed by Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) appliances. Ventilation is the job of an HVAC system and it takes a substantial amount of energy. Ventilation is one of the strategies of green building that improves indoor air quality, provides better thermal comfort, and strategical ventilations improve energy efficiency of buildings. In this paper, we proposed a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) that coordinates natural ventilation with the HVAC system and users' occupancy mode, in accordance with temperature, humidity level, and optimal set points. We have added an additional feature of occupancy mode which is an important criterion to start or stop natural ventilation. The proposed model is evaluated using Mamdani FIS. The simulation results show that the efficiency of energy consumption can be improved by better utilization of natural ventilation with the HVAC system by 26%, which led to reduction of electricity bill by 23%.