Integrated IoT, Smart-glazing, and Photovoltaic Resource for Energy-saving in a University Administrative Building: Calculations and Measurements

Abstract

This paper aims to reduce energy consumption in an administrative university building, serving as a case study in Egypt. The lighting, and the air conditioners (ACs) represent the main energy-consuming load sectors in administrative buildings. The energy saving stems from identifying the energy saving opportunities in the building. Among these opportunities are replacing existing technologies with more efficient ones, such as retrofitting of the building with IoT based energy management systems, and replacement of conventional window glass by smart glass to optimize solar gain over the summer and winter seasons of the year. To limit the energy purchased from the utility grid to meet the load demand of these sectors, available renewable solar energy sources are harnessed. The outcomes of IoT-renovation of the lighting and ACs could save an annual energy of 947.89 and 506.35 MWh, with a respective payback period of 5.69 and 15.84 Years. The smart glazing could also save an annual energy of 308.5 MWh with a payback period of 4.05 years. As a test example, the installation of IoT-based smart appliances in a selected office in the building is attempted and found to save 5.03 kWh/day, which corresponds to 26.85% of the daily energy consumption of the office.