Quantum mechanics

Thermal mass

HVAC

Thermal comfort

Energy demand

Engineering

Environmental economics

Peak demand

Economics

Power (physics)

Computer science

Electricity generation

Grid

Business

Computer network

Mechanical engineering

Thermodynamics

Demand response

Physics

Mathematics

Management

Thermal

Electricity demand

Geometry

Architectural engineering

Meteorology

Load shifting

Flexibility (engineering)

Electricity

Resource (disambiguation)

Air conditioning

Electrical engineering

Energy

Electric demand flexibility in buildings has been deemed to be a promising demand response resource, particularly for large commercial buildings, and it can provide grid-responsive support. A building with a higher electricity flexibility potential has a higher degree of involvement with the grid response. If the electricity flexibility potential of a building is known, building operators can properly alleviate peak loads and maximize economic benefits through precise control in demand response programs. Previously, there was no standard way to quantify electricity flexibility, and it was difficult to evaluate a given building without experiments and tests. Thus, a systematic approach is proposed to quantify building electricity flexibility. The flexibility contributions include building thermal mass; lights; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and occupant behaviors. This proposed model has been validated by the instantiation of an office building case on the Dymola platform. For a typical office building, the results show that the electricity flexibility resource not only comes from the HVAC system, but also thermal mass and occupant behavior to a large degree, and buildings with energy flexibility can cut down much of their load during peak load time without compromising on the occupant's comfort.

Quantification of electricity flexibility in demand response: Office building case study