Assessing the total energy impact of manual and optimized blind control in combination with different lighting schedules in a building simulation environment

In this work, we investigated the interplay and the influence of lighting and blind control models on the heating, cooling, and lighting energy loads of an office room. By including different stochastic models for occupancy and appliances, we built a complete simulation environment based on the building simulation program IDA ICE. For control models, we implemented different strategies, including a simple on/off scheme, a realistic model of occupants, and an optimized control. In literature, the results are often compared with simple on/off schemes, which are not hard to beat in terms of performance. With an optimal control, the real saving potential is assessed, which can be used as benchmark case for comparison with other control models. Results based on annual simulations show that active occupants can reduce energy consumption by up to 50% from a worst- case scenario, whereas advanced controllers can further reduce the consumption by another 60%.