Controlling Building Systems

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and systems are provided for measuring the supply of a consumable product to a facility over time and analyzing the measurements to determine the consumption or supply of the product by one or more loads and/or sources in the facility, and to determine induced and residual heat flow through the facility's envelope. Various aspects compare the measured supply of the consumable product to a database of consumption signatures. Operating conditions and facility characteristics may be further considered in determining a particular user's access of the consumable product. Thermal resistance factors of the building may be determined, which are based on the induced and residual heat flow through the facility. Finally, one or more signatures of a building system are analyzed to determine a building's overall efficiency, including determining a controllable load of a building and/or determining an efficient start time for one or more building systems.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 identifying at least one building component associated with a facility;   electronically retrieving an energy signature from a database related to the at least one building component; and   displaying on a display an estimate of consumption of energy by the at least one building component based on the energy signature.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 generating a report detailing the estimate of consumption of energy by the at least one building component. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the report comprises an estimated cost corresponding to the estimate of consumption of energy by the at least one building component. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the report comprises an estimated greenhouse gas emission by the at least one building component. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 retrieving characteristics of the facility from the database. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the characteristics of the facility comprise at least one of:
 insulation factors of walls in the facility; insulation factors of windows in the facility; load factors of the facility; and historical seasonal usage information of the facility.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining at least one of: one or more energy ratings of the facility; compliance of the facility with one or more governmental regulations; and compliance of the facility with one or more trade group certifications. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining one or more thermal properties of an envelope of the facility. 
 
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 determining, by an autonomous processor, a measured signature of a consumable product supplied to a building at a current operating condition;   determining, by the autonomous processor, a measured start time and a measured stop time of the measured signature; and   comparing, by the autonomous processor, the measured stop time to the measured start time of the measured signature;   determine an optimal ramp time based on the comparing, wherein the optimal ramp time is an interval of time before an occupancy time which a building system should be started for the current operating condition;   determining, by the autonomous processor, a building system start time based on the optimal ramp time; and   starting, by the autonomous processor, the building system at the determined building system start time.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the optimal ramp time includes comparing the optimal ramp time to a table comprising a plurality of optimal ramp times at a plurality of operating conditions. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the optimal ramp time includes determining, by the autonomous processor, an inflection point of a curve of the measured signature. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the inflection point corresponds to a time at which a slope of the curve of the measured signature becomes negative. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the measured stop time is a time corresponding to the inflection point on the curve of the measured signature. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the optimal ramp time is a time interval between the measured start time and the measured stop time for the measured signature. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the optimal ramp time is greater than a time interval between the measured start time and the measured stop time for the measured signature.