Building Integrated Cogeneration System Design Sizing and Analysis for Climate Disruption

Normalized historical weather files are often utilized in whole-building energy simulations to quantitatively determine performance. Predictive building thermal and energy demand response to climate disruption can be evaluated through statistical and hourly simulation-based procedures. The WeatherShift™ application provides an opportunity to dynamically investigate design sizing sensitivity and operation of building integrated cogeneration systems (BICS) to climate disruption scenarios using industry standard reference EnergyPlus Weather (EPW) weather files. In order to determine the impact of future climate change earlier in the integrated design processes as it relates to building integrated cogeneration system performance and design sizing, hourly energy and loads simulation analysis was carried out using a reference commercial prototype building with projected future global climate weather models for two representative concentration pathways for Climate Zone 5A, Chicago. The ASHRAE 90.1-2013 reference building model was iteratively simulated in EnergyPlus simulation program with associated EnergyPlus Weather (EPW) TMY3 weather file and then "shifted" for 2026-2045 future years using WeatherShift™ to produce hourly time-step thermal and electrical load profiles. The ability to test cogeneration resiliency from definitive climate science and projections provides a value proposition for building owners and operators in terms of climate preparedness and adaptation considerations. Specific to the distribution climate model projections and emissions scenario considered, the experimental simulated results indicate that an optimally sized cogeneration system can maintain total fuel and energy cost, source energy, and greenhouse gas emissions savings relative to an ASHRAE 90.1-2013 minimally energy compliant reference building models.