Integrated design and operation of energy systems for residential buildings, commercial buildings, and light industries

This work introduces an optimization approach for the design and operation of integrated energy systems of residential structures and light industrial plants to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions going beyond the best possible results from standalone systems. Unlike previous studies, in this work, heat transfer considers temperatures of heat sources and receptors; production rates of plants are optimized to maximize GHG emissions reduction of the integrated operation. Results from case studies indicate if temperature levels are not considered, more than 33% of deemed heat transfer is infeasible. Operating the integrated plants at a steady daily production rate brings a significant reduction in GHG emissions for systems accessing the northeast U.S. grid. Further reduction of GHG emissions is accomplished by scheduling the production rate. Schedules with at most one daily production rate change have only 0.4% higher GHG emissions than the optimum, which has frequent production rate changes. When the standalone system and integrated system have the same annual total cost, the integrated system reduces GHG emissions by at least 18.8% and reduces electricity purchases by 66%. Therefore, the integrated operation can reduce GHG emissions of the system, where the maximum reduction is achieved by optimizing the design and operation of energy system equipment, considering the temperature of heating demands, and optimizing production rates of plants with constraints applied to changes of the rates.