ABSTRACT
As part of its customer service, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) provides a short-range weather forecast for a building heating system control automatization. The aim of the service is to minimize heating surpluses by utilizing solar energy and other casual heating gains when they are available, and to make a better balance of extra heating demands during, for example, windy days. This method is based on an energy budget model of a building and opposes commonly used control methods based on prevailing outdoor air temperature. Several years of experience in Swedish buildings show typical energy savings of 10–20 kWh/m2 year. The model also enables improved follow up and normalization of monthly and yearly energy use. Apart from processing weather data, the model calculates a building heating demand using the thermal response method. This paper shows verification results of the building thermal model and discusses its possible improvements.
