The energy saving potential of retrofitting a smart heating system: A residence hall pilot study

Energy conservation is of increasing importance in contemporary society. A large fraction of energy end-use can be attributed to space conditioning. Therefore, intelligent control systems were devised and commercialised in the form of smart thermostats. Hereto, the availability of occupancy information is essential such that heating and/or cooling schedules can be tailored to user needs. This way energy savings can be obtained without jeopardising user satisfaction. However, preceding studies generally rely on simulations to estimate the potential reduction in energy consumption. This work aims at quantifying the potential based on a real life experiment. The development of a smart heating system is presented along with the results of an actual field test of retrofitting this system in 14 single-user student rooms of a university residence hall. An experiment was conducted in which the heating was automatically steered for 1 week (26 March 2018–01 April 2018). Total energy savings range between 26.9% and 59.5% and calculated thermal comfort was not significantly affected by the autonomous control. Furthermore, an environmental impact reduction of 3.2 to 12.9 EcoPoints is estimated for the controlled week, resulting in a reduction of 37.5 to 150.2 kgCO₂eq.