Professor Dr. Saifur Rahman

Quantification of peak demand reduction potential of buildings is critical for demand response (DR) analysis in a microgrid environment. Due to the varying nature of electricity consumption throughout the day over different seasons, DR periods affect the energy savings and peak demand reduction potentials of a building in different ways. This paper investigates peak reduction potential of selected commercial buildings within a microgrid environment through the control of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) set point and lighting brightness adjustment. Building models are simulated in EnergyPlus and validated against monthly, daily and 30-minute building electrical consumption with the actual consumption from the smart meter data. The study is conducted over two different DR periods for a winter and a summer week to understand how time of the day and different weather conditions influence building peak demand. Results show that with the proper choice of the DR period along with the HVAC set point and the lighting brightness adjustments, significant hourly peak demand reduction can be achieved for different types of commercial buildings

Biography:

Biography:

Prof. Dr. Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute (www.ari.vt.edu) at Virginia Tech, USA, where he is the Joseph R. Loring Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment (www.ceage.vt.edu). He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. In 2006, he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the Vice President for Publications. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, electric power system operation and planning, etc. in over 30 countries. He was IEEE Power and Energy Society President 2018-2019 and is now a candidate for IEEE President-Elect 2022.

He chaired the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering, 2010-2013. He conducted several energy efficiency projects for Duke Energy, Tokyo Electric Power Company, US National Science Foundation, US Department of Defense, State of Virginia and US Department of Energy.

Address:Arlington, Virginia, United States