Sustainable Communities Case Study: Energy Management Using Demand Response Methods

Politicians, activists, business-leaders and engineers alike all agree that future societal progress depends heavily on the development of sustainable cities and communities designed to achieve long-term environmental, social, and economic viability. A key factor that must be considered when planning for sustainable communities is the desirability for living and the productivity potential for industry and research. At the foundation of both is energy — from generation through transmission to consumption. Innovations and novel designs at all levels within a community — from individual buildings to system-wide infrastructure — will allow homes and offices to operate without noticeable sacrifice of comfort and convenience. An interdisciplinary team of professors and graduate students at Cornell University has formed to address the energy challenges of transforming Cornell University campus into a sustainable community. Cornell University’s main campus in Ithaca, NY is uniquely situated to serve as a model for validation and implementation of an advanced electricity infrastructure, commonly known as a Smart Grid. The campus owns and operates its electricity infrastructure powered by a combination of renewable energy, coal production and other electricity purchased from independent providers. In addition, similar to other communities, Cornell has a variety of building types, each having its unique energy consumption profile and thus providing great opportunities for interaction between buildings. This can prove to be very beneficial in our validation as all communities have variable load profiles. With new capital expenditures for new infrastructure, we expect to see a great reduction in energy costs and lowered operation costs resulting from the implementation of smart-grid in the present electric grid. Moreover, introducing demand response schemes, one of the major components of a smart-grid, would allow the community to incorporate more renewable energy sources into its energy mix, increase energy efficiency, and achieve significant monetary savings.