Cost-Saving through Pre-Cooling: A Case Study of Sydney

Abstract

Air conditioning is responsible for a considerable proportion of households’ electricity bills. During summer afternoons when households usually run their air conditioners, the retail time-of-use electricity tariffs are highest, and there is a peak demand in the electricity network. Pre-cooling is a method to shift air conditioning demand from peak hours to hours with lower demand and cheaper electricity tariffs. In this research, the pre-cooling potential of nine different types of residential housing in Sydney constructed with different star ratings and construction weights is evaluated. Star rating is the method to represent the annual heating and cooling requirements of buildings in Australia. Results highlight that pre-cooling produces cost saving for most of the days in 6-star and 8-star buildings. For 2-star buildings, pre-cooling sometimes leads to higher electricity costs. Moreover, pre-cooling improves thermal comfort, especially in 2-star light and medium weight buildings.

Impacts of phase change materials on performance of operational peak load shifting strategies in a sample building in hot‐arid climate

“…An analysis of a price-based control system in conjunction with energy storage using phase change materials for two applications: space heating in buildings and domestic freezers is performed by Barzin et al 16 Savings of up to 16.5% and 62.64% per day were achieved for the freezer and building applications respectively, based on New Zealand electricity rates. Derradji et al 17 There are lots of researched done for just precooling and peak load shifting, like a numerical study is conducted by Naderi et al 18 The results of this study showed more than 50% cost saving for households using precooling and shifting peak load in Sydney. Krarti et al 19 evaluated the energy efficiency and demand response benefits of switchable insulation systems for commercial buildings based on a comprehensive simulation analysis.…”

“…There are lots of researched done for just precooling and peak load shifting, like a numerical study is conducted by Naderi et al 18 The results of this study showed more than 50% cost saving for households using precooling and shifting peak load in Sydney. Krarti et al 19 evaluated the energy efficiency and demand response benefits of switchable insulation systems for commercial buildings based on a comprehensive simulation analysis.…”