%0 Generic
%K Air conditioning
%K Peak demand
%K Thermal mass
%K Pre-cooling
%K Mechanical Cooling
%A William J. N Turner
%A Jordan Roux
%A Iain S Walker
%D 2014
%T Reducing Residential Peak Electricity Demand with Mechanical Pre-Cooling of Building Thermal Mass
%2 LBNL-180912
%X <p>This study used an advanced airflow, energy and humidity modelling tool to evaluate the potential for residential mechanical pre-cooling strategies to reduce peak electricity demand. Simulations were performed for a typical new home in all US DOE Climate Zones. The results show that the effectiveness of pre-cooling is highly dependent on climate zone and the selected pre-cooling strategy. The expected energy trade-off between cooling peak energy savings and increased off-peak energy use is also shown. Best pre-cooling results for most climates were obtained using a short pre-cooling time window with a high pre-cooling set point temperature. All pre-cooling strategies caused the annual cooling energy demand of the simulated buildings to increase. However, pre-cooling for long time periods with a low temperature set point can eliminate up to 97% of the annual peak cooling load of the building</p>