Review of HVAC scheduling techniques for buildings towards energy-efficient and cost-effective operations

This paper provides a detailed review on heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) scheduling techniques for buildings towards energy-efficient and cost-effective operations. The scheduling techniques can be divided into 3 main classes, which are the basic techniques, conventional techniques and advanced techniques. The basic scheduling technique involves only the manipulation of the ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ states of the HVAC system whereas the conventional scheduling technique uses pre-cooling or pre-heating techniques to reduce the peak demand with the use of several setpoint temperatures. The characteristics, as well as the energy and cost saving potentials for each strategy are presented. The advanced scheduling technique, which is the improved version of the basic and the conventional scheduling techniques is found to have the highest energy and cost saving potential. The limitations of the scheduling techniques have also been identified and possible solutions to overcome these limitations and improve the scheduling performance further have also been briefly stated.