Predictability of energy characteristics for cooling, ventilation and heating systems in sports facilities

In this paper we analyze operational energy data of the cooling, ventilation and heating systems of the professional soccer stadium Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, Germany. We analyze data collected over a six month period in 2014 statistically and show that depending on the stadium´s operational context consumption patterns vary largely among the different systems resulting in very different behaviors. The results provide insights into what drives the energy consumption for different systems of a large commercial sports facility: the static heating system is purely dependent on outside air temperature, ventilation exhibits a pronounced daily consumption pattern irrespective of the temperature and cooling is driven by a combination of event operation and air temperature. These insights will allow us to predict, plan and balance the energy demands of different subsystems more accurately, resulting in energetic improvements of the stadium operation in the form of load shedding while maintaining the systems´ service levels.