CUE has developed, and proven with proprietary modeling, software and services that enable commercial buildings in large metropolitan areas to become more efficient with energy use.  The proprietary modeling tracks the performance and electric demand of building heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, and then evaluates pre-cooling strategies (shown in green) that shift HVAC electric consumption to take advantage of lower night-time/early morning heat rates and electric prices.  These models rely on engineering data and measured operating data to “learn” building behavior and provide site-specific performance predictions.

CUE’s alpha version of its software incorporates these models.  The software applies optimization techniques to the model to determine the most economical operation for each day, as a function of hourly temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and electric price. The beta version, currently in development, will be an on-line, automated, scalable version of CUE’s supervisory optimal building control system.

CLICK HERE for an illustrative example of how this works

In contrast to traditional utility demand response programs, CUE technology optimizes heating and cooling operations every day – for example, based on hourly energy prices or environmental criteria – to achieve substantial energy use, expense and emissions reductions.  As in electric system operations, optimal solutions reside on multiple time scales: annual, diurnal, hourly, or shorter.

From a smart grid perspective, CUE’s technology harnesses the inherent physical and operating flexibility of commercial buildings to create value for, and provide services to, the electric grid very quickly and at low cost.  The CUE technology is also a precursor test for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) compatibility with the electric grid, as it will take significant adjustment by grid markets and operations to accommodate PHEV, as CUE has already encountered in deploying its technology.  As CUE technology gains building and grid operator confidence, commercial buildings will create value in numerous grid markets and operations, from regulation to capacity to balancing.

CLICK HERE for a more in-depth explanation of our technology.

As an example of how this works, consider that the Midwest electric markets are dominated by nuclear and coal-fired electric generation. The June 16, 2008 electric prices shown below provide a dramatic example of the very low and often negative nighttime prices that characterize Midwest energy markets – a significant pre-cooling opportunity for CUE customers in an era of otherwise volatile daytime energy prices.

In the Midwest as elsewhere, electric demand is higher during the day than at night. Unique to the Midwest, the additional daytime “peak” electricity is provided from smaller, less efficient coal-fired plants. CUE technology optimally shifts daytime electric use from day to the night – to more efficient coal-fired plants, equipped with better environmental technology. This reliance on coal-fired plants for daytime peaking electricity also creates significant inefficiencies in the electric grid at night, including degraded plant environmental performance and negative electric market prices. Application of CUE technologies systematically improves electric grid efficiency and environmental performance, both day and night – especially valuable in large, grid-constrained metropolitan areas.

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