Patent ID: 10324435

Abstract:
An apparatus for prioritizing a demand response program event based on occupancy for one or more buildings of one or more building types participating in a demand response program is provided. The apparatus has an occupancy estimator and a dispatch controller. The occupancy estimator is configured to receive energy consumption and outside temperature streams corresponding to a portion of the one or more buildings, and is configured to employ occupancy components for each of the one or more buildings within the portion to process the streams, and is configured to generate occupancy levels corresponding to the one or more buildings within the portion, where the occupancy components and the occupancy levels are generated by exclusively processing the streams, and is configured to assign the occupancy levels to remaining ones of the one or more buildings not in the first portion. The a dispatch controller is configured to employ the occupancy components to maintain a global energy use model for the one or more buildings, and is configured to transmit dispatch messages to selected ones of the one or more buildings to reduce energy consumption by a prescribed amount for a prescribed period of time, to achieve objectives of the demand response program event.