Delivering building demand flexibility for grid-interactive operation: from perception and cognition to decision, execution, and verification
Applied Energy, vol. 426, pp. 128668
Abstract
As both buildings and power systems undergo rapid decarbonization, demand flexibility (DF) in buildings has emerged as a key enabler for renewable energy integration, grid reliability, energy resilience, and efficient and low carbon operation. By dynamically adjusting building energy use in response to grid requirements, DF can help reduce building operational costs, respond to renewable variability, reduce peak demand, alleviate network congestion, and enhance overall system stability. Consequently, significant research efforts have examined building DF from multiple perspectives, including flexibility definitions, resources, characterization, assessment, optimization, and application scenarios. However, the effective delivery of DF in buildings requires an integrated, end-to-end approach spanning perception, cognition, decision, execution, and verification, which remains a critical gap in the existing literature. This review addresses this gap by proposing a layered architecture that integrates these stages into a coherent framework and provides insights from existing studies in this field. It synthesizes enabling methods, clarifies cross-layer interactions, and examines how data, models, control strategies, implementation mechanisms, and evaluation approaches collectively support DF delivery. Critical cross-layer challenges are identified, and future research priorities for robust and trustworthy DF delivery are outlined. This work establishes a conceptual foundation for advancing interoperable, grid-responsive, and practically deployable DF solutions in buildings, supporting both building decarbonization and more efficient, resilient grid operation
Authors 34
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Zhenjun Ma corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, University of Wollongong, 2522, NSW, Australia
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Affiliation as printed
Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, University of Wollongong, 2522, NSW, Australia
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Affiliation as printed
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
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National University of Singapore
Affiliation as printed
Department of the Built Environment, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, United States
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
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Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Affiliation as printed
Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, The Bartlett, University College London, UK
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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, United States
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Affiliation as printed
SINTEF Community, Department of Architectural Engineering, Oslo, Norway
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Felix Stegemerten Aachen E.ON Energy Research Center Institute for Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate
Affiliation as printed
RWTH Aachen University, E.ON Energy Research Center, Institute for Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate, Mathieustraße 10, Aachen 52074, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, The Bartlett, University College London, UK
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École de Technologie Supérieure
Affiliation as printed
Department of Mechanical Engineering, École de technologie supérieure, Montreal, Canada
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Affiliation as printed
J. Mike Walker’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843, TX, United States
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Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Affiliation as printed
Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, University of Wollongong, 2522, NSW, Australia
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Affiliation as printed
Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, University of Wollongong, 2522, NSW, Australia
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Affiliation as printed
Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, University of Wollongong, 2522, NSW, Australia
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Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7034 Trondheim, Norway
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Eindhoven University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
KU Leuven, Department of Civil Engineering, Building Physics and Sustainable Design, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY13244, United States
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Affiliation as printed
Building Energy Research Center, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
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Affiliation as printed
Building Energy Research Center, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Affiliation as printed
J. Mike Walker’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843, TX, United States
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Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Eindhoven University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY13244, United States
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Eindhoven University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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