Optimizing the energy efficiency of higher education institutions

Abstract

The article presents the results of research conducted at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University within the framework of the innovative business incubator and aimed at forming a cross-system approach to energy consumption management. The authors consider the features being typical for most educational institutions, regardless of the profile and specifics. Constant components of energy consumption are taken into account, such as outdoor lighting, scientific equipment, security systems, fire extinguishing systems, equipment of the dining room and buffet, and engineering services. The basis is a mathematical model that allows not only to describe the processes, but also to apply the methods of optimization theory and develop software for effective management of engineering equipment. The authors have used a search method based on the analysis of nonlinear functions. With the purpose of the research, an application with an extension for finding solutions to optimization problems was used in the free software package with the Linux kernel.