Study on energy management system in senior care facility-optimization of the combination of devices

In general, the energy demand particularly heat demand for senior care facilities is relatively larger than that of other kinds of facilities. However, the combination of energy sources and systems of operation schedule have not been optimized. To realize the optimization, this investigation on energy management was conducted. First, measurement of the consumption of electricity, gas and water service in the senior care facilities of one day duration was carried out. By using the measured data, we estimated the ratio of these energies eventually used as heat. As a consequence, it was recognized that the maximum amount of heat consumption was hot-water heaters for bath occupied at around 34%. Second, 8 % demand was for kitchen and drying machines. As a result, our interest focused on these three utilities. Evaluation was made with using three factors i.e. cost, environmental factor, and energy efficiency. To combine several kinds of systems which work with electricity or gas for three utilities (Bathing, Kitchen and Drying) and we proposed the best combination. It would be significant to decide which factors be given priority. For example, if they want to precede cost the most, we recommend them to use CO₂ heat pump for bath, system driven by gas for cooking, and heat pump for drying. If the priority is given to environment, recommendation using systems driven by gas is made. These findings indicate how much we can save cost, CO₂ emission, and energy consumption. Hopefully, the proposal suggested from this study will be applied to different kinds of facilities.