Hourly electrical and cooling load profiles for college buildings in Puerto Rico

This dataset provides the numerical source data underlying selected figures in the associated study of cooling system performance for college buildings at the University of Puerto Rico at Rico Piedras. The spreadsheet contains modeled cooling demand, ground heat exchanger performance, electricity consumption, cooling tower makeup water use and cost, and system coefficients of performance (COPs). These values are simulation and postprocessed modeling results rather than measured campus operating data.

The building cooling loads were generated using EnergyPlus for a prototype college building under Typical Meteorological Year (TMY3) weather conditions for San Juan, Puerto Rico. The prototype results were also scaled to represent four buildings equivalent to the Facundo Bueso building. Long-term subsurface temperatures and thermal production for the two-doublet ground heat exchanger system were simulated using SUTRA (https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/6797f8ead34ea8c18376e10d). Electricity consumption, water use, and COP were subsequently calculated for the three cooling scenarios using the component models, performance relationships, and assumptions described in the associated manuscript.

The spreadsheet is organized into separate column groups corresponding to the following manuscript figures and panels:

Figure 2(a-c) contains the EnergyPlus-derived cooling-load profiles. Figure 2(a) provides the hourly cooling demand of the prototype college building during the first 720 hours. Figure 2(b) provides its daily cooling-energy demand over a full year. Figure 2(c) provides the first 720 hours of cooling demand scaled to represent four Facundo Bueso-equivalent buildings.

Figure 3(a-b) contains seven-day-averaged results from the 20-year SUTRA simulation of the two-doublet ground heat exchanger system in Scenario 2. Figure 3(a) reports injection and production fluid temperatures for the two doublets. Figure 3(b) compares the campus cooling load with the simulated thermal energy supplied by the ground heat exchanger system.

Figure 4(a-c) compares the cooling-tower system in Scenario 1 with the ground heat exchanger system in Scenario 2. Figure 4(a) relates chiller COP to campus cooling load, Figure 4(b) relates chiller electricity consumption to campus cooling load, and Figure 4(c) provides hourly chiller electricity-consumption profiles for the two scenarios during the first 720 hours.

Figure 5(a-f) contains integrated system-performance results. Figure 5(a) compares total hourly electricity consumption among the three scenarios. Figures 5(b) and 5(c) disaggregate electricity consumption by system component for Scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. Figure 5(d) provides the seven-day moving-average pumping loads of the two ground heat exchanger doublets over 20 years. Figure 5(e) reports cooling tower makeup water consumption and associated cost for Scenario 1. Figure 5(f) compares hourly COP among the three scenarios. Occasional single-hour COP spikes occur during periods of very low cooling demand, when modeled electricity consumption approaches zero.

Each figure-panel group has its own independent time or cooling-load index. Hourly profiles generally cover the first 720 hours, annual daily cooling demand covers 365 days, load-dependent comparisons contain 8,760 hourly observations, and long-term ground heat exchanger results are reported as seven-day averages over 20 years.