Integrated Optimization of Urban Energy System and EV Charging Infrastructure for Maximum Sustainability

Abstract

Integrating the design of different infrastructure can result in designing more sustainable urban areas. This integration is especially critical for the energy, building, and transportation infrastructure, which correspond to a major part of the greenhouse gas emissions in the US and globally. This paper proposes a new method for integrating the design of energy system and building mix with the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in urban neighborhoods, and for optimizing these infrastructures for minimum life-cycle cost (LCC) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). This work uses archetypical building models, physics-based models of combined cooling, heating, and power plants as well as solar panels, and a novel approach to simulating the demand from EV charging infrastructure. For a sample study in San Francisco, CA, results show that the median GHG of neighborhoods where the energy system and building infrastructure are designed and optimized concurrently with the EV charging infrastructure is 54% lower than neighborhoods where these infrastructures are designed separately. Further, when the level of integration between these infrastructures is taken as a decision variable, optimized neighborhoods with higher integration levels seem to prefer a higher solar rooftop coverage to supply the higher electricity demand from the EV chargers.