Early energy performance analysis of smart buildings by consolidated artificial neural network paradigms

The assessment of energy performance in smart buildings has emerged as a prominent area of research driven by the increasing energy consumption trends worldwide. Analyzing the attributes of buildings using optimized machine learning models has been a highly effective approach for estimating the cooling load (CL) and heating load (HL) of the buildings. In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) is used as the basic predictor that undergoes optimization using five metaheuristic algorithms, namely coati optimization algorithm (COA), gazelle optimization algorithm (GOA), incomprehensible but intelligible-in-time logics (IbIL), osprey optimization algorithm (OOA), and sooty tern optimization algorithm (STOA) to predict the CL and HL of a residential building. The models are trained and tested via an Energy Efficiency dataset (downloaded from UCI Repository). A score-based ranking system is built upon three accuracy evaluators including mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), root mean square error (RMSE), and percentage-Pearson correlation coefficient (PPCC) to compare the prediction accuracy of the models. Referring to the results, all models demonstrated high accuracy (e.g., PPCCs >89%) for predicting both CL and HL. However, the calculated final scores of the models (43, 20, 39, 38, and 10 in HL prediction and 36, 20, 42, 42, and 10 in CL prediction for the STOA, OOA, IbIL, GOA, and COA, respectively) indicated that the GOA, IbIL, and STOA perform better than COA and OOA. Moreover, a comparison with various algorithms used in earlier literature showed that the GOA, IbIL, and STOA provide a more accurate solution. Therefore, the use of ANN optimized by these three algorithms is recommended for practical early forecast of energy performance in buildings and optimizing the design of energy systems.