Summary
Max Bird is a currently a PhD student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, supervised by Dr. Salvador Acha and Prof. Nilay Shah. His research is looking to improve integrated control of energy systems such as HVAC, refrigeration and GSHPs in commercial buildings using cloud-based solutions.
Before starting his PhD in May 2022, Max worked for 2 years as a research assistant in the Imperial-Sainsbury's Partnership, a group committed to help Sainsbury's reach net zero operational carbon emissions by 2035. To deliver this, the partnership has three goals: in-depth analytics of asset performance, promoting energy efficiency and to sustainably reduce Sainsbury’s carbon footprint through the introduction of low carbon initiatives.
His research experience focuses mostly on the built environment, working on projects to improve the monitoring and control of key energy systems across Sainsbury's estate. This includes deploying hardware/software solutions to collect field data, developing data-driven models to understand building performance, and designing real-time optimisation schemes to reduce overall energy and carbon usage. Wider research interests include modelling renewable energy systems (PV, wind) and the energy market in the UK. He also has experience working as an energy consultant, assisting companies in bespoke projects and governmental bids for funding.
Max obtained an MEng in Chemical with Nuclear Engineering from Imperial College London and is a member of IChemE.
Publications
Journals
Acha Izquierdo S, vieira G, Bird M, et al., 2022, Modelling UK electricity regional costs for commercial buildings, Energy and Buildings, Vol:271, ISSN:0378-7788, Pages:1-15
Bird M, Daveau C, O'Dwyer E, et al., 2022, Real-world implementation and cost of a cloud-based MPC retrofit for HVAC control systems in commercial buildings, Energy and Buildings, Vol:270, ISSN:0378-7788, Pages:1-13
Gulliford MJS, Orlebar RH, Bird MH, et al., 2022, Developing a dynamic carbon benchmarking method for large building property estates, Energy and Buildings, Vol:256, ISSN:0378-7788, Pages:111683-111683
Conference
Cooper J, Bird M, Acha S, et al., 2023, The Carbon Footprint of a UK Chemical Engineering Department – The Case of Imperial College London, The 30th CIRP Life Cycle Engineering Conference, Elsevier, Pages:444-449, ISSN:2212-8271
Bird M, Acha S, Escriva EJS, et al., 2023, Data-driven Modelling of Supermarket Refrigeration Systems for Model Predictive Control Applications, Pages:761-768