Ensemble of various neural networks for prediction of heating energy consumption

For prediction of heating energy consumption-of a university campus, various artificial neural networks are used: feed forward backpropagation neural network (FFNN), radial basis function network (RBFN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy interference system (ANFIS). Actual measured data are used for training and testing the models. For each neural networks type, three models (using different number of input parameters) are analyzed. In order to improve prediction accuracy, ensemble of neural networks is examined. Three different combinations of output are analyzed. It is shown that all proposed neural networks can predict heating consumption with great accuracy, and that using ensemble achieves even better results. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.