Engineering Commons^™

Field Evaluation Of Efficient Building Technology With Photovoltaic Power Production In New Florida Residential Housing, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The objective of the project, sponsored by the Florida Energy Office and Sandia National Laboratories, is to test the feasibility of building very efficient residential buildings that when combined with utility-interactive PV power, exert little net demand on the utility during the summer peak demand period.

Two single family homes - one, a super efficient residence with a utility interactive photovoltaic (PV) system, and another, a control home - have been constructed in Lakeland, Florida. The PV residence, or PVRES, was constructed with many measures designed to make it more efficient (Fig.E-1). These include a white tile reflective roof system, …

Measured Energy Savings From Retrofits Installed In Low-Income Housing In A Hot And Humid Climate, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) is metering energy use in a Habitat for Humanity housing development. The objective is to understand the way in which energy is used in low income housing and how it can be effectively reduced.

The ten homes come from a conventional housing project built by in 1993 Habitat for Humanity in Homestead, Florida. The instrumentation was installed in the homes in July of 1994 with over three years of 15-minute data collected on all sites. Data were obtained on seven electrical end-uses (air conditioning, heating, hot water, dryer, range, refrigerator, washer/freezer) as well as …

Ventilation, Humidity, And Energy Impacts Of Uncontrolled Airflow In A Light Commercial Building, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

A small commercial building was monitored before and after energy saving retrofits to study the impact of retrofits upon ventilation rates, humidity, building pressure and air conditioning energy use. Duct airtightness testing identified severe duct leakage as a significant source of uncontrolled airflow. Differential pressure and infiltration measurements using tracer gas indicated an attic exhaust fan as another significant source of uncontrolled airflow. Duct repair resulted in a 31% drop (30.5 kWh/day) in cooling energy, and an increase in relative humidity from 72% to 76%. Turning off the attic exhaust resulted in an additional 36% energy savings (14.3 kWh/day), including …