Engineering Commons^™

How Will Climate Alter Efficiency Objectives? Simulated Impact Of Using Recent Versus Historic European Weather Data For The Cost-Optimal Design Of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (Nzebs), Florida Solar Energy Center, Delia D'Agostino

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Achieving "nearly zero energy buildings" (NZEB) has been established as a vital objective over the next decade within the European Union (EU) [1,2]. Previous work has shown that a series of very cost-effective thermal efficiency measures, equipment, appliance and renewable energy choices are available across climates to reach the NZEB objective. Resulting detailed energy and economic optimization findings have been obtained and published. One area that has just begun to be explored, however, is how selection of weather files and their application against coming climate change can influence outcomes from energy optimization procedures.

Presented at: CLIMA 2019, REHVA 13th HVAC …

Data On Cost-Optimal Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (Nzebs) Across Europe, Florida Solar Energy Center, Delia D'Agostino

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This data article refers to the research paper A model for the cost-optimal design of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) in representative climates across Europe [1]. The reported data deal with the design optimization of a residential building prototype located in representative European locations. The study focus on the research of cost-optimal choices and efficiency measures in new buildings depending on the climate. The data linked within this article relate to the modeled building energy consumption, renewable production, potential energy savings, and costs. Data allow to visualize energy consumption before and after the optimization, selected efficiency measures, costs and renewable …

Technical And Business Solutions For Zero Net-Energy Ready And Zero Net-Energy Homes In The Hot Humid Climate, Florida Solar Energy Center, Eric Martin

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The Department of Energy's Challenge Home program provides a standardized platform for application and marketing of Building America innovations in new residential construction and is intended to facilitate delivery of zero net-energy ready and zero net-energy homes that also meet goals for durability, quality, affordability, and comfort. The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction, one of the Building America research team leads, has partnered with several builders in the hot-humid climate, as they work through the process of adopting Challenge Home. This paper serves to identify viable technical pathways to meeting the Challenge Home criteria in this region and …

Measured Cooling Performance And Potential For Buried Duct Condensation In A 1991 Central Florida Retrofit Home, Florida Solar Energy Center, David Chasar

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) conducted energy performance monitoring of two existing residences in Central Florida that were undergoing various retrofits. These homes were occupied by FSEC researchers and were fully instrumented to yield detailed energy, temperature, and humidity measurements. The data gave feedback about the performance of two levels of retrofit in two types of homes in a hot-humid climate. This report covers a moderate-level retrofit and includes 2 years of pre-retrofit data to characterize the impact of improvements. The other home, covered in a separate report (Parker and Sherwin 2012), is a deep energy retrofit that has …

Achieving Very High Efficiency And Net Zero Energy In An Existing Home In A Hot-Humid Climate: Long-Term Utility And Monitoring Data, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This study summarizes the first six months of detailed data collected about a single-family home that experienced a series of retrofits targeting reductions in energy use. The project was designed to develop data about how envelope modifications in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning and domestic hot water and renewable measures can result in considerable energy reductions and potentially net zero energy for an existing home. Using utility billing records and recent detailed monitoring data, this study was also able to chronicle the progress of energy reduction over a 22-year period.

Performance Of Four Near Zero Energy Homes: Lessons Learned, Florida Solar Energy Center, Carlos Colon

FSEC Energy Research Center®

While the idea of a zero or near zero energy home is well understood, the actual performance of the structure can be different than expected. High performance homes necessitate increasingly complex envelope, HVAC, water heating, and appliance systems, and successful designs rely on proper function and feedback from those systems to achieve low-energy goals. This paper presents measured data on four near zero energy homes located in Florida that are a part of the U.S. DOE Building America program. The monitored data are compared to both a benchmark model and the prototype computer simulations. By examining the submetered energy data, …

Preliminary Performance Evaluation Of A Near Zero Energy Home In Gainesville, Florida, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The U.S. Department of Energy's Building America (BA) program is working to increase the energy efficiency of new and existing homes while increasing comfort, and durability and reducing resource use. As part of this program we pursue opportunities to research highly efficient homes with the goal of understanding what works, what doesn't work, and the most economic ways to reach very high efficiency targets. The program aims to create cost neutral zero energy homes by 2020. In pursuit of this goal, this home and other research homes around the country designed to approach or achieve the zero energy goal are …

Preliminary Performance Evaluation Of A Near Zero Energy Home In Callaway, Florida, Florida Solar Energy Center, Eric Martin

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The U.S. Department of Energy's Building America (BA) program is working to increase the energy efficiency of new and existing homes while increasing comfort, and durability and reducing resource use. As part of this program we pursue opportunities to research highly efficient homes with the goal of understanding what works, what doesn't work, and the most economic ways to reach very high efficiency targets. The program aims to create cost neutral zero energy homes by 2020. In pursuit of this goal, this home and other research homes around the country designed to approach or achieve the zero energy goal are …

An Overview Of Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership (Baihp) Activities In Hot-Humid Climates, Florida Solar Energy Center, Subrato Chandra

FSEC Energy Research Center®

BAIHP (www.baihp.org ) conducts systems research and technical assistance activities for new housing. Hot-humid climate efforts described here include:

Systems research: NightCool – A hybrid cooling and dehumidification strategy employing radiative cooling and desiccant materials. Interior Duct Systems in Manufactured Houses – Tests are ongoing in an occupied prototype home in Alabama and the FSEC manufactured housing lab. Ventilation and Dehumidification – A new strategy has been developed to hook up a whole-house dehumidifier so that it only runs when the air conditioning compressor is off. Plug Load Reduction – Whole house feedback devices and security system based plug load …

Very Low Energy Homes In The United States: Perspectives On Performance From Measured Data, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

We present measured annual performance data from a dozen recent-vintage very low energy homes in North America. Many of the designs combine greater energy efficiency with solar electric photovoltaic power in an attempt to create Zero Energy Homes (ZEH). We also provide measured data from the first home constructed to the German Passivhaus standard in the United States. Several projects either exceeded or come very close to true net zero energy when evaluated over a year.

The data indicate that very low energy use buildings can very readily be achieved in North America. Annual energy use half that or less …