Energy Systems Commons^™

Identifying Savings In Residential Electricity Consumption Through Data-Driven Analysis, Scott J. Maurer

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Climate change and rising electricity demand have driven the need for energy efficiency in buildings. Single-family residential buildings present opportunities for improvement, but current strategies for identifying savings are labor and capital-intensive. Developing a residential version of a virtual energy audit tool offers a cheaper, non-intrusive alternative. This study used 25 all-electric homes in Florida to refine algorithms from the previously developed EDIFES code, originally designed for commercial buildings. The analysis utilized one year of 15-minute electricity consumption, area, stories, and location. These markers include heating and cooling type, setpoint set back, HVAC load, pool pump load, refrigeration load, and …

Who's Leading: The Dance Between Mini-Splits And Existing Hvac Systems, Florida Solar Energy Center, Cheryn Metzger

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Recently, many utilities across the U.S. have provided incentives for ductless mini-split heat pumps due to their relatively high efficiencies. However, when these ductless mini-splits are installed in existing homes, utilities and researchers find that they are not living up to their energy saving potential, due to a lack of coordinated controls with the existing HVAC system. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), and The Levy Partnership are all leading projects across the country to address this problem. The goal for this body of work is to determine which control strategies provide the most …

Targeting The Best Performing Home Efficiency Programs With Advanced Metering Evaluation Supplemented By Simulation, Florida Solar Energy Center, Robin Vieira

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The authors investigated the impacts of seven residential rebate energy efficiency programs offered by a municipal utility. The evaluation examined energy use pre and post retrofit using the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) data, disaggregated by major end-use and weather-adjusted; and also by detailed simulations. Residences modeled were representative of typical participants for that measure based on factors such as year built, conditioned square feet and number of bedrooms.

Our analysis found the residential rebate programs to be of highly varied effectiveness, but important differences surfaced between the simulation and the AMI data evaluation. Not surprisingly, programs with larger samples tended …

Environmental And Economic Implications Of Energy Efficiency In New Residential Buildings: A Multi-Criteria Selection Approach, Florida Solar Energy Center, Delia D'Agostino

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The choice of the most appropriate technologies in buildings is often a challenge at the design stage, especially when many different criteria are taken into account. Consequently, the decision process relies often on one criterion only, such as costs or energy savings. We propose a multi-criteria approach based on multi-attribute utility theory to assess alternative energy efficiency measures, explicitly considering both environmental and economic criteria. We apply it to the design of a new residential building in Milan (Italy), with the aim to maximize CO₂ emission savings related to electricity and gas consumption, and to minimize embodied energy and …

Efficient Multifamily Homes In A Hot-Humid Climate By Atlantic Housing Partners, Florida Solar Energy Center, Dave Chasar

FSEC Energy Research Center®

With assistance from the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and its Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Atlantic Housing Partners (AHP) has implemented a high performance, systems-engineered package of measures in the new construction multifamily housing sector in the hot-humid climate zone. This report demonstrates how the initiative achieves Building America (BA) goals of 30%-50% energy savings. In addition, the report discusses the role of utility allowance calculations, used as part of the low-income housing tax credit process, to value those energy savings.

Results of energy modeling are presented to demonstrate that the specification package achieves 40% energy …

Approaches To 30% Energy Savings At The Community Scale In The Hot-Humid Climate, Florida Solar Energy Center, Stephanie Thomas-Rees

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction, formerly the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership, has worked with several community-scale builders within the hot-humid climate zone to improve performance of production-, or community-scale, housing. Tommy Williams Homes (Gainesville, Florida), LifeStyle Homes (Melbourne, Florida), and Habitat for Humanity (various locations, Florida) have all been continuous partners of the Building America Program. The activities of these partners, described in this report, achieved the Building America goal of 30% whole-house source energy savings using packages adopted at the community scale. For new homes, the reference case is the B10 Benchmark, aligned with 2009 …

Energy Savings And Peak Demand Reduction Of A Seer 21 Heat Pump Vs. A Seer 13 Heat Pump With Attic And Indoor Duct Systems - December 2011, Florida Solar Energy Center, James Cummings

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Experiments were run in an unoccupied 1600 ft2 house, the Manufactured Housing (MH Lab) at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), to evaluate the delivered performance as well as the relative performance of a SEER 21 variable capacity heat pump versus a SEER 13 heat pump. The performance was evaluated with two different duct systems: a standard attic duct system and an indoor duct system located in a dropped-ceiling space.

Opportunities For Energy Conservation And Improved Comfort From Wind Washing Retrofits In Two-Story Homes - Part Ii, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Wind washing is a general term referring to diminished thermal control caused by air movement partially or completely bypassing the thermal barrier. The primary focus of this paper relates to a specific type of wind washing where wind can push attic air into the floor cavity between first and second stories of the home through ineffective (or missing) air barriers separating attic space from the floor cavity. A second type of wind washing studied in this project involves insulation batts on knee walls where space between the batts and the wall board allow air movement against the gypsum wall board. …

Pilot Evaluation Of Energy Savings And Persistence From Residential Energy Demand Feedback Devices In A Hot Climate, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

According to past studies, providing instantaneous feedback on household electrical demand has shown the promise to typically reduce energy consumption by 5-10%. This paper briefly reviews past research and describes a two year pilot evaluation of a low cost residential energy feedback system installed in twenty case study homes in Florida. Although not a statistical sample (the participants were self-selected and interested in reducing energy use), the study showed an average 7% reduction in energy use from feedback homes in the second year of monitoring after controlling for weather-related influences. However, a follow-up evaluation done three years later found little …

Field Monitoring And Hourly Simulation Of Energy And Demand Savings From Use Of The Telkonet Ss5000 System Hotel Ac Occupancy Control, Florida Solar Energy Center, James Cummings

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Air conditioning and heating control systems were installed in a 56-room hotel in central Florida. Thermostat setpoints in half of the rooms were adjusted when the room was detected to be unoccupied. Heating and cooling energy use was monitored for a period of 9.5 months. Energy and demand savings were analyzed.

Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership (Baihp Ii), Annual Report - Budget Period 4 (Bp4), January 01, 2009 - December 31, 2009, Florida Solar Energy Center, Robert Abernethy

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This annual report summarizes the work conducted by the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership (BAIHP - www.baihp.org) during the fourth budget period (BP4) of our contract, January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009. Progress from the three previous budget periods is included for context.

BAIHP is led by the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) of the University of Central Florida. With over 50 Industry Partners including factory and site builders, work was performed in four task areas:

• Task 1: System Evaluations
• Task 2: Prototype House Evaluations
• Task 3: Community Scale Evaluations
• Task 4: Post- Phase 3 Activities.

In Task 1, …

Comparison Of The Energygauge Usa And Beopt Building Energy Simulation Programs, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Two hourly energy simulation software, BEopt and Energy Gauge USA, were compared to ensure accuracy and evaluate agreement on the impact of various energy efficiency improvements. Within the Building America program, these software aid design teams working toward the U.S. Department of Energy's goal to make Zero Energy Homes economically viable by 2025. Builders use the software to achieve the extensive energy savings (70%-80%) from various measures before adding solar electric power generation. The study found that in general, BEopt and EnergyGauge USA agree fairly well on the impact of energy efficiency improvements, while identifying several discrepancies that need further …

Geographic Variation In Potential Of Residential Solar Hot Water System Performance In The United States, Florida Solar Energy Center, Camilo Gil

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This paper describes an assessment of residential solar water heater performance around the continental United States. We performed annual simulations using an hourly simulation model (EGUSA) for 212 TMY3 weather locations around the nation. The annual simulations show how standard hot water energy use for electric and gas systems vary geographically (kWh and therms) as well as the potential energy savings from solar water heaters. A key finding is that the energy necessary for water heating varies by 2:1 around the U.S. with implications for solar water heating system design and sizing. Our results provide information on expected water heater …

Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership, Annual Report - Budget Period 3, 02/01/08-12/31/0, Florida Solar Energy Center, Subrato Chandra

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This annual report summarizes the work conducted by the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership (www.baihp.org) for the period 2/1/08 to 12/31/08. BAIHP is led by the Florida Solar Energy Center of the University of Central Florida. In partnership with over 50 factory and site builders, work was performed in two main areas: research and technical assistance.

In the research area we continued laboratory and field testing of interior duct systems to document their expected energy savings of about 20% in heating and cooling. Worked with Building Science Corp. to test an innovative air-conditioner with an extra dehumidification coil in the …

Furnace Blower Electricity: National And Regional Savings Potential, Florida Solar Energy Center, Victor Franco

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Currently, total electricity consumption of furnaces is unregulated, tested at laboratory conditions using the DOE test procedure, and is reported in the GAMA directory as varying from 76 kWh/year to 1,953 kWh/year. Furnace blowers account for about 80% of the total furnace electricity consumption and are primarily used to distribute warm air throughout the home during furnace operation as well as distribute cold air during air conditioning operation. Yet the furnace test procedure does not provide a means to calculate the electricity consumption during cooling operation or standby, which account for a large fraction of the total electricity consumption. Furthermore, …

Pilot Evaluation Of Energy Savings From Residential Energy Demand Feedback Devices, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Providing instantaneous feedback on household electrical demand has shown the promise to reduce energy consumption by 5-15%. This paper briefly reviews past research and describes a two year pilot evaluation of a low cost residential energy feedback system installed in twenty case study homes in Florida. Although not a statistical sample (the participants were self-selected), the study showed an average 7% reduction in energy use from feedback homes in the second year of monitoring after controlling for weather-related influences. A large identified advantage of the technology is that it provides better guidance on profitable areas to reduce household electrical demand--many …

Ucf Recommissioning Project Final Report, Florida Solar Energy Center, James Cummings

FSEC Energy Research Center®

A research project was carried out to examine the energy savings which occurred from recommissioning three University of Central Florida buildings. Recommissioning activities completed in two of the three buildings yielded chilled water and whole building electricity savings on the order of 15% to 30%. Recommissioning implementation is pending in the third building, where savings are projected to be in the range of 40% to 50% of total building energy use. Additionally, cooling energy savings were monitored (and calculated) for a green roof installation at one of these three buildings. Calculated savings were found to be 1.05 kWh/day for a …

Field Monitoring And Computer Modeling To Determine Energy And Demand Savingsfrom The Melink Intellihood Exhaust And Make-Up Air Control System At Two Supermarkets, One Restaurant, And One Fast Food Restaurant, Florida Solar Energy Center, James Cummings

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Note: Only the Executive Summary of this proprietary report is available for public download.

Field Monitoring And Hourly Simulation Modeling Of The Melink Intellihood Exhaust Control System At Two Supermarkets, One Restaurant, And One Fast Food Restaurant; Final Report, Florida Solar Energy Center, Lixing Gu

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Monitoring of variable speed control of exhaust and make-up air on four Florida buildings is performed. Computer modeling is used to determine energy and demand savings on a yearly basis.

Cold Climate Case Study; High Efficiency North Dakota Twin Homes, Florida Solar Energy Center, Dave Chasar

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The Eastern Dakota Housing Alliance has completed 8 of 20 planned multi-family and single-family dwellings on Selkirk Circle in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Four twin-home (duplex) units were completed in March of 2003 (Phase I) and four more identical units were completed in February of 2004 (Phase II). Four additional units (Phase III) are due for completion by mid-summer, 2004. Design assistance and performance testing were provided by the Building America Industrialized Housing Project with the goal of achieving up to 50% energy savings over the 1993 Model Energy Code.

To approach this level of savings, various envelope and equipment …

Geographic Variation In Potential Of Rooftop Residential Photovoltaic Electric Power Production In The United States, Florida Solar Energy Center, Matthew Lombardi

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This paper describes a geographic evaluation of Zero Energy Home (ZEH) potential, specifically an assessment of residential roof-top solar electric photovoltaic (PV) performance around the United States and how energy produced would match up with very-efficient and super-efficient home designs. We performed annual simulations for 236 TMY2 data locations throughout the United States on two highly-efficient one-story 3-bedroom homes with a generic grid-tied solar electric 2 kW PV system. These annual simulations show how potential annual solar electric power generation (kWh) and potential energy savings from PV power vary geographically around the U.S. giving the user in a specific region …

Performance And Impact From Duct Repair And Ventilation Modifications Of Two Newly Constructed Manufactured Houses Located In A Hot And Humid Climate, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Two nearly identical houses situated next to each other in Bossier City, Louisiana were studied in an effort to better understand moisture and cooling energy related problems in manufactured houses with low thermostat set-points during the cooling season. By design, the major difference between houses was the type of air conditioning units. House A had a standard split air conditioner and House B had a two-speed split air conditioner.

In an effort to make the buildings more similar, the building airtightness was adjusted until it was the same in each house, and duct leaks were sealed so that the ducts …

Industry Guide To Selecting The Best Residential Window Options For The Florida Climate (Revised), Florida Solar Energy Center, Ross Mccluney

FSEC Energy Research Center®

It used to be said that windows are little more than holes in the insulation. It is true to some extent that poorly insulated and drafty windows in certain climates defeat the purpose of wall insulation. However, modern high performance windows are almost as good as opaque insulated wall sections, at least in terms of total energy savings over long periods of time. In some cases, they can be shown to actually out-perform insulated walls. Of course, they have the priceless additional benefits of providing views to the outdoors and natural daylight illumination indoors important issues of quality and comfort. …

Industry Guide To Selecting The Best Residential Window Options For The Florida Climate, Florida Solar Energy Center, Ross Mccluney

FSEC Energy Research Center®

It used to be said that windows are little more than holes in the insulation. It is true to some extent that poorly insulated and drafty windows in certain climates defeat the purpose of wall insulation. However, modern high performance windows are almost as good as opaque insulated wall sections, at least in terms of total energy savings over long periods of time. In some cases, they can be shown to actually out-perform insulated walls. Of course, they have the priceless additional benefits of providing views to the outdoors and natural daylight illumination indoors important issues of quality and comfort. …

Florida Homeowner's Manual For Energy Efficiency, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Most homeowners would like to save on their monthly expenses. One of these expenses - the utility bill - costs the average Florida homeowner five percent of his/her total annual after-tax income. Currently, Floridians are paying about eight cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for electricity. Without close monitoring, electrical uses such as air conditioning can easily push utility costs over $150 per month. Effective conservation measures involve using household appliances less frequently and servicing them properly. These measures will improve their performance as well as their useful life - a real savings over the long run. Also, when you use …

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 …

Daylighting: Measuring The Performance Of Light Shelves And Occupant-Controlled Blinds On A Dimmed Lighting System, Florida Solar Energy Center, Danny Parker

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The design of a daylighted space is both an art and a science. The biggest challenge facing the lighting designer is to admit only as much light as necessary and distribute it evenly throughout the space without introducing glare or heat. In warm climates such as Florida, it has become common practice in windowed spaces to specify blinds and glazing with high shading coefficients to control glare and minimize heat gain. However, this practice reduces the effectiveness of lighting systems that dim automatically. Improved systems are needed to capture natural daylight and distribute it uniformly throughout a space while controlling …

Solar Hot Water Energy And Cost Savings For Typical Florida Residential Installations, Florida Solar Energy Center, David L. Block

FSEC Energy Research Center®

The following table presents energy and cost savings for four typical Florida solar water heating systems. Exact savings by a consumer may vary as much as plus or minus 25 from these numbers for numerous reasons. These include hot water usage, storage tank type, thermostat settings, solar system size, collector placement and local weather conditions. Computer simulations were used to generate the energy data.

Are Energy Savings Due To Ceiling Fans Just Hot Air?, Florida Solar Energy Center, Patrick James

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Human comfort studies have shown that people prefer higher temperatures when they are subjected to a breeze. Ceiling fans are often used to create air motion in residences. Simulation studies (including one given in this paper) have demonstrated that in Florida, using ceiling fans combined with raising a home's temperature 2° F will generate about a 14% net savings in annual cooling energy use (subtracting out the ceiling fan energy and accounting for internally released heat). This savings drops to 2.6% with a 1° F increase in set point and to a negative 3.7% savings with only a 0.5° F …

Daylight Dimming Systems: Studies In Energy Savings And Efficiency, Florida Solar Energy Center, Lynn Schrum

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Three studies were conducted at Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) to study the lighting energy savings of daylight dimming systems. The Daylighting Test Facility (DTF) was used to study daylight dimming systems and how aperture orientation and blinds affect performance. The energy consumption was compared in two pairs of offices for all four window orientations: north, south, east and west. One office in each pair had blinds in a fixed position (down and open) and the other office had no blinds. The study showed that the energy savings ranged from 24% to 51% depending on the orientation and blinds.

The …