Residential Buildings
Pulling the Levers on Existing Buildings: A Simple Method for Calibrating Hourly Energy Models
Comprehensive building retrofits require an investment grade audit in conjunction with a calibrated hourly energy model. Even with the most thorough audit processes, uncertainty still remains when identifying and modeling building parameters. This uncertainty propagates throughout the final calibrated model and affects the quality of the energy saving estimates. This…
Energy Modeling at Each Design Phase: Strategies to Minimize Design Energy Use
Design teams often use energy modeling as an accounting or code compliance tool to establish that minimum requirements are met. Used in this way, significant opportunities to inform and improve building design are overlooked. Properly used, energy modeling can provide outputs that optimize a building’s energy consumption, reduce life cycle…
Barriers and Breakthroughs for Multitenant Developments
In owner-occupied facilities, it is easy to justify the incorporation of high-performance building features because commonly recognized hard and soft benefits (cost savings, productivity gains, improved occupant health, etc.) are directly recovered by the investment entity. Developers or owners of multitenant office buildings and retail developments, on the other hand,…
Smart Garage Charrette Preread Core
The Smart Garage Charrette Preread Core gives the most important background on the Smart Garage vision (united vehicles, the grid, and buildings through vehicle electrification), technologies, modeling, and market analysis, including hot topics as of October 2008.
Home Energy Briefs: #9 Whole System Design
This Home Energy Brief focuses on whole-system design. The Brief covers the application of whole-system design to a building envelope, building materials, and the cost and financing of whole-system design. The Brief introduces the synergies that exist between thermal mass, windows, and other components of passive solar design. This process…