scholarly journals Energy Performance of the NIST Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility relative to a Maryland Code-Compliant Design

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Kneifel
Author(s):  
William M Healy ◽  
A Hunter Fanney ◽  
Brian P Dougherty ◽  
Lisa Ng ◽  
Vance Payne ◽  
...  

Data were collected over two separate year-long test periods at the Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility, alaboratory designed to evaluate a variety of technologies and operational strategies that lead to energy efficient houses with comfortable and healthful indoor environments. In a net-zero energy building, all energy consumption over the course of a year is offset by on-site renewable energy production; this facility attempts to meet that goal through use of a photovoltaic array installed on the roof. Data are presented for one-year test periods over which the research team examined whether the facility would reach net-zero status. In both years, the house was operated in an all-electric configuration, with slight modifications made in the second year related to control schemes and equipment selection. A virtual family of four was simulated to carry out the operations that would typically occur in a home (e.g., appliance usage, lighting usage, hot water usage). Data are being released for the second year of operation at the time of publication of this document, with an expectation that data from the first year will be released at a later date.


Author(s):  
Owen Betharte ◽  
Hamidreza Najafi ◽  
Troy Nguyen

The growing world-wide energy demand and environmental considerations have attracted immense attention in building energy efficiency. Climate zone plays a major role in the process of decision making for energy efficiency projects. In the present paper, an office building located in Melbourne, FL is considered. The building is built in 1961 and the goal is to identify and prioritize the potential energy saving opportunities and retrofit the existing building into a Net-Zero Energy Building (NZEB). An energy assessment is performed and a baseline model is developed using eQUEST to simulate the energy performance of the building. Several possible energy efficiency improvement scenarios are considered and assessed through simulation including improving insulation on the walls and roof, replacing HVAC units and upgrade their control strategies, use of high efficiency lighting, and more. Selected energy efficiency improvement recommendations are implemented on the building model to achieve the lowest energy consumption. It is considered that photovoltaic (PV) panels will be used to supply the energy demand of the building. Simulations are also performed to determine the number of required PV panels and associated cost of the system is estimated. The results from this paper can help with the decision making regarding retrofit projects for NZEB in humid subtropical climate.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
William M. Healy ◽  
Cathy Gates ◽  
A. Hunter Fanney ◽  
Betsy Pettit

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Ng ◽  
Piljae Im ◽  
Yeonjin Bae

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Sajad Rezaei Nasab ◽  
Abbasali Tayefi Nasrabadi ◽  
Somayeh Asadi ◽  
Seiyed Ali Haj Seiyed Taghia

PurposeDue to technological improvement and development of the vehicle-to-home (V2H) concept, electric vehicle (EV) can be considered as an active component of net-zero energy buildings (NZEBs). However, to achieve more dependable results, proper energy analysis is needed to take into consideration the stochastic behavior of renewable energy, energy consumption in the building and vehicle use pattern. This study aims to stochastically model a building integrating photovoltaic panels as a microgeneration technology and EVs to meet NZEB requirements.Design/methodology/approachFirst, a multiobjective nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) was developed to optimize the building energy performance considering panels installed on the façade. Next, a dynamic solution is implemented in MATLAB to stochastically model electricity generation using solar panels as well as building and EV energy consumption. Besides, the Monte Carlo simulation method is used for quantifying the uncertainty of NZEB performance. To investigate the impact of weather on both energy consumption and generation, the model is tested in five different climatic zones in Iran.FindingsThe results show that the stochastic simulation provides building designers with a variety of convenient options to select the best design based on level of confidence and desired budget. Furthermore, economic evaluation signifies that investing in all studied cities is profitable.Originality/valueConsidering the uncertainty in building energy demand and PV power generation as well as EV mobility and the charging–discharging power profile for evaluating building energy performance is the main contribution of this study.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Hunter Fanney ◽  
William Healy ◽  
Vance Payne ◽  
Joshua Kneifel ◽  
Lisa Ng ◽  
...  

The Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF) was designed to be approximately 60% more energy efficient than homes meeting the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code requirements. The thermal envelope minimizes heat loss/gain through the use of advanced framing and enhanced insulation. A continuous air/moisture barrier resulted in an air exchange rate of 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 Pa. The home incorporates a vast array of extensively monitored renewable and energy efficient technologies including an air-to-air heat pump system with a dedicated dehumidification cycle; a ducted heat-recovery ventilation (HRV) system; a whole house dehumidifier; a photovoltaic system; and a solar domestic hot water system. During its first year of operation, the NZERTF produced an energy surplus of 1023 kWh. Based on observations during the first year, changes were made to determine if further improvements in energy performance could be obtained. The changes consisted of installing a thermostat that incorporated control logic to minimize the use of auxiliary heat, using a whole house dehumidifier in lieu of the heat pump's dedicated dehumidification cycle, and reducing the ventilation rate to a value that met but did not exceed code requirements. During the second year of operation, the NZERTF produced an energy surplus of 2241 kWh. This paper describes the facility, compares the performance data for the 2 years, and quantifies the energy impact of the weather conditions and operational changes.


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