Low Energy Building Designs for Extreme Weather Conditions in Central Asia

Buildings account for nearly 40% of the end-use energy consumption and carbon emissions globally. These buildings, once built, are bound to be utilized for several decades if not longer. The building sector therefore holds a significant responsibility for implementing strategies to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions and thus contribute to global efforts directed toward mitigating the adverse effects of climate change. This paper presents an oversight of effective low-energy building design strategies for the extreme weather conditions in Kazakhstan (Astana), with temperature ranging between −35 and +40 C. Passive design features coupled with integration of renewable energy technologies have been identified for the next generation of buildings in Astana. The specific nature of the work is intentional, it is a continuing attempt to generate relevant know how that has direct relevancy to Astana’s system approach to energy conversation to meet its extreme winters.

Pseudo-Color Coded Optical System Based on the Spatial Light Modulator and Charge-Coupled Device

A new pseudo-color coded optical system based on the liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) and a digital camera (CCD) is proposed. The SLM is used to replace the holographic grating with gray-scale image information, a gray-scale image in real-time modulation methods is proposed by synthesizing phase hologram and Ronchi grating, combined with the 4f coherent optical processing system and spatial filtering. For the high resolution gray image processed with existing digital pseudo-color method, the color sensitivity is low, algorithm is very complex. For traditional optical pseudo-color method, the gray scale image needs chemical pretreatment. The process is complex and time-consuming, and the real-time modulation could not be achieved. Our new method has enhanced the flexibility and adaptability of the optical pseudo-color, and give full play to the high sensitivity, high-capacity, rich colors and other features of the optical processing mode. At the same time, it overcomes the disadvantages of pure optical system which could not perform real-time processing. Therefore, it can be widely used in the field of remote sensing, biomedical, environmental monitoring, public security and criminal investigation, etc.

Developing Resource Consumption Insights From Campus-Scale Water Monitoring Infrastructures

Water consumption at many commercial campuses is a significant portion of resource expenditure, often with limited or no visibility into the individual branch or point of use locations, all of which summate to provide utility based reporting and invoicing, mostly on a monthly basis. In this paper, we present a case study where a commercial campus’ water distribution system is being instrumented to obtain a more granular measure of water usage. Measurement granularity is improved both in the time domain, transitioning from monthly to hourly or more frequent reporting, and in the spatial domain with all major end loads and significant branch loads being classified or monitored. Specifically, additional instrumentation is deployed in two distinct phases. The first phase added wireless transducers to the existing utility installed mechanical meters, enabling them to transmit consumption data every quarter hour. The second phase will instrument existing branch flow meters and also insert new flow meters to certain end-point loads and sub-branches. This will enable point or clustered data polling on the order of every few seconds. We also obtain additional information by polling an existing HVAC building management system for water related points of interest. We find that the collection and storage of granular water consumption information has the potential to create a detailed demand-side mapping of water usage on campus; providing data with significantly shortened time periods compared to the use of utility billing alone. We use this information to obtain hourly and daily consumption summaries at the site level and for specific end-load devices. From these results, we have created a hybrid consumption estimation of water consumption at the campus level, which contains a mixture of surveyed estimations and dynamic readings. This model provides improved accuracy and insights when compared to static site survey estimations. Due to the age and complexity of the site, primarily a result of numerous engineering changes over the site’s 60 year lifespan and a lack of detailed historical documentation, further work is ongoing to determine which additional endpoint loads or branched sub-sections we will instrument. We plan to use these additional data points to refine our water distribution model; hoping to accurately map individual buildings, floors and functional areas over time. At present, our site level instrumentation has been beneficial in revealing a number of insights regarding unexpected consumption events, most of which were attributed to scheduled maintenance activities. The ongoing monitoring of individual end-point loads has also highlighted areas of significant demand, which could be prioritized for conservation initiatives, and has shown where systemic adjustments could reduce demand peaking and flatten the flow requirements our campus places on the supplying utility.

Air Handling Unit Level Fault Signature Development Using EnergyPlus

In the effort to create more energy efficient buildings, an effective fault detection process must be developed for monitoring and diagnosing malfunctions in the Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. This study provides energy loss signatures that can be used to diagnose a specific faulty component at the unit level. An analysis has been performed on a single air handling unit (AHU) to determine how faulty HVAC components effect the overall energy consumption of the unit. To begin the process, the Engineering Laboratory building on the campus of the University of Oklahoma was modeled for the simulation, using EnergyPlus 7.0, Google Sketchup 8, and OpenStudio 0.6.0. The building has an existing single duct system with a 3hp AHU with a forward curved fan that discharges 2500 cfm (1.175 m3/s) that covers approximately 2809 square feet (261 m2). Inputs into the simulation included building constructions, architecture, internal loads, and external loads from weather, sun, and shade objects. Simulations were run using the stated software, and a base case was established for energy consumption. Next, components and variables on the AHU, such as minimum outside air intake, economizer outside damper control, cooling coil valve, duct work pressurization, and various sensors were individually modified to reflect a malfunction or inefficiency. The energy loss caused from these changes in inputs was quantified and analyzed for the purpose of establishing a graphical range of energy loss signatures associated with each faulty component. Building Engineers and operators will be able to not only detect the exact malfunction faster, but also to ascertain the associated energy loss cost associated with the fault. The results of the study will be used to automate an online energy monitoring fault detection and diagnosis process.

Office of the Future: Advanced Lighting Control Strategies

The Office of the Future (OTF) program is a new energy efficiency approach supported by a consortium of some of the nation’s largest and most progressive energy utilities. OTF targets existing multi-tenant commercial office buildings with packages of advanced energy efficiency strategies that can be applied at the tenant level for building owners. The overall goal is to assemble technical guidelines to office renovation projects that specify performance requirements for different attributes of the office (lighting, plug loads, etc.) and whole building that result in 25% and 50% savings better than code. Three pilot projects were conducted: 1. Executive office space 2. Open area office space 3. Office space with five private offices, a conference room, lobby, kitchen, and corridor The executive offices provided an opportunity to measure energy use in a 1,360 square-meters (m2) office and to undertake a relighting project that met the architectural, aesthetic, and functional demands of the space while employing current energy-efficient products and design techniques. The open area office space consisted of 745 m2 of primarily cubicle office space — half of the 12th floor of a federal building in Santa Monica, CA. The project was highly representative of the challenges and complications faced in retrofit projects in everyday office buildings. The office space with private offices involved renovating the lighting and lighting controls in a 147 m2 office space in the 41,156 m2 building, and summarized the performance of the lighting design in accordance with the OTF Technical Guidelines. In addition, this project included details regarding the pre- and post-lighting systems and controls, compares the actual metered power and energy performance of the 2008 Title 24 code baseline, presents the code calculation basis, and reveals some of the complexities associated with this approach. These pilot projects had three primary goals: 1) examine the performance characteristics of highly-controlled lighting systems in a real office environment compared to existing lighting and applicable codes, 2) monitor plug load energy use, and 3) provide measured and technical data back to OTF consortium members to inform the OTF process. The measured results of the open area office space project revealed that a high-performance lighting design with controls delivers savings considerably beyond code-calculated estimates. In fact, results show that during daytime occupied hours, the average site usage is 43% less power than code calculations. The new system reduced the connected load by 56%. Similar results were found for the other two pilot projects.

A System Modeling Approach for Active Solar Heating and Cooling System With Phase Change Material (PCM) for Small Buildings

The paper presents a study of the performance of an active solar thermal heating and cooling system for small buildings. The work is motivated by the need for finding sustainable alternatives for building applications that are climate adaptable. The energy demand for heating and cooling needs in residential and light commercial buildings in mid-latitudes represent more than 50% of the energy consumed annually by these buildings. Solar thermal energy represents an untapped opportunity to address this challenge with sustainable solutions. Direct heating could be a source for space heating and hot water, and for heat operated cooling systems to provide space cooling. However, a key limitation in mainstreaming solar thermal for heating and cooling has been the size of thermal storage to implement related technologies. We address this issue by coupling a Phase Change Material (PCM) with an adsorption chiller and a radiant flooring system for year round solar thermal energy utilization in Northern climates. The adsorption chiller allows for chill water production driven by low temperature solar thermal energy for summer cooling, and low temperature radiant heating provides for space heating in winter conditions, while hot water demand is supplied year round. These active systems are operated by high performance solar thermal collectors. The PCM has been selected to match temperatures requirements of the adsorption chiller, and the tank was designed to provide three levels of temperatures for all applications; cooling, heating, and hot water. The material selection is paraffin sandwiched with a graphite matrix to increase the conductivity. The specific objective of the preset work is to provide a system optimization of this active system. The system is represented by a series of mathematical models for each component; PCM tank with heat exchangers, the adsorption machine, the radiant floor, and the solar thermal collectors (Evacuated tubular collectors). The PCM modeling allows for sensible heating, phase change process, and superheating. Parametric simulations are conducted for a defined small building in different locations in US with the objective of defining design parameters for; optimal solar collector array, sizing of the PCM tank, and performance of the adsorption machine and radiant heating system. The monthly and annual solar fractions of the system are also reported.

Understanding the Effect of Baseline Modeling Implementation Choices on Analysis of Demand Response Performance

Accurate evaluation of the performance of buildings participating in Demand Response (DR) programs is critical to the adoption and improvement of these programs. Typically, we calculate load sheds during DR events by comparing observed electric demand against counterfactual predictions made using statistical baseline models. Many baseline models exist and these models can produce different shed calculations. Moreover, modelers implementing the same baseline model can make different modeling implementation choices, which may affect shed estimates. In this work, using real data, we analyze the effect of different modeling implementation choices on shed predictions. We focused on five issues: weather data source, resolution of data, methods for determining when buildings are occupied, methods for aligning building data with temperature data, and methods for power outage filtering. Results indicate sensitivity to the weather data source and data filtration methods as well as an immediate potential for automation of methods to choose building occupied modes.

A New Calibration Method and Device for Certified Flow Measurements With Laser Velocimetry

We aim to establish traceability at calibration and hence to enable a certified flow measurement with a calibrated measurement system. A new calibration method is presented for laser velocimetry. We develop a simple, unique method which establishes traceability of its uncertainty. The device is transportable and calibratable by any users for their own instruments on-site. Our new method requires only a rotating disk and a precision linear stage providing positional information. In former calibration methods, the uncertainty of the orbit radius of a scattering object was dominant due to the difficulty of accessing the true center of the rotation. The diffuculty was solved in our new method. The new method provides an accurate estimate of the orbit radius and hence the velocity of the calibration object through a linear regression. The calibration constant is obtained even without the need of direct access to the absolute value of the rotation radius. The uncertainty budget is examined throughout the calibration procedure. The traceability chain is established once the traceabilities are maintained to the translation stage and the motor used for rotating the calibration disk. The new method has been realized with three different calibration setups and their performances were investigated. We demonstrate that the new calibration method can achieve uncertainty down to 0.1%.

Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Think Pyramids

The developing communities in their path for rapid development is endeavoring to make all necessary and appropriate measures to enhance the efficiency of energy utilization and increase the beneficiation of the energy resources. The energy production, transmission, distribution and utilization efficiency becomes a vital factor and measure of national development. Governmental organizations were established earlier to be responsible for energy planning and efficient utilization, information dissemination and capacity building as well as devising the necessary codes and standards. Throughout the Nation, energy resources are widely used and consumption rates are in general exceeding the International accepted values. Energy rationalization and audit exercises were developed and monitored by Governmental Authorities, Universities and Research centers through the past two decades with a definitive positive energy reduction and beneficiation. The development of the relevant codes for Residential and Commercial Energy Efficiency in buildings is underway through the governmental bodies responsible for the research and development in the building Technology sector and is the umbrella under which the National and Unified Arab Codes are developed and issued. A proposed new Energy Performance in Buildings Directive (EPBD) would fulfill the following main targets of energy performance directive: 1. “Legestilative authorities shall ensure that, when buildings are constructed, sold or rented out, an energy performance certificate is made available to the owner or by the owner to the prospective buyer or tenant, as the case might be. … 2. The energy performance certificate for buildings shall include reference values such as currant legal standards and benchmarks in order to make it possible for consumers to compare and assess the energy performance of the building. The certificate shall be accompanied by recommendations for cost-effective improvement of the energy performance…” The following steps shall be required for the energy certification: 1. Develop methodologies for energy declaration of the buildings. 2. Develop reference values (key numbers) and /or systems for benchmarking. 3. Provide a labeling system for selected buildings. 4. Describe an energy signature for the building.

An Innovative Technology Development for Building Humidification and Energy Efficiency

Currently, the most widely used residential humidification technologies are forced air furnace mounted bypass wetted media, spray mist, and steam humidifiers. They all use city water as a water source and require furnace heat or electricity to evaporate the water. Mineral deposition, white dust, and microbial growth problems are associated with these humidifiers. For commercial building humidification, de-mineralized water is typically used for humidification equipment like steam heat exchangers, fogging system, electric, and ultrasonic humidifiers. Therefore, in addition to the energy consumption for the water evaporation, energy is also needed to produce the high quality de-mineralized water. An innovative technology called Transport Membrane Humidifier (TMH), has been developed by the authors to humidify home air without external water and energy consumption, while simultaneously recovering waste heat from the home furnace flue gas to enhance the furnace efficiency. The TMH technology is based on our previous extensive study on nanoporous membrane water vapor separation from combustion flue gas, and a design for residential home humidification application was first developed. It has been proved by both laboratory prototype testing for long term performance, and by two occupied single family home demonstrations for two heating seasons. The technology can provide whole house humidification without any external water consumption, and at the same time boost the furnace efficiency. Compared with conventional furnace mounted humidifiers, the TMH does not need additional furnace fuel for the water evaporation, no white dust in the home, no microbial growth since there is no standing water involved. Therefore, it is an innovative technology that can provide energy saving, water saving and healthy building humidification.