You MAY choose 1 partner to complete this assignment.
You are going to replicate, using Energy-10, the Experiment described in the article:
Biblis, Evangelos J. 2005. "Experimental determination of the energy requirements for cooling and heating different single story residential structures" Forest Products Journal v.55(3): 81-85
Start by Restoring original data files. Close the startup menu, Select Misc, Select Restore, Click all three boxes.
Start a new project Select, File, New Project.
Replicate the Unit 1 (control) case as closely as possible.
On the Predesign Reference Building Screen.
Select:
Weather File: Atlanta, Georgia
Building Use: Residential
HVAC System: PTAC with ER BB Heat (Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner with Electrical Resistance Baseboard Heat)
Floor Area: 144 ft^2
Number of Stories: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.0
Select the "Project Data Sheet" button:
Give a title using YOUR initials AND the Unit number (in this case Unit 1), (e.g. DD-u1)
Give the Building 1 Title the same name.
Click OK.
Click OK.
On the Provisional Data for Bldg 1 Screen. Select:
Height = 8 ft. (For all Facades, N, S and E,W)
Roof Construction: Attic, R-30
Wall Construction: 2x4 Frame
Floor Construction: 2x10 Frame
Windows: North: 1, South: 0, East: 0, West: 0
Thermostat: Setpoint: Heating: 66 deg, Cooling: 76 deg.
Schedule: Continuous
Click OK.
Select Pause after Autobuild
We now need to"fix" the Attic Roof insulation to the experimental value. On the top Menu, Select Buildings.
Select Bldg 1.
Select Roofs.
Click the file-folder icon on the first line under Roof Type.
Change the Fiberglass thickness to 7.50 inches.
Click Modify.
Click OK.
Select Walls.
Under Wall Type, open the file-folder icon under Wall Type and change Layer 2 Material to Builder Brick, set Thickness at 3.75 inches.
Check that Layer 4 Fiberglass insulation is set at 3.50 inches.
Click Modify.
Check the Windows and Doors for N,E,S, W walls. There should be 1 3040 double, alum window facing North, and one- 3 foot x 7 foot foamcore door facing South. (So, for example, click the file folder on the right hand side of the South line. Click the file folder in the Doors area, select foamcore. Click OK. Set number = 1.)
Click OK. Click OK.
Under Floor Type select Crawl Space.
Under Floor Construction, check that the Type is 2x10 frame and the fiberglass insulation is set to 3.50 inches.
Click Modify., Click OK
Select Partitions.
Set Furniture and Interior Wall Areas to 0.
Click OK
Select Internal Gains.
Set all values to 0.
Click OK
Select HVAC system.
Select Cooling.
Change EER to 7.5., Click OK
Make sure AUTOSIZE is set ON.
Click OK.
Select HVAC controls.
Under Non-workday set both Heating and Cooling: and Occupancy: to Continuous.
Click OK.
Select OK to Exit Building Strategies Screen.
Next we want to Simulate the building. The Experiment in the FPJ article tested over 2 100 day periods. Heating from January 1 to April 4 and Cooling From June 8 to September 15.
Simulate the Heating Period first (Jan 1 Apr 4).
Save and or PRINT your Summary page FOR EACH SIMULATION for submission with the final results from this assignment.
Energy Use Graph should show ~ 25 kBtu/ft^2 for Heating and the Summary Page should display in the Results section Total Heating of ~ 1000 kWh. Record these results.
NOTE: At This point you should think about either printing or saving for printing the Summary Page listing the simulation results, you can do this by Selecting File, Select All, File, Copy and pasting this into a Word Document, put at the top of this page an appropriate identifier like "UNIT 1 - Winter - Jan 1 - Apr 4". You will need to repeat this process after each of your simulation runs described below, Unit 1 - Summer, Unit 9 - Winter, Unit 9 - Summer, and two more for an alternate location (Minneapolis, MN)
Simulate the Cooling Period. (Jun 1 Sep 15)
Record the Energy Use and Cooling kWh results (~ 5 kBtu/ft^2, ~ 200 kWh)
1) How do these results compare with the Experimental Data in the Article (Use the Total Electric, KwH Heating/Cooling/Fan line on the Energy 10 Summary page to compare with results from Table 2 in the article)?
2) Energy-10 should have also created an Energy Efficient house during the Simulation. Describe the differences between the Experimental Unit 1 house and the Energy Efficient house. What has changed?
One of the study's main results was the effect of foundation /floor type on the energy requirement. We will next simulate the Unit 9 structure which has a slab on grade floor.
First Move Building 1 to Building 2 using the arrow Icon.
Using the Buildings tab, change the Bldg 1 floor construction to "Carpeted Slab" and the floor type to "Slab on Grade".
3) Simulate the 2 periods and record the Energy use and kWh for Heating and Cooling in each of the test periods as above.
What is your result?
What is the percentage change in kWh between Unit 1 and Unit 9, for Heating and for Cooling?
How do these compare to the Study Results?
4) Now lets check for Location effects.
You will need to Exit Energy 10, Restore Defaults as described at the start of this assignment and Start a New Project.
Recreate Unit 1, but this time specify a location of Minneapolis, MN.
Re-create the Simulations for Winter Heating and Summer Cooling recording your results. Include printouts of your Summary Pages in your assignment.
5) What are the results and how do they compare with the houses in Georgia? What would you recommend to improve the energy efficiency of the Minnesota house?
