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Title: Joint China-United States Report for Year 1 Insulation Materials and Systems Project Area Clean Energy Research Center Building Energy Efficiency (CERC-BEE)

Abstract

In November of 2009, the presidents of China and the U.S. announced the establishment of the Clean Energy Research Center (CERC). This broad research effort is co-funded by both countries and involves a large number of research centers and universities in both countries. One part of this program is focused on improving the energy efficiency of buildings. One portion of the CERC-BEE was focused on building insulation systems. The research objective of this effort was to Identify and investigate candidate high performance fire resistant building insulation technologies that meet the goal of building code compliance for exterior wall applications in green buildings in multiple climate zones. A Joint Work Plan was established between researchers at the China Academy of Building Research and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Efforts in the first year under this plan focused on information gathering. The objective of this research program is to reduce building energy use in China via improved building insulation technology. In cold regions in China, residents often use inefficient heating systems to provide a minimal comfort level within inefficient buildings. In warmer regions, air conditioning has not been commonly used. As living standards rise, energy consumption in these regions will increase dramatically unlessmore » significant improvements are made in building energy performance. Previous efforts that defined the current state of the built environment in China and in the U.S. will be used in this research. In countries around the world, building improvements have typically followed the implementation of more stringent building codes. There have been several changes in building codes in both the U.S. and China within the last few years. New U.S. building codes have increased the amount of wall insulation required in new buildings. New government statements from multiple agencies in China have recently changed the requirements for buildings in terms of energy efficiency and fire safety. A related issue is the degree to which new standards are adopted and enforced. In the U.S., standards are developed using a consensus process, and local government agencies are free to implement these standards or to ignore them. For example, some U.S. states are still using 2003 versions of the building efficiency standards. There is also a great variation in the degree to which the locally adopted standards are enforced in different U.S. cities and states. With a more central process in China, these issues are different, but possible impacts of variable enforcement efficacy may also exist. Therefore, current building codes in China will be compared to the current state of building fire-safety and energy-efficiency codes in the U.S. and areas for possible improvements in both countries will be explored. In particular, the focus of the applications in China will be on green buildings. The terminology of 'green buildings' has different meanings to different audiences. The U.S. research is interested in both new, green buildings, and on retrofitting existing inefficient buildings. An initial effort will be made to clarify the scope of the pertinent wall insulation systems for these applications.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. ORNL
  2. China Academy of Building Research
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)
Sponsoring Org.:
Work for Others (WFO)
OSTI Identifier:
1049107
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-2012/304
TRN: US201218%%187
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; AIR CONDITIONING; BUILDING CODES; CHINA; CLIMATES; COMPLIANCE; EFFICIENCY; ENERGY CONSUMPTION; ENERGY EFFICIENCY; ENFORCEMENT; HEATING SYSTEMS; IMPLEMENTATION; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; ORNL; PERFORMANCE; RESEARCH PROGRAMS; RETROFITTING; SAFETY; STANDARD OF LIVING

Citation Formats

Stovall, Therese K, Biswas, Kaushik, Song, Bo, and Zhang, Sisi. Joint China-United States Report for Year 1 Insulation Materials and Systems Project Area Clean Energy Research Center Building Energy Efficiency (CERC-BEE). United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.2172/1049107.
Stovall, Therese K, Biswas, Kaushik, Song, Bo, & Zhang, Sisi. Joint China-United States Report for Year 1 Insulation Materials and Systems Project Area Clean Energy Research Center Building Energy Efficiency (CERC-BEE). United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1049107
Stovall, Therese K, Biswas, Kaushik, Song, Bo, and Zhang, Sisi. 2012. "Joint China-United States Report for Year 1 Insulation Materials and Systems Project Area Clean Energy Research Center Building Energy Efficiency (CERC-BEE)". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1049107. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1049107.
@article{osti_1049107,
title = {Joint China-United States Report for Year 1 Insulation Materials and Systems Project Area Clean Energy Research Center Building Energy Efficiency (CERC-BEE)},
author = {Stovall, Therese K and Biswas, Kaushik and Song, Bo and Zhang, Sisi},
abstractNote = {In November of 2009, the presidents of China and the U.S. announced the establishment of the Clean Energy Research Center (CERC). This broad research effort is co-funded by both countries and involves a large number of research centers and universities in both countries. One part of this program is focused on improving the energy efficiency of buildings. One portion of the CERC-BEE was focused on building insulation systems. The research objective of this effort was to Identify and investigate candidate high performance fire resistant building insulation technologies that meet the goal of building code compliance for exterior wall applications in green buildings in multiple climate zones. A Joint Work Plan was established between researchers at the China Academy of Building Research and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Efforts in the first year under this plan focused on information gathering. The objective of this research program is to reduce building energy use in China via improved building insulation technology. In cold regions in China, residents often use inefficient heating systems to provide a minimal comfort level within inefficient buildings. In warmer regions, air conditioning has not been commonly used. As living standards rise, energy consumption in these regions will increase dramatically unless significant improvements are made in building energy performance. Previous efforts that defined the current state of the built environment in China and in the U.S. will be used in this research. In countries around the world, building improvements have typically followed the implementation of more stringent building codes. There have been several changes in building codes in both the U.S. and China within the last few years. New U.S. building codes have increased the amount of wall insulation required in new buildings. New government statements from multiple agencies in China have recently changed the requirements for buildings in terms of energy efficiency and fire safety. A related issue is the degree to which new standards are adopted and enforced. In the U.S., standards are developed using a consensus process, and local government agencies are free to implement these standards or to ignore them. For example, some U.S. states are still using 2003 versions of the building efficiency standards. There is also a great variation in the degree to which the locally adopted standards are enforced in different U.S. cities and states. With a more central process in China, these issues are different, but possible impacts of variable enforcement efficacy may also exist. Therefore, current building codes in China will be compared to the current state of building fire-safety and energy-efficiency codes in the U.S. and areas for possible improvements in both countries will be explored. In particular, the focus of the applications in China will be on green buildings. The terminology of 'green buildings' has different meanings to different audiences. The U.S. research is interested in both new, green buildings, and on retrofitting existing inefficient buildings. An initial effort will be made to clarify the scope of the pertinent wall insulation systems for these applications.},
doi = {10.2172/1049107},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1049107}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012},
month = {Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012}
}