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Title: The PNNL Lab Homes Experimental Plan, FY12-FY15

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1060683· OSTI ID:1060683

The PNNL lab homes (http://labhomes.pnnl.gov/ ) are two manufactured homes recently installed immediately south of the 6th Street Warehouse on the PNNL Richland, WA campus that will serve as a project test bed for DOE, PNNL and its research partners who aim to achieve highly energy efficient and grid-responsive homes. The PNNL Lab Homes project is the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest region. The Energy & Environment Directorate at PNNL, working with multiple sponsors, will use the identical 1,500 square-foot homes for experiments focused on reducing energy use and peak demand. Research and demonstration primarily will focus on retrofit technologies, and the homes will offer a unique, side-by-side ability to test and compare new ideas and approaches that are applicable to site-built as well as manufactured homes. The test plan has the following objectives: • To define a retrofit solution packages for moderate to cold climates that can be cost effectively deployed in the Pacific NW to save 50% of the energy needs of a typical home while enhancing the comfort and indoor air quality. The retrofit strategies would also lower the peak demands on the grid. • To leverage the unique opportunity in the lab homes to reach out to researchers, industry, and other interested parties in the building science community to collaborate on new smart and efficient solutions for residential retrofits. • To increase PNNL’s visibility in the area of buildings energy efficiency based on the communication strategy and presentation of the unique and impactful data generated in the lab homes. This document describes the proposed test plan for the lab homes to achieve these goals, through FY15. The subsequent sections will provide a brief description of each proposed experiment, summarize the timing of the experiment (including any experiments that may be run in parallel, and propose potential contributors and collaborators. For those experiments with funding information available, it is provided.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1060683
Report Number(s):
PNNL-21422; BT0101000
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English