Analysis of DOE s Roof Savings Calculator with Comparison to other Simulation Engines

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1185373· OSTI ID:1185373

New, Joshua Ryan ^[1]; Huang, Yu ^[2]; Levinson, Ronnen ^[3]; Mellot, Joe ^[4]; Sanyal, Jibonananda ^[1]; Childs, Kenneth W ^[1]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. White Box Technologies, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
4. The Garland Company, Cleveland, OH (United States)

A web-based Roof Savings Calculator (RSC) has been deployed for the Department of Energy as an industry-consensus tool to help building owners, manufacturers, distributors, contractors and researchers easily run complex roof and attic simulations. This tool employs the latest web technologies and usability design to provide an easy input interface to an annual simulation of hour-by-hour, whole-building performance using the world-class simulation tools DOE-2.1E and AtticSim. Building defaults were assigned based on national averages and can provide estimated annual energy and cost savings after the user selects nothing more than building location. In addition to cool reflective roofs, the RSC tool can simulate multiple roof and attic configurations including different roof slopes, above sheathing ventilation, radiant barriers, low-emittance surfaces, HVAC duct location, duct leakage rates, multiple layers of building materials, ceiling and deck insulation levels, and other parameters. A base case and energy-efficient alternative can be compared side-by-side to generate an energy/cost savings estimate between two buildings. The RSC tool was benchmarked against field data for demonstration homes in Ft. Irwin, CA. However, RSC gives different energy savings estimates than previous cool roof simulation tools so more thorough software and empirical validation proved necessary. This report consolidates much of the preliminary analysis for comparison of RSC s projected energy savings to that from other simulation engines.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1185373
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-2013/501; BT0201000; CEBT105
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AtticSim
building energy modeling
simulation engine
cool roof
energy savings