Method for Determining Optimal Residential Energy Efficiency Retrofit Packages

Technical Report · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1015501· OSTI ID:1015501

Polly, Benjamin; Gestwick, Mike; Bianchi, Marcus; Anderson, Ren; Horowitz, Scott; Christenson, Craig; Judkoff, Ron

Businesses, government agencies, consumers, policy makers, and utilities currently have limited access to occupant-, building-, and location-specific recommendations for optimal energy retrofit packages, as defined by estimated costs and energy savings. This report describes an analysis method for determining optimal residential energy efficiency retrofit packages and, as an illustrative example,applies the analysis method to a 1960s-era home in eight U.S. cities covering a range of International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) climate regions. The method uses an optimization scheme that considers average energy use (determined from building energy simulations) and equivalent annual cost to recommend optimal retrofit packages specific to the building, occupants, and location. Energysavings and incremental costs are calculated relative to a minimum upgrade reference scenario, which accounts for efficiency upgrades that would occur in the absence of a retrofit because of equipment wear-out and replacement with current minimum standards.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Building Technologies Office (EE-5B)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1015501
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-5500-50572; MainId:50767; UUID:c1dc53d4-e1d4-e411-b769-d89d67132a6d; MainAdminID:32859
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
CLIMATES
EE
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
OCCUPANTS
OPTIMIZATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
analysis
energy efficiency
optimization
packages
retrofit