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Title: Online Airtightness Calculator for the US, Canada and China

Abstract

The contribution of air leakage to heating and cooling loads has been increasing as the thermal resistance of building envelopes continues to improve. Easy-to-access data are needed to convince building owners and contractors that enhancing the airtightness of buildings is the next logical step to achieve a high-performance building envelope. To this end, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Air Barrier Association of America, and the US-China Clean Energy Research Center for Building Energy Efficiency Consortium partnered to develop an online calculator that estimates the potential energy savings in major US, Canadian, and Chinese cities due to improvements in airtightness. This tool will have user-friendly graphical interface that uses a database of CONTAM-EnergyPlus pre-run simulation results, and will be available to the public at no cost. Baseline leakage rates are either user-specified or the user selects them from the supplied typical leakage rates. Users will enter the expected airtightness after the proper installation of an air barrier system. Energy costs are estimated based on the building location and inputs from users. This paper provides an overview of the methodology that is followed in this calculator, as well as results from an example. The successfulmore » deployment of this calculator could influence construction practices so that greenhouse gas emissions from the US, Canada, and China are significantly curtailed.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. ORNL
  2. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD
  3. Air Barrier Association of America
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:
1341528
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: Buildings Conference XIII, Clearwater, FL, FL, USA, 20161204, 20161208
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
air leakage; airtightness; calculator

Citation Formats

Shrestha, Som S, Hun, Diana E, Desjarlais, Andre Omer, Ng, Lisa, Emmerich, Steve, and Dalgleish, Laverne. Online Airtightness Calculator for the US, Canada and China. United States: N. p., 2016. Web.
Shrestha, Som S, Hun, Diana E, Desjarlais, Andre Omer, Ng, Lisa, Emmerich, Steve, & Dalgleish, Laverne. Online Airtightness Calculator for the US, Canada and China. United States.
Shrestha, Som S, Hun, Diana E, Desjarlais, Andre Omer, Ng, Lisa, Emmerich, Steve, and Dalgleish, Laverne. 2016. "Online Airtightness Calculator for the US, Canada and China". United States.
@article{osti_1341528,
title = {Online Airtightness Calculator for the US, Canada and China},
author = {Shrestha, Som S and Hun, Diana E and Desjarlais, Andre Omer and Ng, Lisa and Emmerich, Steve and Dalgleish, Laverne},
abstractNote = {The contribution of air leakage to heating and cooling loads has been increasing as the thermal resistance of building envelopes continues to improve. Easy-to-access data are needed to convince building owners and contractors that enhancing the airtightness of buildings is the next logical step to achieve a high-performance building envelope. To this end, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Air Barrier Association of America, and the US-China Clean Energy Research Center for Building Energy Efficiency Consortium partnered to develop an online calculator that estimates the potential energy savings in major US, Canadian, and Chinese cities due to improvements in airtightness. This tool will have user-friendly graphical interface that uses a database of CONTAM-EnergyPlus pre-run simulation results, and will be available to the public at no cost. Baseline leakage rates are either user-specified or the user selects them from the supplied typical leakage rates. Users will enter the expected airtightness after the proper installation of an air barrier system. Energy costs are estimated based on the building location and inputs from users. This paper provides an overview of the methodology that is followed in this calculator, as well as results from an example. The successful deployment of this calculator could influence construction practices so that greenhouse gas emissions from the US, Canada, and China are significantly curtailed.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1341528}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

Conference:
Other availability
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