Enhancing thermal resilience of US residential homes in hot humid climates during extreme temperature events

Wijesuriya, Sajith; Kishore, Ravi Anant; Bianchi, Marcus V.A.; Booten, Chuck

doi:10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.101986

Enhancing thermal resilience of US residential homes in hot humid climates during extreme temperature events

Journal Article · Wed May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Cell Reports Physical Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.101986· OSTI ID:2373096

Wijesuriya, Sajith ^[1]; ^[1]; Bianchi, Marcus V.A. ^[1]; Booten, Chuck ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Increasing occurrences of extreme weather events such as winter storms and heat waves due to climate change pose enormous safety and health-related risks to people, particularly in economically disadvantaged communities. In this study, we investigate some of the most promising retrofittable and weatherization methods to keep the living zone of residential buildings within an acceptable safety level. We use hours of safety as the resilience metric, which is defined as the time taken by the building's indoor environment to reach a safety threshold temperature. We first identify various passive measures, such as adding extra insulation, improving air sealing, and integrating phase-change materials, which can operate without any external power during winter-storm and heat-wave events. We then employ a whole-building simulation tool to examine the impact of various combinations of retrofit measures and conduct a parametric study to determine the optimal solutions.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 2373096

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5500-86371; MainId:87144; UUID:30e0241a-8c93-43b3-806e-dabb11b7de38; MainAdminId:72482

Journal Information:: Cell Reports Physical Science, Journal Name: Cell Reports Physical Science Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 5; ISSN 2666-3864

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Enhancing thermal resilience of US residential homes in hot humid climates during extreme temperature events

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References (55)

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