Balanced measurement/calculation-based approach to building energy analysis
The identification of suitable opportunities for energy efficiency (either through conservation or through renewable resources) in new or existing buildings and the widespread application of appropriate measures depends on the credibility of available information on the energy performance of buildings as well as of building components. Information may be in the form of energy ratings of buildings, ratings of passive components, diagnostics, or design tools. Predictions of building performance based on a purely calculational method are seldom borne out in practice. On the other hand, performance assessment based purely on long-term performance monitoring is not only costly and time-consuming, but is clouded by the variability of weather as well as of occupancy; futhermore, casue and effect relationships are obscured. The latter approach is, of course, not available in the design of a building. A balance, therefore, is needed between calculations and measurements. Of vital importance is a thermal model for building simulation with input parameters that are accessible to measurement. If the thermal model is a large model such as DOE 2.1, measurement of all the inputs (conductivities, specific heats, etc., of all the wall layers as well as determining construction anomalies) is too expensive for all but a small number of buildings. A different approach to simulations and measurement of the inputs is needed. In this article, an approach called BEVA (Building Element Vector Analysis) is outlined in which short-term monitoring provides whole building (or zone) parameters that then serve as inputs to an hour-by-hour simulation. These system parameters can also be calculated from component parameters which, in turn, can either be measured directly or calculated from material properties.
- Research Organization:
- Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-83CH10093
- OSTI ID:
- 6179169
- Report Number(s):
- SERI/TP-253-2381; CONF-840819-15; ON: DE85002928
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Doing better: setting an agenda for the second decade, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, 14 Aug 1984; Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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