Commercial thermal distribution systems, Final report for CIEE/CEC
According to the California Energy Commission (CEC 1998a), California commercial buildings account for 35% of statewide electricity consumption, and 16% of statewide gas consumption. Space conditioning accounts for roughly 16,000 GWh of electricity and 800 million therms of natural gas annually, and the vast majority of this space conditioning energy passes through thermal distribution systems in these buildings. In addition, 8600 GWh per year is consumed by fans and pumps in commercial buildings, most of which is used to move the thermal energy through these systems. Research work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has been ongoing over the past five years to investigate the energy efficiency of these thermal distribution systems, and to explore possibilities for improving that energy efficiency. Based upon that work, annual savings estimates of 1 kWh/ft{sup 2} for light commercial buildings, and 1-2 kWh/ft{sup 2} in large commercial buildings have been developed for the particular aspects of thermal distribution system performance being addressed by this project. Those savings estimates, combined with a distribution of the building stock based upon an extensive stock characterization study (Modera et al. 1999a), and technical penetration estimates, translate into statewide saving potentials of 2000 GWh/year and 75 million thermal/year, as well as an electricity peak reduction potential of 0.7 GW. The overall goal of this research program is to provide new technology and application knowledge that will allow the design, construction, and energy services industries to reduce the energy waste associated with thermal distribution systems in California commercial buildings. The specific goals of the LBNL efforts over the past year were: (1) to advance the state of knowledge about system performance and energy losses in commercial-building thermal distribution systems; (2) to evaluate the potential of reducing thermal losses through duct sealing, duct insulation, and improved equipment sizing; and (3) to develop and evaluate innovative techniques applicable to large buildings for sealing ducts and encapsulating internal duct insulation. In the UCB fan project, the goals were: (1) to develop a protocol for testing, analyzing and diagnosing problems in large commercial building built-up air handling systems, and (2) to develop low-cost measurement techniques to improve short term monitoring practices. To meet our stated goals and objectives, this project: (1) continued to investigate and characterize the performance of thermal distribution systems in commercial buildings; (2) performed energy analyses and evaluation for duct-performance improvements for both small and large commercial buildings; (3) developed aerosol injection technologies for both duct sealing and liner encapsulation in commercial buildings; and (4) designed energy-related diagnostic protocols based on short term measurement and used a benchmarking database to compare subject systems with other measured systems for certain performance metrics. This year's efforts consisted of the following distinct tasks: performing characterization measurements for five light commercial building systems and five large-commercial-building systems; analyzing the potential for including duct performance in California's Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential and Non-Residential Buildings (Title 24), including performing energy and equipment sizing analyses of air distribution systems using DOE 2.1E for non-residential buildings; conducting laboratory experiments, field experiments, and modeling of new aerosol injection technologies concepts for sealing and coating, including field testing aerosol-based sealing in two large commercial buildings; improving low-cost fan monitoring techniques measurements, and disseminating fan tools by working with energy practitioners directly where possible and publishing the results of this research and the tools developed on a web-site. The final report consists of five sections listed below. Each section includes its related background information, the research methods employed, new measurement techniques developed, the results, and discussion.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 753091
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-44320; R&D Project: 472902; TRN: US200312%%317
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Dec 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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