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open access

Evaluation of Humidity Control Options in Hot-Humid Climate Homes (Fact Sheet)

Description: This technical highlight describes NREL research to analyze the indoor relative humidity in three home types in the hot-humid climate zone, and examine the impacts of various dehumidification equipment and controls. As the Building America program researches construction of homes that achieve greater source energy savings over typical mid-1990s construction, proper modeling of whole-house latent loads and operation of humidity control equipment has become a high priority. Long-term high relativ… more
Date: December 1, 2011
open access

National Residential Efficiency Measures Database Aimed at Reducing Risk for Residential Retrofit Industry (Fact Sheet)

Description: This technical highlight describes NREL research to develop a publicly available database of energy retrofit measures containing performance characteristics and cost estimates for nearly 3,000 measures. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed the National Residential Efficiency Measures Database, a public database that characterizes the performance and costs of common residential energy efficiency measures. The data are avail… more
Date: January 1, 2012
open access

NREL Delivers In-Home HVAC Efficiency Testing Solutions (Fact Sheet)

Description: Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have recently developed two simple in-home efficiency test methods that can be used by technicians, researchers, or interested homeowners to verify the correct operation and energy efficiency of a home's air conditioning equipment. An efficiency validation method for mini-split heat pumps (MSHPs) - highly efficient refrigerant-based air conditioning and heating systems that permit room-by-room conditioning and control - will enable … more
Date: January 1, 2012
open access

NREL Develops Diagnostic Test Cases to Improve Building Energy Simulation Programs (Fact Sheet)

Description: This technical highlight describes NREL research to develop a set of diagnostic test cases for building energy simulations in order to achieve more accurate energy use and savings predictions. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Residential and Commercial Buildings research groups developed a set of diagnostic test cases for building energy simulations. Eight test cases were developed to test surface conduction heat transfer algorithms of building envelopes in building energy simula… more
Date: December 1, 2011
open access

NREL Evaluates the Thermal Performance of Uninsulated Walls to Improve the Accuracy of Building Energy Simulation Tools (Fact Sheet)

Description: This technical highlight describes NREL research to develop models of uninsulated wall assemblies that help to improve the accuracy of building energy simulation tools when modeling potential energy savings in older homes. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed models for evaluating the thermal performance of walls in existing homes that will improve the accuracy of building energy simulation tools when predicting potential energy savings of existing homes… more
Date: January 1, 2012
open access

NREL Improves Building Energy Simulation Programs Through Diagnostic Testing (Fact Sheet)

Description: This technical highlight describes NREL research to develop Building Energy Simulation Test for Existing Homes (BESTEST-EX) to increase the quality and accuracy of energy analysis tools for the building retrofit market. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a new test procedure to increase the quality and accuracy of energy analysis tools for the building retrofit market. The Building Energy Simulation Test for Existing Homes (BESTEST-EX) is a test proced… more
Date: January 1, 2012
open access

NREL Provides Guidance to Improve Thermal Comfort in High-Performance Homes (Fact Sheet)

Description: This technical highlight describes NREL research to develop recommendations on HVAC system design and operating conditions to achieve optimal thermal comfort in high-performance homes. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed recommendations to help residential heating, cooling, and ventilation (HVAC) designers select optimal supply inlet size and system operating conditions to maintain good thermal comfort in low heating and cooling load homes. This can be … more
Date: January 1, 2012
open access

NREL Tests Integrated Heat Pump Water Heater Performance in Different Climates (Fact Sheet)

Description: This technical highlight describes NREL tests to capture information about heat pump performance across a wide range of ambient conditions for five heat pump water heaters (HPWH). These water heaters have the potential to significantly reduce water heater energy use relative to traditional electric resistance water heaters. These tests have provided detailed performance data for these appliances, which have been used to evaluate the cost of saved energy as a function of climate. The performance… more
Date: January 1, 2012
open access

NREL's Field Data Repository Supports Accurate Home Energy Analysis (Fact Sheet)

Description: This fact sheet discusses NREL's work to develop a repository of research-level residential building characteristics and historical energy use data to support ongoing efforts to improve the accuracy of residential energy analysis tools and the efficiency of energy assessment processes. The objective of this project is to create a robust empirical data source to support the research goals of the Department of Energy's Building America program, which is to improve the efficiency of existing U.S. … more
Date: February 1, 2012
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