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We conducted a re-analysis of data supplied by the New Buildings Institute and the US Green Buildings Council on measured energy use data from 100 LEED certified commercial and institutional buildings. These data were compared to the energy use of the general US commercial building stock. We also examined energy use by LEED certification level, and by energy-related credits achieved in the certification process. On average, LEED buildings used 18-39% less energy per floor area than their conventional counterparts. However, 28-35% of LEED buildings used more energy than their conventional counterparts. Further, the measured energy performance of LEED buildings had little correlation with certification level of the building, or the number of energy credits achieved by the building at design time. Therefore, at a societal level, green buildings can contribute substantial energy savings, but further work needs to be done to define green building rating schemes to ensure more consistent success at the individual building level. Note, these findings should be considered as preliminary, and the analyses should be repeated when longer data histories from a larger sample of green buildings are available.

The principal reason for introducing (and extending) daylight saving time (DST) was, and still is, projected energy savings, particularly for electric lighting. This paper presents a literature review concerning the effects of DST on energy use. Simple estimates suggest a reduction in national electricity use of around 0.5%, as a result of residential lighting reduction. Several studies have demonstrated effects of this size based on more complex simulations or on measured data. However, there are just as many studies that suggest no effect, and some studies suggest overall energy penalties, particularly if gasoline consumption is accounted for. There is general consensus that DST does contribute to an evening reduction in peak demand for electricity, though this may be offset by an increase in the morning. Nevertheless, the basic patterns of energy use, and the energy efficiency of buildings and equipment have changed since many of these studies were conducted. Therefore, we recommend that future energy policy decisions regarding changes to DST be preceded by high-quality research based on detailed analysis of prevailing energy use, and behaviours and systems that affect energy use. This would be timely, given the extension to DST underway in North America in 2007.

Behavioural models derived from on-going field studies can provide the basis for predicting personal action taken to adjust lighting levels, remedy direct glare, and save energy in response to physical conditions. Enabling these behavioural models in advanced lighting simulation programs, such as DAYSIM and the Lightswitch Wizard, allows for a more realistic estimate of lighting use under dynamic conditions. The current downside of these approaches is that the whole building energy impact of manual changes in blind settings and lighting use, including its effect on heating and cooling requirements, is not considered. A sub-hourly occupancy-based control model (SHOCC), which enables advanced behavioural models within whole building energy simulation, is presented. The considered behavioural models are the Lightswitch2002 algorithms for manual and automated light and blind control, while the investigated whole building energy simulation program is ESP-r. The enhanced functionality is demonstrated through annual energy simulations aiming at quantifying the total energy impact of manual control over lights and window blinds. Results show that building occupants that actively seek daylighting rather than systematically relying on artificial lighting can reduce overall primary energy expenditure by more than 40%, when compared to occupants who rely on constant artificial lighting. This underlines the importance of defining suitable reference cases for benchmarking the performance of automated lighting controls. Results also show that, depending on the proportion of buildings occupants that actively seek out daylighting, reduced lighting use through automated control may not always produce anticipated savings in primary energy for indoor climate control. In some cases, reduced lighting use is shown to even increase primary energy expenditure for indoor climate control, trimming down initial primary energy savings in lighting alone. This reveals the superiority of integrated design approaches over simpler daylighting guidelines or rules of thumb.

This is one of two papers that outlines the methodology used to develop, through computer simulation, skylight design tools for thermal and energy performance of atriums in cold climates. The methodology identified important design alternatives that included skylight and atrium physical variables, and a series of thermal and energy performance outputs that may serve as selection criteria for an energy-efficient design. New prediction models were developed to overcome some computer-simulation limitations, which included models to deal with airflow between an atrium and its adjacent spaces and temperature stratification within an atrium space. The developed airflow network model is a technique used to predict the mutual influence between the atrium and its surrounding spaces without requiring additional geometrical information on the surrounding spaces. The developed temperature stratification model is consistent with airflow network models and the zone concept used in building thermal-simulation programs since it takes into account radiation (overlooked in airflow network models) and convection heat transfer at the same time. This was done through treating fictitious surfaces that separate the thermal zones in a similar way as real surfaces. Fictitious surfaces were assigned a high emissivity, high solar transmittance, high thermal conductivity and convection film coefficient of 10 W / m 2 ° C . These values were found to yield reasonable solar radiation absorption, convection and radiation heat balances for the real surfaces irrespective of the number of the thermal zones. The developed models were integrated into a simulation computer program, and then validated against field measurements of a case study atrium. The predicted indoor temperatures were within ±2°C of the measured ones in both winter and summer days.

This paper presents an analysis of the impact of selected design alternatives on the thermal and energy performance of atriums based on the methodology outlined in the accompanying paper. Computer simulation programs were used to predict the impact of the selected design alternatives on the design performance outputs of atriums. Design alternatives focused on fenestration glazing types, fenestration surface area, skylight shape, atrium type, and interaction of the atrium with its adjacent spaces. Design performance outputs, evaluated with respect to a basecase design, included seasonal solar heat gain, cooling and heating peak loads and annual cooling, heating and total (heating plus cooling) energy. Design tools were developed to quantify the impact of the design alternatives on the performance outputs. The design tools were cast into two-dimensional linear relationships with the glazing U-value and SHGC as independent parameters. The results for the enclosed atriums showed that the annual cooling energy ratio increased at a rate of 1.196 per unit of SHGC ratio and decreased at a rate of 0.382 per unit of U-value ratio. However, the annual heating energy ratio increased at a rate of 1.954 per unit of U-value ratio and decreased at a rate of 1.081 per unit of SHGC ratio. Similar trends were also found for the three-sided and linear atriums. Pyramidal/pitched skylights increased the solar heat gain ratio by up to 25% in the heating season compared to flat skylights. The effect of the skylight shape on the annual cooling and heating energy may be positive or negative, depending on the glazing U-value and SHGC ratios and the atrium type. Atriums open to their adjacent spaces reduced the annual cooling energy ratio by up to 76% compared to closed atrium spaces. However, open atrium spaces increased the annual heating energy ratio by up to 19%.

Peak demand for electricity in North America is expected to grow, challenging electrical utilities to supply this demand in a cost-effective, reliable manner. Therefore, there is growing interest in strategies to reduce peak demand by eliminating electricity use, or shifting it to non-peak times. This strategy is commonly called “demand response”. In households, common strategies are time-varying pricing, which charge more for energy use on peak, or direct load control, which allows utilities to curtail certain loads during high demand periods. We reviewed recent North American studies of these strategies. The data suggest that the most effective strategy is a critical peak price (CPP) program with enabling technology to automatically curtail loads on event days. There is little evidence that this causes substantial hardship for occupants, particularly if they have input into which loads are controlled and how, and have an override option. In such cases, a peak load reduction of at least 30% is a reasonable expectation. It might be possible to attain such load reductions without enabling technology by focusing on household types more likely to respond, and providing them with excellent support. A simple time-of-use (TOU) program can only expect to realise on-peak reductions of 5%.

Hydrogen is seen as an energy carrier of the future and significant research on hydrogen generation, storage and utilization is accomplished around the world. However, an appropriate intermediate step before wide hydrogen introduction will be blending conventional fuels such as natural gas, oil or diesel with hydrogen and follow up combustion through conventional means. Due to changes in the combustion and flame characteristics of the system additional research is needed to access the limits and the impact of the fuel mix on the combustion systems performance. The hybrid system consists of a 5 kWel electrolyzer and a residential 15 kWth high efficiency gas fired furnace. The electrolyzer was integrated with the furnace gas supply and setup to replace 5–25% of the furnace natural gas flow with hydrogen. A mean for proper mixing of hydrogen with natural gas was provided and a control system for safe system operation was developed. Prior to the start of the field trial the hybrid system was investigated in laboratory environment. It was subjected to a variety of steady state and cycling conditions and a detailed performance and optimization analysis was performed with a range of hydrogen/natural gas mixtures. The optimized system was then installed at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technologies (CCHT) Experimental research house. The energy performance of the hybrid system was compared to the energy performance of an identical high efficiency furnace in the Control research house next door.

As one objective of the International Energy Agency's Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems Programme Annex 42, detailed Canadian household electrical demand profiles were created using a bottom-up approach from available inputs, including a detailed appliance set, annual consumption targets and occupancy patterns. These profiles were created for use in the simulation of residential cogeneration devices to examine the issues of system performance, efficiency and emission reduction potential. This article describes the steps taken to generate these 5-min electrical consumption profiles for three target single-family detached households – low, medium and high consumers, a comparison of the generated output with measured data from Hydro Quebec, and a demonstration of the use of the new profiles in building performance simulations of residential cogeneration devices.

When applying computer simulation tools in practice uncertainties abound, for example in material properties and boundary conditions. To facilitate the quantification of the effects of uncertainties, the differential, factorial and Monte Carlo methods have been implemented within a simulation tool, ESP-r. These methods require multiple simulations to extract statistical measures of model uncertainty. An alternative approach is to embed uncertainty considerations within the simulation tool's algorithms. The principle advantages of this approach are that the uncertainty is quantified at all times and therefore requires only a single simulation. Coupled with this, it is possible to take control action based on the prevailing effects of uncertainties. This paper details the mathematical techniques required to integrate uncertainty considerations within the energy conservation equations when applied to the simulation of buildings. A comparison is made between the use of this novel approach and traditional mechanisms of assessing uncertainty.

The results of lighting energy surveys in office buildings before and after the installation of additional lighting switches are discussed. The importance and value of accurately measuring lighting energy consumption is explained. A new technique to monitor lighting energy consumption is described and compared to existing methods.