This study is a contribution to European projects Pascool/Joule II and Altener/Sink that deal with the usability of passive cooling systems in Europe. The first phase of this work was to define design methodology in order to evaluate natural cooling potential according to the climatic quantification criteria of the site, the cooling needs of the building, the cooling system performances, and comfort criteria defined by the couple of temperature and relative humidity set points.
This paper documents the experimental results and energy savings estimate from an end-use and water metering study of a sample of 104 multi-family sites. These sites were treated with a comprehensive Domestic Hot Water (DHW) retrofit consisting of flow efficient 2.0 GPM showerheads, kitchen and bath aerators, tank thermostat setback to 130°F, and a tank wrap if necessary. These measurements were modeled by a regression model with variables for occupancy, setback degree, and delta flow at the primary showerhead.
In recent years, residential energy conservation research has focused attention on heating system distribution efficiency. Several field studies in the Pacific Northwest have found forced-air heating systems which have a majority of ducts located in unheated buffer spaces can lose as much as 3 0% of the equipment's heating output to duct air leakage and conduction loss. The magnitude of loss can be equivalent to the combined improvements in building shell insulation levels due to updated energy codes.