Development of archetypes of building characteristc slibraries for simplified energy use evaluation of houses

For a quick and reliable energy evaluation of houses, one needs simple energy analysis software. A key requirement for simplified inputs is to have default data for house geometry, thermal and equipment characteristics based on vintage, type and region in which the house is located. Representative numerical approaches were applied to develop archetype house characteristics using the data gathered from various surveys of housing stock in Canada. These characteristics include size and type of a house, composition of envelope components, heating and hot water equipment data, airtightness and ventilation parameters and, in particular, base loads and operating conditions. Data libraries provide the necessary defaults for building envelope and equipment. These defaults then become guidance for the field evaluator to check against the actual house data. Comparative energy analyses showed that the archetype characteristics are very useful in quick and useful field surveys.