Residential Zone HVAC Control Efficency Research

[MountainLogic]

I am looking for any case studies or simulations showing performance differences between single zone (whole home) HVAC controls and multi-zone (room-by-room) HVAC controls. I am also interested in reports on energy savings due to the use of occupancy sensors. If there are no studies for zoned controls in residential I would also be interested in studies in light commercial.

 

[willard3]

As all buildings, including residences, are building specific, it is best to model the building with which you are concerned.

Tabular data from a report may not apply to your building

DOE has tools for modeling:

http://gundog.lbl.gov/dirsoft/d2whatis.html

 

[gepman]

I agree with willard3. I think that the best DOE2 software is eQUEST which is free (it is paid for by us folks in California) at

http://doe2.com/equest/index.html.

You could also use HAP or TRACE which I believe are DOE2 based also. I modeled a 50,000 sq. ft. two story office building in eQUEST in about 3 hours.

You could check the Database for Energy Efficient Resources (also from us folks in California) at

http://www.energy.ca.gov/deer/.

 

[MountainLogic]

Thank you willard3 & gepman. I agree with our about high building to building variability, but I am interested from a broader policy/finance perspective on residential zoning.

 

[NCDesign]

MountainLogic keep in mind that you don't zone a building (house, light commercial, etc) for energy efficiency you do it for comfort. In some instances you may realize some energy savings, in others you won't. But the zoning and associated controls are not there to save energy. They are there to make the people in the spaces comfortable. Certainly, once the zoning is in place with the associated controls, you can do some things with schedules, temperatures, etc to improve energy performance. I should add that the type of zoning system is extremely important. A VVT type system (constant volume unit with zoning and bypass damper(s)) probably will cost you more in energy then zones served by different HVAC units, but would probably have a much lower 1st cost. A true VAV would be better at energy efficiency because of the ability to modulate system capacity (both air side and water side (assuming chilled water)).

Zoning/Controls does not equate to Energy Efficiency.

 

[ChrisConley]

I disagree a little NCDesign, zoning and controls are a significant part of energy efficiency, particularily in residential construction where people tend to occupy a small portion of the house at a time (kitchen to living room to bedroom). Good zoning practises will allow unoccupied portions of a house to drop (or increase) to the unoccupied temperature, reducing heat transfer to/from the outdoors.