A double-envelope house in Middletown, RI, evaluated by Brookhaven National Laboratory personnel in 1981, was subsequently modified by the owner. The glazing in the roof was removed and replaced by skylights with only one-sixth as much area. The between-shells space was closed at the top of the north wall and at the top of the sunspace. Ducts and a thermostatically controlled fan were installed to draw warm air from the top of the sunspace and blow it through the crawl space. The house performance was re-monitored in 1983 to identify the effects of the modifications. In general, they served to reduce construction cost and improve comfort without increasing the house's low requirement for auxiliary heat.
An evaluation is made of a passive solar house with a superinsulated shell. The building was constructed in 1979 at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. A Trombe wall and a sunspace wall collect and store solar energy during the day. The temperature-energy wave travels through the mass walls and heat is released to the inside of the building about 5 hours after peak solar irradiation. The tightly insulated envelope ensures that the heat accumulated in the house is not lost to the outside. Consequently, measured auxiliary heat requirements are very low, about 25% of a comparable conventional house in the region. In summer the house performs satisfactorily. Due to storage of night coolness temperatures in the living area are well below outside temperatures for most of the day. 11 refs., 35 figs., 16 tabs.
Results from monitoring the energy balance of the Danish house are presented. A performance monitoring program developed at the Solar Energy Research Institute was used. Its purpose is the calculation of monthly building energy balances. Thermal storage effects are excluded and it makes no attempt to determine the building's thermal processes in detail. Hence, the instrumentation is limited and the building is reduced to a one-zone structure.
exchanger. It is concluded that while thare is a performance advantage with a DCLLHE system over a conventional solar system, the advantage is not sufficiently large to overcome slightly higher capital and operating costs for the DCLLHE system.
A 5000 square-foot metal building located at Brookhaven National Laboratory has been monitored over a winter season. Energy flows through wall sections were monitored using portable calorimeters. Air infiltration was measured using perfluorocarbon tracers, and the associated heat losses were calculated. Slab losses were assessed through a comparison of measured temperature gradients with results obtained through the use of heat-flow meters. The effect of thermal bridges and compressed insulation in locations where support beams are joined to the exterior skin was found to increase heat losses significantly. A retrofit strategy including spray insulation of beams is projected to save 30% on heating energy.
Brookhaven National Laboratory, as part of its Small Building Field Validation Program for the Department of Energy, gathered hourly data from the Blouin Superinsulated House in South Royalton, Vermont. The thermal performance of this house is evaluated to provide an in-depth analysis of why it works so well from the energy conservation standpoint. It is distinguished by a combination of energy conservation features, including extensive thermal insulation, air infiltration control, and south orientation for solar heating benefit. The experiment results demonstrate that the energy needed for space heating, about 1 Btu per square foot per degree day, is smaller than that of any house yet examined by this program. It is concluded that the building thermal envelope performs nearly as calculated and that the features employed are economically competitive with many low-risk investments. Thermal comfort is evaluated through the use of a model based on the analytical and experimental work of P.O. Fanger, actual monitored data is analyzed and compared to the Predicted Mean Vote. 10 refs., 5 figs.
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