The Plowman Sings: The Essential Fiction, Poetry, and Drama of America\u27s Forgotten Regionalist Jay G. Sigmund

Review of: "The Plowman Sings: The Essential Fiction, Poetry & Drama of America\u27s Forgotten Regionalist Jay G. Sigmund," edited by Zachary Michael Jack

Measured Cooling Performance and Potential for Buried Duct Condensation in a 1991 Central Florida Retrofit Home

FSEC conducted energy performance monitoring of two existing residences in Central Florida that were undergoing various retrofits. These homes were occupied by FSEC researchers and were fully instrumented to provide detailed energy, temperature, and humidity measurements. The data provided feedback about the performance of two levels of retrofit in two types of homes in a hot-humid climate. This report covers a moderate-level retrofit and includes two years of pre-retrofit data to characterize the impact of improvements. The other home is a 'deep energy retrofit' (detailed in a separate report) that has performed at near zero energy with a photovoltaic (PV) system and extensive envelope improvements

Efficient Multifamily Homes in a Hot Humid Climate by Atlantic Housing Partners

With assistance from the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and its Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Atlantic Housing Partners (AHP) has implemented a high performance, systems engineered package of measures. This report demonstrates how the initiative achieves Building America (BA) goals of 30%-50% energy savings. Specifically, the goals are documented as being achieved in the new construction multifamily housing sector in the hot humid climate. Results from energy modeling of the high performance package are presented. The role of utility allowance calculations, used as part of the low-income housing tax credit process, to value those energy savings is discussed, as is customer satisfaction with heat pump water heaters

Building Energy Model Development for Retrofit Homes

Based on previous research conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Florida Solar Energy Center providing technical assistance to implement 22 deep energy retrofits across the nation, 6 homes were selected in Florida and Texas for detailed post-retrofit energy modeling to assess realized energy savings (Chandra et al, 2012). However, assessing realized savings can be difficult for some homes where pre-retrofit occupancy and energy performance are unknown. Initially, savings had been estimated using a HERS Index comparison for these homes. However, this does not account for confounding factors such as occupancy and weather. This research addresses a method to more reliably assess energy savings achieved in deep energy retrofits for which pre-retrofit utility bills or occupancy information in not available. A metered home, Riverdale, was selected as a test case for development of a modeling procedure to account occupancy and weather factors, potentially creating more accurate estimates of energy savings. This “true up” procedure was developed using Energy Gauge USA software and post-retrofit homeowner information and utility bills. The 12 step process adjusts the post-retrofit modeling results to correlate with post-retrofit utility bills and known occupancy information. The “trued” post retrofit model is then used to estimate pre-retrofit energy consumption by changing the building efficiency characteristics to reflect the pre-retrofit condition, but keeping all weather and occupancy-related factors the same. This creates a pre-retrofit model that is more comparable to the post-retrofit energy use profile and can improve energy savings estimates. For this test case, a home for which pre- and post- retrofit utility bills were available was selected for comparison and assessment of the accuracy of the “true up” procedure. Based on the current method, this procedure is quite time intensive. However, streamlined processing spreadsheets or incorporation into existing software tools would improve the efficiency of the process. Retrofit activity appears to be gaining market share, and this would be a potentially valuable capability with relevance to marketing, program management, and retrofit success metrics

Efficient Multifamily Homes In A Hot-Humid Climate By Atlantic Housing Partners

With assistance from the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and its Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Atlantic Housing Partners (AHP)has implemented a high performance, systems-engineered package of measures in the new construction multifamily housing sector in the hot-humid climate zone. This report demonstrates how the initiative achieves Building America (BA) goals of 30%-50% energy savings. In addition, the report discusses the role of utility allowance calculations, used as part of the low-income housing tax credit process, to value those energy savings. Results of energy modeling are presented to demonstrate that the specification package achieves 40% energy savings in typical application. Results from Home Energy Rating System (HERS) ratings from more than 1,000 apartment units are included to show consistency of application on a large scale. A primary consistency has been communication of design intent via detailed schematics and step-by-step instructions in construction documents. In addition, this report describes some successes and challenges with the use of heat pump water heaters (HPWH) on a widespread basis, a key measure toward achieving the documented efficiency. Overall, the information provided in this report is most useful to multifamily developers looking to duplicate success through incorporating energy efficient strategies, and methods to value that efficiency in a rental, rather than homeownership, setting

Performance and Impact from Duct Repair and Ventilation Modifications of Two Newly Constructed Manufactured Houses Located in a Hot and Humid Climate

Two nearly identical houses situated next to each other in Bossier City, Louisiana were studied in an effort to better understand moisture and cooling energy related problems in manufactured houses with low thermostat set-points during the cooling season. By design, the major difference between houses was the type of air conditioning units. House A had a standard split air conditioner and House B had a twospeed split air conditioner. In an effort to make the buildings more similar, the building airtightness was adjusted until it was the same in each house, and duct leaks were sealed so that the ducts were tight and there was equal tightness in both houses. A ventilation system was also added at the same time of duct repair. Duct repair and the ventilation modifications resulted in significant impacts on the cooling energy, temperature, relative humidity, and building pressures. Cooling energy decreased 37% in House A and 18% in House B, while the floor space dewpoint increased significantly. It is estimated that 35 % savings was due solely to duct repair in House A and 17% in House B. The primary cause of House A savings being twice House B is attributed to House A operating at nearly twice the capacity most of the time and had more duct leakage repaired. This resulted in higher system pressures and therefore greater duct leakage than in House B. Before building modifications, House A used 15.4 kWh per day (32%) more than House B and 3.4 kWh per day (11%) more after modifications. A method of characterizing interstitial spaces using dewpoint measurement is presented and shows that the belly space became 2.6 times more like outdoor conditions after repairs in House A and 2.0 times more in House B

Investigation of Cooling and Dehumidification Energy Use and Indoor Thermal Conditions in Polk County Schools Permanent Replacement Classroom Buildings

Increasing enrollment in grades K-12 coupled with the spiraling costs of construction has pushed school boards to develop more cost-effective classrooms, from the perspective of initial cost, longterm energy consumption, and ease of maintenance. To this end, the Florida's Polk County School Board has developed a four-quad permanent replacement classroom building. Each classroom is equipped with a package terminal heat pump (PTHP) with a thermostat control with a four-hour crank timer. The objective of this research was to compare the energy consumption and interior conditions of the autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) construction with an unvented roof assembly to that of the conventional metal framing and concrete panel buildings. Four buildings, 2 metal-framed and 2 AAC buildings with dehumidifiers were chosen for extensive testing and monitoring. The goal was to maintain a relative humidity of 50% as well as an interior temperature of 75oF

Green and High Performance Factory Crafted Housing

In the U.S., factory-built housing greater than 400 square feet is built either to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) code for mobile homes or site-built codes for modular housing. During the last few years, as the production of HUD code housing has dwindled, many leading edge factory builders have started building modular homes to compete with site-built housing and stay in business. As part of the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership (BAIHP) we have assisted in the design and construction of several “green” and high performance modular homes that Palm Harbor Homes, Florida Division (PHH) has built for the International Builders’ Show (IBS) in 2006, 2007, and 2008. This paper will summarize the design features and the “green” and energy-efficient certification processes conducted for the 2008 show homes, one of which received the very first E-Scale produced by BAIHP for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Builders Challenge program