Energy Savings Modeling and Inspection Guidelines for Commercial Building Federal Tax Deductions, Second Edition

This document provides guidance for modeling and inspecting energy-efficient property in commercial buildings for certification of the energy and power cost savings related to Section 179D of the Internal Revenue Code enacted in Section 1331 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act and noted in Internal Revenue Service Notice 2006-52. Specifically, Section 179D provides federal tax deductions for energy-efficient property related to a commercial building's envelope; interior lighting; heating, ventilating, and air conditioning; and service hot water systems

Inclusive Development and Efforts to Improve Community Economy in Indonesia

Abstract: This study aimed to analyze the extent to which infrastructure development in Indonesia has a positive impact on an area, where the impact is not only seen from an economic perspective but also from a sociocultural and environmental perspective in the region. A systematic literature review was used as a method in this study to show various cases of infrastructure development and the impacts that occur in each of these development activities. Several cases from South Sumatra, East Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, and Papua were used in this paper to demonstrate the impact of inclusive and sustainable development on equity efforts in Indonesia comprehensively. The results of this study show a positive relationship between each case, where inclusive development can strengthen a region’s potential. Community involvement during and after development has a positive impact, either directly through the employment opportunities provided, or indirectly through economic potentials, such as post-development business development. Some factors to consider include the role of the government and development implementers in increasing community participation in all development activities in their area, where there are still some unresolved coordination issues.

Energy Design Guides for Army Barracks: Preprint

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NREL are developing target energy budgets and design guides to achieve 30% energy savings. This paper focuses the design guide for one type of barracks called unaccompanied enlisted personal housing

Ground-Coupled Heat and Moisture Transfer from Buildings; Part1: Analysis and Modeling (preprint)

Ground-heat transfer is tightly coupled with soil-moisture transfer. The coupling is threefold: heat is transferred by thermal conduction and by moisture transfer; the thermal properties of soil are strong functions of the moisture content; and moisture phase change includes latent heat effects and changes in thermal and hydraulic properties. A heat and moisture transfer model was developed to study the ground-coupled heat and moisture transfer from buildings. The model also includes detailed considerations of the atmospheric boundary conditions, including precipitation. Solutions for the soil temperature distribution are obtained using a finite element procedure. The model compared well with the seasonal variation of measured ground temperatures

Establishing Benchmarks for DOE Commercial Building R&D and Program Evaluation: Preprint

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Program and the DOE research laboratories conduct a great deal of research on building technologies. However, differences in models and simulation tools used by various research groups make it difficult to compare results among studies. The authors have developed a set of 22 hypothetical benchmark buildings and weighting factors for nine locations across the country, for a total of 198 buildings

Evaluation Framework and Analyses for Thermal Energy Storage Integrated with Packaged Air Conditioning

Few third-party guidance documents or tools are available for evaluating thermal energy storage (TES) integrated with packaged air conditioning (AC), as this type of TES is relatively new compared to TES integrated with chillers or hot water systems. To address this gap, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory conducted a project to improve the ability of potential technology adopters to evaluate TES technologies. Major project outcomes included: development of an evaluation framework to describe key metrics, methodologies, and issues to consider when assessing the performance of TES systems integrated with packaged AC; application of multiple concepts from the evaluation framework to analyze performance data from four demonstration sites; and production of a new simulation capability that enables modeling of TES integrated with packaged AC in EnergyPlus. This report includes the evaluation framework and analysis results from the project

Zero Energy Buildings: A Critical Look at the Definition; Preprint

A net zero-energy building (ZEB) is a residential or commercial building with greatly reduced energy needs through efficiency gains such that the balance of energy needs can be supplied with renewable technologies. Despite the excitement over the phrase ''zero energy'', we lack a common definition, or even a common understanding, of what it means. In this paper, we use a sample of current generation low-energy buildings to explore the concept of zero energy: what it means, why a clear and measurable definition is needed, and how we have progressed toward the ZEB goal

Estimation of photovoltaic potential for electricity self-sufficiency: A study case of military facilities in northwest Spain

Renewable energies, including photovoltaic energy, are attracting widespread international attention, in reaction to worsening environmental problems and the diminishing long-term sustainability of fossil fuel energies. In this work, the potential benefits of installing photovoltaic panels on several buildings at the Spanish Naval Military School (Escuela Naval Militar, ENM) of Mar ın are considered. The two salient advantages are significant economic savings from the production and the sale of electricity to the Spanish Electricity Network and achieving selfsufficiency in electricity requirements. Consequently, the main objective of this work is to estimate the energy potential of photovoltaic installations on the roofs of the ENM buildings. This is the first time that a project of this nature and size is presented to the Spanish Navy. To that end, a three-dimensional geographic analysis of the buildings is performed using three freeware software: Trimble SketchUp, Skelion, and Photovoltaic Geographical Information System. An economic study is also conducted to determine the feasibility of the installations, by estimating the Net Present Value of the photovoltaic installation and the Internal Rate of Return associated with the project. Subsequently, a sensitivity analysis that considers the most important parameters for the calculation of the amortization period is reported. The results show that the installation could fulfill the ENM electrical demands and could, in addition, generate significant economic benefits. The conclusions end with a recommendation to consider the merits of the proposed solution.Regional Government of Castilla y Le on (Ref. BU034U16), under European Regional Development Fund, and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under the IþD þ i state programme Challenges for the Society (Ref. ENE-2014-54601-R). One of the authors, David Gonz alez Pe~na, thanks Junta de Castilla-Le on for economic support (PIRTU Program, ORDEN EDU/301/2015

Lessons Learned from Case Studies of Six High-Performance Buildings

Commercial buildings have a significant impact on energy use and the environment. They account for approximately 18% (17.9 quads) of the total primary energy consumption in the United States (DOE 2005). The energy used by the building sector continues to increase, primarily because new buildings are added to the national building stock faster than old buildings are retired. Energy consumption by commercial buildings will continue to increase until buildings can be designed to produce more energy than they consume. As a result, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building Technologies Program has established a goal to create the technology and knowledge base for marketable zero-energy commercial buildings (ZEBs) by 2025

Evaluating the Performance and Economics of Transpired Solar Collectors for Commercial Applications: Preprint

Using transpired solar collectors to preheat ventilation air has recently become recognized as an economic alternative for integrating renewable energy into commercial buildings in heating climates. The collectors have relatively low installed costs and operate on simple principles. Theory and performance testing have shown that solar collection efficiency can exceed 70% of incident solar. However, implementation and current absorber designs have adversely affected the efficiency and associated economics from this initial analysis. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has actively studied this technology and monitored performance at several installations. A calibrated model that uses typical meteorological weather data to determine absorber plate efficiency resulted from this work. With this model, an economic analysis across heating climates was done to show the effects of collector size, tilt, azimuth, and absorptivity. The analysis relates the internal rate of return of a system based on the cost of the installed absorber area. In general, colder and higher latitude climates return a higher rate of return because the heating season extends into months with good solar resource