Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes

Sunday, June 25, 2017

9:45 AM-10:45 AM
Panel 1
The US Department of Energy's Recent Regulatory Activity on Water Heaters

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
202AB (Long Beach Convention)
Moderator: James D. Lutz, P.E., Hot Water Research
Panelists: Ashley Armstrong, US Department of Energy , Frank Stanonik, Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute and Harvey Sachs, ACEEE
Technical Committee: 6.6 Service Water Heating Systems
Water heating is the second largest energy load after space conditioning in residential buildings. The US Department of Energy has recently completed regulatory proceedings to update the test procedure and minimum energy efficiency standards for residential and residential-duty commercial water heaters to use the new Uniform Energy Factor metric. The Department is currently updating the minimum energy efficiency standards for commercial water heaters. This panel discusses the strengths and shortcomings of the regulations, the rulemaking process and ASHRAE's role in it. The panelists include the Department of Energy's engineer in charge of these regulations, AHRI's Chief Technical Advisor representing the water heater manufacturers and a representative from an efficiency advocacy organization who is also on ASHRAE RAC.

  Forms for Armstrong

 Ashley Armstrong, US Department of Energy
To come

  Forms for Stanonik

 Frank Stanonik, Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute
To come

  Forms for Sachs

 Harvey Sachs, ACEEE
To come

  Presentation Upload for Panel and Forms for Lutz

 James Lutz, LBNL
To come

11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Seminar 6
Going Small in Exhaust Air Energy Recovery, for Multi-Family Buildings Size Doesn't Matter

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
203AB (Long Beach Convention)
Chair: Marc Tardif, Innergytech Inc.
Technical Committee: 5.5 Air-to-Air Energy Recovery
Despite the small size of exhaust air energy recovery in residential, it can have a huge benefit. This session reviews the design and application of exhaust air energy recovery in multi-family buildings. An overview of the requirements of ASHRAE Standard 90.2 and Standard 62.2 are discussed. Modeling methods and installation practices are also reviewed.

1  Introduction to the Residential Air-to-Air Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV)

 Adam Fecteau, Aldes
More and more high rise and multi-family projects now include residential ERVs but these residential units differ greatly from their commercial counterpart. This seminar lays out the basics of residential ERVs. It covers the main components of a residential ERV and their impacts/importance in a residential application. It addresses the different and typical features and capabilities available on the market from different manufacturers. It also demystifies the relationship between the different certification programs, test methods and limitations. It also briefly looks at different methods of installation.

2  Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) Applications for Mutifamily High Rise Dwelling Units in Northeastern Climate

 Nabar Manalee, P.E. (CA), CPHC, Bright Power Inc
This session explores the scopes of ASHRAE 62.2, the Passive House standard and the NYC mechanical code as they relate to in-unit ventilation. Although multifamily high rise buildings fall under the commercial code, individual apartments can be required to comply with ASHRAE 62.2. Fresh air is mandatory, recovering the energy contained in the stale indoor air helps reduce heating and cooling. How to decide what is needed for a project – ERV or HRV is discussed. Design of these systems, including various air sealing, filtration and insulation details is also discussed.

3  Single Residential and MURB Energy Modeling Programs and Air-to-Air Energy Recovery

 James Scudamore, P.Eng., Airia Residential Systems Inc
Code compliance in many jurisdictions allows for both prescriptive and compliance paths for a dwellings energy consumption. ASHRAE 90.2 is an example of a compliance path outlining the application of such simulation models. A reference house has been use to evaluate the accuracy of Air-to-Air Energy Recovery simulation and associated energy use reduction in these models. This presenation provides information on the effect in modeling of Air-to-Air Energy Recovery for residential dwellings and evaluate the role of Air-to-Air Energy Recovery in a net zero home.

4  ERVs for High Rise Residential Buildings

 James Dean, dpoint Technologies, Inc.
Multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) represent a significant and growing proportion of housing in North America. Traditionally, ventilation air is provided by a central corridor air supply system and is distributed among the suites through entry door undercuts. This system, although being used for decades, has proven to be neither effective nor efficient from an energy or indoor air quality perspective. In this seminar results from a study on the impact of using individual in-suite Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERV) and Integrated Fan Coils (IFC) with energy recovery in high-rise residential buildings are investigated and compared to traditional centralized make-up air systems.

Monday, June 26, 2017

9:45 AM-10:45 AM
Seminar 25
ASHRAE's Residential Energy Performance Standards for New and Existing Buildings

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
202AB (Long Beach Convention)
Chair: Michael Deru, Ph.D., NREL
Technical Committee: 7.6 Building Energy Performance
Sponsor: SSPC 100, SSPC 90.2, Residential Building Committee
Standard 100-2015 with recent revisions (for existing buildings) and revisions to ASHRAE Standard 90.2-2007 (for new buildings) each include performance compliance requirements for residential buildings that are intended to provide designers, retrofit contractors, and building owners a great amount of flexibility when choosing design alternatives for compliance. However, the two standards use significantly different metrics and methodologies to determine building energy performance. This seminar provides information on the development and application of the performance requirements in these two standards. It also illustrates impacts of the different methodologies as well as examples of performance options and calculations for compliance.

1  Standard 90.2: The Path to Performance

 Theresa A. Weston, Ph.D., DuPont Building Innovations
The revision of ASHRAE Standard 90.2‐2007 represents a new approach in residential building energy performance. This new Standard 90.2 seeks to deliver residential building energy performance that is at least 50% more efficient than the energy efficiency defined by the 2006 IECC. Key to accomplishing this objective is delivery of an accurate, flexible performance‐based tool to enable user creativity in meeting the performance objectives. This presentation describes the pathway to transform the standard.

2  Standard 100 Residential Applications and Options

 Neil P. Leslie, P.E., Gas Technology Institute
When first hearing about Standard 100, most people think it is a commercial building energy efficiency standard. However, Standard 100 also establishes building energy performance requirements for five different residential building types using climate-dependent target tables derived from the 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey database. This presentation summarizes the derivation of these table entries, identify and characterize differences in methodology between Standard 90.2 revisions and Standard 100, and illustrate application of the target tables to real-world homes. Plans for further refinements to the Standard 100 performance calculations are also discussed.

11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Conference Paper Session 9
Residential High Efficiency

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
203AB (Long Beach Convention)
Chair: Mini Malhotra, ORNL
Thermal and economic performances are compared for a single-family house in the Phoenix, Arizona, USA for three types of residential-scale solar-powered heat pump systems: silica gel-water adsorption, single-effect LiBr-water absorption (both thermally driven) and solar photovoltaic (PV) powered vapor compression systems. The hybrid-GSHP project currently being developed in a research house located in Tyler, Texas will investigate the economic and technical feasibility of a system using a water-to-air heat exchanger as an ancillary heat exchanger. In addition, this session discusses the design and pilot testing of an integrated thermal energy and rainwater storage system (or ITHERST) for a small residential house.

1  Residential Hybrid-Ground Source Heat Pump – Phase I (LB-17-C029)

 Nelson Fumo, Ph.D., University of Texas at Tyler
Vicente Bortone, P.E., Johnson Controls, Inc.
A hybrid-GSHP project currently being developed will investigate the economic and technical feasibility of a system using a water-to-air heat exchanger as an ancillary heat exchanger. The project has been planned to be developed in three phases, in order to have one year data for each phase. This paper describes the research facility, the concept of the hybrid-GSHP to be developed in three phases, and the energy performance of the system in Phase I from the data collected.

2  Thermoeconomic Comparison of Residential Solar-Powered Heat Pump Systems (LB-17-C030)

 Yeshpal Gupta, Ph.D., Lincus, Inc.
Patrick Phelan, Lincus, Inc.
Residential zero net energy/low energy buildings require integrated renewable energy air conditioning systems especially in harsh climates such as Phoenix, AZ. In this paper, the thermal as well as economic performances for three types of residential-scale solar-powered heat pump systems is compared. The systems selected for this study were silica gel-water adsorption, single-effect LiBr-water absorption (both thermally driven), and solar photovoltaic (PV) powered vapor compression systems. An hourly building simulation model was developed for a single-family house in the Phoenix, Arizona, USA metropolitan area and performance of each of these systems was determined to satisfy the hourly cooling demand. The effect of solar collector area and storage capacity was also investigated.

3  Design and Pilot Testing of a Residential Chilled Water Thermal Storage System as Part of a Net Zero Energy and Water House (LB-17-C031)

 Charles R Upshaw, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
Joshua Rhodes, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
Michael Webber, Ph.D., University of Texas
Residential air conditioning represents nearly half of peak electrical demand on the Texas electricity grid during the summer, so finding ways to reduce peak demand have significant value for homeowners and grid operators. Thermal storage systems provide a means of shifting air conditioning load off-peak while maintaining cooling operation and thermal comfort levels, but are typically not deployed at the residential level due to cost constraints. This paper discusses the design and pilot testing of an integrated thermal energy and rainwater storage system (or ITHERST) for a small residential house. The paper summarizes the system design, describes the testing process and preliminary results, and concludes the report with a discussion on lessons learned and future work.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
Seminar 31
Feedback: The Essential Ingredient for High Performance Green Homes

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
201A (Long Beach Convention)
Chair: Audrey Dupuis, Pageau Morel
Technical Committee: 2.8 Building Environmental Impacts and Sustainability
Sponsor: Residential building committee
CoSponsor: 4.4 Building Materials and Building Envelope Performance
In high performance homes, comfort drives design, design drives energy use and careful design choices drive actual energy performance and occupant satisfaction. However, thermal comfort standards don’t include energy efficiency compliance requirements, leading to mismatches between comfort and energy efficient designs. This seminar explains why and how to use the vocabulary of thermal comfort as the first solution in solving residential energy problems. It also describes how feedback tools can be useful in calibrating modeling inputs to verify and ensure that actual performance outcome are achieved by design. The cost of poor design choices is also discussed.

1  Feedback Tools for Designing and Implementing Comfortable Efficient Homes

Dan Perunko, Balance Point Home Performance
Designing comfortable and efficient homes requires that designers and installers set performance
targets and revise their designs to meet those performance targets. If modeling is used to
predict enclosure performance or potential comfort, other tools must be used to verify that the
modeled assumptions are achieved. Those same tools can be useful in calibrating inputs for
future designs to assure performance outcome is achieved. Ongoing performance feedback
is now realistic for residential applications. This presentation focuses on lessons learned from those
feedback tools and how to use them to enhance performance outcomes in future designs.

2  Which Should Come First in Housing, Energy Efficiency or Thermal Comfort?

Robert Bean, Indoor Climate Consultants Inc.
This usually comes as a shock to energy geeks, but compliance requirements found in efficiency programs are not found in thermal comfort standards. Furthermore, energy related terms like U-values, conduction, air changes, kilowatts, therms and thermal bridging are abstract constructs for the general public. But the vernacular language of cold, hot, dry, humid, muggy and drafty needs no communication effort. This presentation explains why and how to use the vocabulary of thermal comfort as the first solution in solving residential energy problems.

3  The Energy and Environmental Benefits of Design Choices that Provide Excellent Comfort

 Jim Larsen, Cardinal Glass Industries
Design choices for home envelopes and appliances have a large impact on comfort, energy consumption and environmental impact. A positive impact requires a well-considered design objective as well as its successful implementation. This presentation provides examples of affordable design choices that combine superior comfort with significant life cycle cost benefits, reduced primary energy consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. It focuses primarily on the role of the envelope in providing affordable and environmentally beneficial comfort for the occupants, but also illustrates the synergy with smaller equipment selection and better comfort control when the envelope is optimized for efficiency.

9:45 AM-10:45 AM
Forum 6
Best Practices For Low Energy Residential Buildings Across the Globe

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
201B (Long Beach Convention)
Chair: Ashish Rakheja, P.E., AEON Integrated Building Design Consultants LLP
Sponsor: AASA, MTG.HCDG Hot Climate Design Guide
CoSponsor: 2.8 Building Environmental Impacts and Sustainability
ASHRAE Associate Society Alliance (AASA) has members from over 50 global HVAC&R societies. AASA also has a large representation from Developing Countries where due to rapid urbanization, the demand for homes is growing exponentially (India alone will add 50 billion sq. ft. of constructed space in next two decades). The Forum discusses the case studies and best practices followed in design of cost effective homes. This Forum has international flavor with representatives from more than 20 countries and provides an opportunity to the attendees to interact & learn from each other.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
Seminar 52
The New 90.2

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
201B (Long Beach Convention)
Chair: Theresa A. Weston, Ph.D., DuPont Building Innovations
Technical Committee: 7.6 Building Energy Performance
Sponsor: SSPC 90.2; Residential Building Committee
Standard 90.2 Energy-Efficient Design of Low- Rise Residential Buildings has undergone a major revision which was released in the Public Review conducted at the end of 2016. This seminar discusses the new direction of the standard to become an accurate, flexible performance‐based tool to enable user creativity in meeting the performance objectives residential building energy performance that is at least 50% more efficient than the energy efficiency defined by the 2006 IECC.

1  Standard 90.2 in a Diverse Residential Marketplace

 Chris Mathis, Mathis Consulting
Residential buildings are responsible for over 22% of total US energy use. Recognizing the role of residential buildings on energy demand, environmental impact and economic development, ASHRAE has been working to revise Standard 90.2 to better address these and other topics. Concurrently, ASHRAE has engaged a diverse array of residential stakeholders within and outside of ASHRAE to determine the scope of needs in the residential marketplace, and to determine ASHRAE’s role in addressing those needs. This presentation explores the diversity of residential stakeholders ASHRAE seeks to engage and the possible opportunities for 90.2 to impact the residential built environment.

2  Standard 90.2 Performance and Flexibility

 Philip Fairey, Florida Solar Energy Center
This presentation describes the performance approach which is the core of 90.2. Performance‐based energy calculation tools have long been elements of building code compliance and beyond code programs. However, these building energy modeling tools have often been varied and inconsistent in their default assumptions, modeling rule sets and calculation approaches. To address these concerns, the SSPC 90.2 has developed very detailed rules governing the energy modeling and analyses necessary to determine compliance. More importantly, 90.2 provides a mechanism by which any residential building design can be easily evaluated against these performance objectives.

3  Illuminating the ASHRAE 90.2 Lighting Requirements

 Theresa A. Weston, Ph.D., DuPont Building Innovations
This presentation gives an overview of the advanced lighting technologies and strategies, from lamps to control systems, to help deliver even greater levels of lighting energy savings than current minimum code.

11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Seminar 57
Dampness and Mold in Homes: Update on Health Effects and Environmental Assessments that Are Useful for Physicians

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
203AB (Long Beach Convention)
Chair: Elliott Horner, Ph.D., UL Environment
Sponsor: Environ Health // SSPC 62.1 // SSPC 62.2
CoSponsor: 1.12 Moisture Management in Buildings
Six recent peer-reviewed papers summarized the current state of knowledge regarding exposure to indoor mold colonization. New information on innate immunity interaction with microbial products offers a plausible mechanism in place of the “all mycotoxin” vs “only allergen” choice. Included in these papers is guidance for clinicians working with an Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) and guidance for IEPs on what makes a clinically useful and relevant assessment report. The collaboration of IEP and clinician may become routine if the clinician requests assessments when appropriate and if the IEP reports are helpful. Some insurers are already considering the benefit/cost.

1  Finally Getting to the Cause: What Is Damp and Mold Doing to Residents?

 Elliott Horner, Ph.D., UL Environment

Kevin Kennedy, MPH, CIEC, MS, Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics

The effects and clinical management of patients with respiratory disease that are exposed to indoor mold colonization are still not fully understood. A recent effort by a Working Group of the American Academy of Allergy compiled six peer-reviewed papers covering responses to fungal products and health effects related to exposure and clinical management. Recent information on the innate immune system and the interaction with various microbial components sheds light on the prevailing controversy of whether health effects associated with damp buildings are due to mycotoxins or allergens. Other microbial products are now seen as likely factors to these respiratory effects.

2  Key Elements of Relevant and Useful Home Assessments

 Kevin Kennedy, MPH, CIEC, Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics
Significantly, information on the home environmental is now recognized as often important to the clinical management of respiratory disease. Guidance is presented for clinicians regarding questions they should be asking patients regarding residential conditions associated with dampness and mold, and how clinicians should work with Indoor Environmental Professionals (IEP). Key components are identified that should be included by an IEP in an environmental report if the report is to be useful to a clinician. The importance is stressed of an IEP avoiding making medical inferences and of a clinician not making conclusions about the building.

3  Residential Dampness Assessment: Elements of a Useful Report

Elliott Horner, Ph.D., UL Environment

If a home assessment is justified and requested, the report from the Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) must provide accurate, useful and actionable information. An outline is provided including the necessary criteria for a report. These criteria include, ¨a rationale for each specific activity/measurement/sample, ¨ observations supported by objective evidence, ¨ conclusions prepared by the on-site investigator and incorporating data collected with ¨ priority assignments to any recommendations provided.

11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Seminar 58
Acoustic Performance Standards for Residential Buildings and When They Fall Short

Residential Buildings: Standards Guidelines and Codes
201B (Long Beach Convention)
Chair: Erik Miller-Klein, P.E., A3 Acoustics, LLP
Technical Committee: 2.6 Sound and Vibration
This session provides a summary of the current residential building codes and standards, explores areas where occupant complaints are not addressed by existing codes and highlights a new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard on the classification of residential buildings based on acoustic performance.

1  Status of Acoustical Standards and Codes in the USA for Residential Buildings

 Cathleen Novak, Veneklasen Associates
Acoustical standards and codes for residential construction are adopted by municipalities that cover the basic level of performance. Though these standards are not always sensibly applied or do they ensure acoustical comfort for the space. Some standards and codes only require referencing design guides and the actual installation and application does not meet the performance intent. This presentation discusses the current state of acoustical standards and codes and the current limitations of these documents.

2  Where Current Standards and Codes Fall Short: Tones and Unsteady Noise from MEP Systems

Roman Wowk, Papadimos Group
Industry standards and building codes that address noise from mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems typically limit noise levels but do not adequately address tones or unsteady conditions such as fluctuating or impulsive noise. Such conditions may be difficult to quantify but are a recurring theme when it comes to noise complaints in occupied buildings. This presentation uses recent project examples where discrete tones or unsteady noise from MEP systems resulted in complaints but still complied with current standards and building codes and provides a basic guide to help the practicing engineer recognize and avoid these problems.

3  ISO 19488: Acoustic Classification for Residential Buildings

 Jason Swan, Sandy Brown Associates, LLP
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has a new standard, 19488, that will create an acoustics label for dwellings, similar to Energy Efficiency Ratings. This will give a residential building a grade of A to F based on its performance in achieving five key acoustic design parameters, including interior noise and exterior noise intrusion. This will help home buyers make decisions about what to buy and will impact the mechanical system design. This seminar summarizes the standard and provides basic recommendations for ensuring internal and external noise levels can be achieved.

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