Data Quality Requirements for Determining Energy Savings in the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)

Abstract

This paper briefly describes an ongoing energy retrofit program, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAF') of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. After briefly reviewing the various parameters that one needs to consider for proper baseline model development, this paper illustrates the differences in energy savings one would obtain by direct utility bill comparison as against weather normalizing. Next, PRISM (PRInceton Scorekeeping Method), a widely used methodology and software for determining retrofit savings, is presented and discussed. The importance of assuring proper data quality is highlighted and its adverse effects on the baseline model is illustrated with data from two College Station homes. Finally, this paper presents preliminary problems encountered while preparing input data for PRISM runs for 462 houses in 59 Texas cities under WAP. Common problems in the utility bills and temperature data from National Oceanic Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) are discussed and recommendations to avoid such data quality problems are made.