Measured Cooling Performance of Two-story Homes in Dallas, Texas; Insulated Concrete Form Versus Frame Construction

Abstract

Four occupied homes near Dallas, Texas were monitored to compare heating and cooling energy use. Two homes were built with typical wood frame construction, the other two with insulated concrete form (ICF) construction. Remote data loggers collected average hourly indoor and outdoor temperature, relative humidity, furnace runtime fraction, total building electrical energy and HVAC energy use. The loggers recorded data from November 1999 through August 2000. Results show that insulated concrete form construction can reduce cooling energy use 17 to 19% in two-story homes in the north Texas climate. Two adjustments to the measured data were made to compensate for differences between the homes: (1) cooling energy use was normalized to remove the impact of miscellaneous energy use that introduces heat into the home (e.g. lights & appliances), and (2) duct leakage differences simulated in a DOE2-based software reduced the measured savings for ICF construction by 4%. Other differences noted between the homes that were not quantified included occupant impacts, exterior wall color (or absorptance) and an attic radiant barrier absent in one of the homes.