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Analysis of Energy Efficiency Measures in Rehabilitation of Multifamily Housing Units
Abstract
An apartment building in Austin, Texas, and
one in Boston, Massachusetts, were analyzed to
determine the cost-effectiveness of energy
efficiency measures. To determine expected energy
and cost savings resulting from a set of proposed
retrofit measures, hour-by-hour simulations were
conducted using the DOE-2.1C building energy
analysis computer program. Based on detailed audit
data, supplemented by field-measurements in the
case of the Austin apartment building, the
simulations were run for base case (preretrofit)
conditions for each building. Metered electricity
and gas consumption was used to calibrate the input
data.
A series of proposed retrofit measures was run
for each building using the calibrated preretrofit
model as the reference. Annual energy and cost
savings were calculated separately for each measure
and for the combined set of measures. For the
Austin building the combined set of 11 measures
yielded expected savings of $3,710/year, a 42%
savings in site energy. The combination of the 7
measures considered for the Boston building yielded
expected savings of $1.292/year, and annual energy
savings of nearly 75%. Measured in situ air
conditioner performance for two of the Austin
apartments showed EERs of 5.70 and 5.55, indicating
an efficiency degradation of 22% and 24%,
respectively, after 16 years of operation.
Citation
Hunn, B. D.; Silver, S. C. (1988). Analysis of Energy Efficiency Measures in Rehabilitation of Multifamily Housing Units. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /6550.