Date Available

2021

Year of Publication

2021

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (MSBiosyAgE)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Engineering

Department/School/Program

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Donald Colliver

Abstract

Residential energy usage patterns change as a result of new building codes, renewable technologies, household electronics, and changes in occupancy habits. Building simulations have used end-use energy studies to inform occupancy profiles and overall usage characteristics for the building simulations. Building simulations allow designers, engineers, policymakers, code developers, and building owners to model proposed designs to new and existing buildings, thus it is imperative that the energy profiles used in the models are accurate. In this study, the building simulation engine BEopt is used to model energy-efficient homes recently constructed in Southern Kentucky. The homes have well defined building characteristics (building envelope, equipment, range, lighting, etc.), and were all constructed by the same contractor, making the sample set a great case-study for occupancy dependent energy usage variability. Overall usage and temporal variations are compared against BEopt outputs for system load categories (total usage, heating and cooling, HVAC fan usage, supplemental heating, water heating, large appliances, and miscellaneous electric loads). Results from the study help to inform the building model simulation developers of which residential categorical loads deviate from the default simulation energy profiles, thus allowing for more accurate energy profile development in the future.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.390

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