Evaluation of a whole-house energy simulation tool against measured data

Ren, Zhengen; Chen, Dong; James, Melissa

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.04.034

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Considering the total system losses, the hourly electricity generation by the PV array can be calculated using Equation (25).…”

Section: Pv System Lossesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A benchmark tool for new housing was developed [22] and released in June 2023 (https://www.nathers.gov.au/WholeofHome/software-development, accessed on 25 September 2023) based on the Method [21]. With the major assumptions/settings adopted from the Method [21] and Scorecard [23], CSIRO developed a WoH energy rating tool for existing housing by modifying the AusZEH design tool [24,25] with considering the energy performance of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) for space heating and cooling and implementing new modules of lighting, water heating, spa and swimming pool, other appliances, and on-site solar PV. This document details the assumptions/settings implemented in the existing housing benchmark tool.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of an Energy Rating Tool for Australian Existing Housing

Ren,

Jian,

Chen

2023

Energies

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Australia aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and its building sector needs rapid change. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) is supported by the Australian Government to expand the current building envelope thermal performance energy star rating to a whole-of-home (WoH) energy rating. The NatHERS Administrator supports CSIRO to develop a benchmark WoH energy rating tool for new and existing housing, respectively. The tool for new housing was released in June 2023. This study presents the tool development for Australian existing housing. A case study was conducted using the tool for the eight capital cities of Australian states and territories. It shows that with a detached house built in the 1900s being updated to six or more stars and replacing old equipment and appliances with high-energy-efficient ones, more than 50% of energy can be saved in all the eight cities. To be zero-energy (carbon) housing, 5 kW solar PV needs be installed in Darwin and Hobart, 4 kW in Melbourne and Canberra, 3.5 kW in Adelaide and Sydney, and 3 kW in Brisbane and Perth. It demonstrates that this tool can be used for housing retrofitting to be low/zero-carbon emissions and low operational cost.

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“…Considering the total system losses, the hourly electricity generation by the PV array can be calculated using Equation (25).…”

Section: Pv System Lossesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an Energy Rating Tool for Australian Existing Housing

Ren,

Jian,

Chen

2023

Energies

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“…In Australia, several tools are used to estimate the star ratings for new residential buildings according to the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme [44]. Among these tools, 'AccuRate' is a benchmark software, developed by the CSIRO [3,47,48].…”

Section: Simulation Of the Heating And Cooling Loadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A goal for targeting low energy buildings was proposed based on the Paris Agreement, which stated that the rising temperatures should be controlled to under 2 • C by 2100 [2]. Considering that building energy consumption accounts for 32% of total energy consumption, and the fact that residential house lifespans are required to be at least 50 years [3,4], the design and operation of residential buildings must consider the effects of climate change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Prediction of Weather for Analysis of Residential Building Energy Consumption in Australia

et al. 2021

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Globally, buildings account for nearly 40% of the total primary energy consumption and are responsible for 20% of the total greenhouse gas emissions. Energy consumption in buildings is increasing with the increasing world population and improving standards of living. Current global warming conditions will inevitably impact building energy consumption. To address this issue, this report conducted a comprehensive study of the impact of climate change on residential building energy consumption. Using the methodology of morphing, the weather files were constructed based on the typical meteorological year (TMY) data and predicted data generated from eight typical global climate models (GCMs) for three representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5) from 2020 to 2100. It was found that the most severe situation would occur in scenario RCP8.5, where the increase in temperature will reach 4.5 °C in eastern Australia from 2080–2099, which is 1 °C higher than that in other climate zones. With the construction of predicted weather files in 83 climate zones all across Australia, ten climate zones (cities)—ranging from heating-dominated to cooling-dominated regions—were selected as representative climate zones to illustrate the impact of climate change on heating and cooling energy consumption. The quantitative change in the energy requirements for space heating and cooling, along with the star rating, was simulated for two representative detached houses using the AccuRate software. It could be concluded that the RCP scenarios significantly affect the energy loads, which is consistent with changes in the ambient temperature. The heating load decreases for all climate zones, while the cooling load increases. Most regions in Australia will increase their energy consumption due to rising temperatures; however, the energy requirements of Adelaide and Perth would not change significantly, where the space heating and cooling loads are balanced due to decreasing heating and increasing cooling costs in most scenarios. The energy load in bigger houses will change more than that in smaller houses. Furthermore, Brisbane is the most sensitive region in terms of relative space energy changes, and Townsville appears to be the most sensitive area in terms of star rating change in this study. The impact of climate change on space building energy consumption in different climate zones should be considered in future design strategies due to the decades-long lifespans of Australian residential houses.

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“…Here, the differences depend on the method in which the calculated outputs (i.e., by a subroutine, algorithm, software, etc.) are compared to the data considered as reference ones [41,45]. Specifically, simulation results relative to a building tool or component to be validated can be compared to (i) measured data, obtained by a real building, a test cell, or laboratory experiments, in case of the empirical validation, (ii) results from accepted numerical methods or standard analytical solutions (i.e., simulation of the heat transfer mechanisms under certain boundary conditions), in case of the analytical verification procedure, (iii) results obtained by the current state-of-the-art codes (considered as reference tools and more reliable than the code under examination), in case of the comparative test procedure [43].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Energy Performance Analysis: An Experimental Validation of an In-House Dynamic Simulation Tool through a Real Test Room

et al. 2019

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This paper focuses on the experimental validation of a building energy performance simulation tool by means of a comparative analysis between numerical results and measurements obtained on a real test room. The empirical tests were carried out for several months under variable weather conditions and in free-floating indoor temperature regime (switched off HVAC system). Measurements were exploited for validating an in-house simulation tool, implemented in MatLab and called DETECt, developed for dynamically assessing the energy performance of buildings. Results show that simulated indoor air and surface room temperatures resulted in very good agreement with the corresponding experimental data; the detected differences were often lower than 0.5 °C and almost always lower than 1 °C. Very low mean absolute and percentage errors were always achieved. In order to show the capabilities of the developed simulation tool, a suitable case study focused on innovative solar radiation high-reflective coatings, and infrared low-emissivity materials is also presented. The performance of these coatings and materials was investigated through a comparative analysis conducted to evaluate their heating and cooling energy saving potentials. Simulation results, obtained for the real test cell considered as equipped with such innovative coatings and material, show that for the weather zone of Naples a 5% saving is obtained both in summer and in winter by simultaneously adopting a high-reflectance coating and a low- emissivity plaster for roof/external walls and interior walls, respectively.

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Evaluation of a whole-house energy simulation tool against measured data

Cited by 17 publications

References 29 publications

Development of an Energy Rating Tool for Australian Existing Housing

Development of an Energy Rating Tool for Australian Existing Housing

Long-Term Prediction of Weather for Analysis of Residential Building Energy Consumption in Australia

Building Energy Performance Analysis: An Experimental Validation of an In-House Dynamic Simulation Tool through a Real Test Room

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