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Category Archives: Buildings

BuildingsClimateEnergyResearch

Energy Efficiency Can Save Lives

Mike Specian May 1, 2020 Leave a Comment 2247 Views

In 2017 during Hurricane Irma, a tree branch hit a transformer and knocked out the main air conditioning system for a nursing home in Hollywood, Florida. There were portable air conditioners onsite, but they proved insufficient as indoor temperatures rose to a sweltering 100°F over the course of a three-day outage. Ultimately, 12 residents tragically lost their lives to the extreme heat.

Sadly, the conditions that precipitated this disaster are all too common, and are poised to become more so. Both the number of heatwaves in American cities and their duration have been increasing for decades due to climate change. In New York City alone, extreme heat claims 120 lives annually, and 80% of those deaths occur in people’s own homes.

To examine this issue, I co-authored a study in the journal Building and Environment with Drs. Kaiyu Sun and Tianzhen Hong, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Amidst the variety of options buildings have to improve thermal survivability during heat waves, power outages, and associated events, could energy efficiency play a role in keeping occupants safe? According to our results, the answer is yes.

It is well established that energy efficient buildings can save customers money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve health and well-being, and make occupants more productive. Yet the extent to which efficiency impacts our ability to adapt to, withstand, and rapidly recover from heat-related disasters – i.e., to become more resilient – has been less well studied. And many that do look at the issue largely consider only hypothetical buildings.

However, in the case of the Hollywood nursing home, we had a real-world example of a failed building. Weather data during the outage were available, as was a measured indoor temperature. Dr. Sun gathered the actual building data (e.g., floor plans, building components, renovation history) through publicly available records and recreated the nursing home in EnergyPlus modeling software.

3D model of the The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills

Detailed floor plans of the first (upper) and second (lower) floors. Patient rooms are colored based on the number of occupant.

We introduced a variety of energy conservation measures like higher insulation, shielding windows and the roof with aluminum foil, applying a cool roof coating, reducing air infiltration, adding exterior shading, turning off miscellaneous electrical loads (e.g., lighting), and adding natural ventilation.

We discovered that most measures would have reduced the indoor heat index, a metric that accounts for both temperature and humidity, thereby enhancing thermal survivability. In addition, we found the most effective measure – simply opening the windows – would have cost nothing at all. However, some efficiency improvements were less beneficial than others, and one actually would have had a negative impact on resilience. Moreover, if we placed the same nursing home in a heat wave in a different city, the set of most effective measures would have changed.

Temperature comparison between one of the hottest patient rooms (solid line) and the outdoor environment (dotted line). Vertical lines represent the onset and end of the cooling outage incident.

Box plot containing the temperatures of all patient rooms over the course of the outage. Heat hazard classification is presented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Occupants in rooms in the “danger” zone would likely experience “heat cramps and heat exhaustion” with “heatstroke probable with continued activity”.

I’ll quote the paper itself:

Our analysis generated three high-level takeaways. First, energy efficiency is not uniformly beneficial for resilience, as different efficiency characteristics convey different resilience impacts. In particular, we found that reduced air infiltration—a staple of modern energy efficiency practices—actually made it more difficult for the nursing home to expel excess heat when indoor air temperature was higher than it was outdoors. And it would have, on its own, increased the heat index beyond the status quo. Second, the effectiveness of specific energy efficiency measures varied as a function of circumstance. By transplanting the Florida nursing home to Chicago and San Francisco during real heatwaves, we found that the value of individual measures varied as a function of multiple parameters, including climate zone, outdoor temperature, length of air conditioning outage, insolation, and local building codes. Third, the most effective efficiency measures were also the least expensive to implement. This encouraging result indicates that low-to no-cost measures could potentially be deployed in buildings in near-real time to enhance passive survivability by allowing residents to shelter-in-place.

The vertical axis represents the percentage of all room-hours with temperatures falling within each hazard classification zone. Our best estimate for what actually happened inside the nursing home is shown in the left column. The most successful individual measure, natural ventilation, reduced the percentage of room-hours in the “danger” zone from 32.3% down to 1.2%. Tightening the buidling envelope (right column) increased it to 36.4%.

I should caution that while many of these efficiency measures reduced the danger for occupants, they did not on their own make the building safe. Some additional form of energy storage was needed for that, but even 8 hours of chilled water cooling capacity would have been sufficient to keep most room-hours within the “safe” zone for the majority of the outage.

I encourage those interested in expanding the value of energy efficiency, and those eager for new pathways to enhance resilience to refer to this study. It not only demonstrates a real connection between energy efficient buildings and thermal survivability, but also that this nexus is nuanced and ripe for further exploration.

BuildingsClimateEnergy

What To Prioritize – Retrofits or New Construction?

Mike Specian July 3, 2019 Leave a Comment 3281 Views

Buildings in the United States consume about 40% of all energy and 75% of all electricity. Attempts to decarbonize our economy necessarily run through buildings. However, we have limited resources and what to prioritize is not always obvious. We could try to retrofit existing, inefficient homes. Or we could focus on new construction that is built efficient from the ground up. To explore this issue further, I recently moderated a debate on the following resolution:

When the two come into conflict, the federal government ought to prioritize resources for retrofit programs over new construction programs.

While debaters on both sides of the resolution agreed on the importance of improving the energy efficiency of both existing and new buildings, the competition of ideas led to a lively discussion about our nation’s research priorities and relationship with industry. The question is, undoubtedly, a complicated and multifaceted one. Therefore, we invited a representative from each side to share abridged versions of their arguments. Rhett will advocate for retrofits, and Newton for new construction.

If we could only choose one, should we focus on retrofit programs or new construction programs?

Rhett:The answer is retrofits. There are 118 million existing homes in the U.S., plus another 5-6 million commercial buildings. Over half those buildings are at least 40 years old, and they are generally very inefficient. You can save 20-30% of energy usage through simple interventions, and well beyond 50% if you improve the envelope. They represent a significantly larger opportunity for energy savings.
Newton:I hate to disagree, but the answer is new construction. We acknowledge that there are many, many more existing buildings than new buildings. However, there are about 1 million new homes built each year. And 33% of all existing homes in 2060 have yet to be built. If we do everything we can to make new construction more efficient, we will have addressed 33% of the entire market right there.

But we’re talking 124 million existing buildings compared to only 1 million new buildings per year. The opportunity presented by retrofit programs seems pretty overwhelming, no?

Newton:It’s not just about the number of buildings. We have to consider which type of buildings we can most effectively impact. Getting energy efficiency into new construction is far easier than existing homes.
Rhett:I agree that getting into existing homes is more difficult, but that doesn’t diminish the opportunity. Much more funding is still put into remodeling and simple energy equipment replacements each year, and we can build on that.
Newton:But the real question is where will those solutions come from? Where will they be developed, honed, and readied for the existing home market? That is much more challenging, and I would submit that all the innovations that spill into the retrofit market are coming from progress in new construction.

Why do you think the majority of innovations are being developed in new construction?

Newton:There are two reasons. The first is customer demand. New efficient buildings have energy bills that are a fraction of those in existing. They are also 2-3 times more comfortable and provide greater health benefits. Once people experience that contrast, it drives demand. The second is economies of scale. It’s easier to get innovations into new construction, so this is what drives the market for energy efficient technologies. Afterwards they work their way downstream into the retrofit market.
Rhett:Except we generally still see insufficient innovation in new construction. The sector has so many actors like architects, builders, manufacturers and others, and they are just not well-integrated. Where there is room for improvement – and where we are further ahead right now in other industries – is automation and prefabrication. This can be done either on-site or off-site. These innovations haven’t taken off in new construction, and we shouldn’t have to wait until they do.
Newton:I couldn’t agree more about the benefits of automation, but let’s look at a great example of where it works. In Sweden 85% of new homes are constructed off-site. This market helped improve the plans, machinery, digitized technology, and automation expertise that makes their new construction so effective. This automation infrastructure then transferred to retrofits through a program called Energiesprong, which is now a world influencer in the mass improvement of existing homes. But it wouldn’t be where it is if not for new construction.

How do health and equity fit in?

Rhett:It’s incumbent on the government to make sure these retrofit opportunities are available to everyone and easy to install at a reasonable cost. A greater percentage of the older, draftier homes have higher energy bills and, unfortunately, are occupied by individuals with lower incomes who don’t always have the ability to pay for improvements. Or they might be in a tenant-based situation where the owner is just not paying for them.
Newton:I fully agree on that. I’m just making a point that the solutions to achieve better health and equity will exist because the new home market enables the scale and the technology development. Then, the improvements you need are there faster than if you started with existing homes.
Rhett:But there’s an immediacy to this issue. If you only focus on new construction, you’re going to have either really high energy bills or you’re going to have people who are really suffering because they can’t afford to turn on their heat or their air conditioning. It’s on the government to come up with ideas and options that are there for everyone and not just for those who can afford a new home.
Newton:I don’t disagree with any of that. It’s only when they come into conflict and you have to make choices that you should opt for the infrastructure, the skills, and the installation expertise that you’ll get in the new home industry and then you can translate it over to existing buildings.

Where can the federal government have the greater impact?

Newton:To echo a point Rhett made earlier, we have about 100,000 contractors in the U.S. who work on new and existing buildings. That level of fragmentation makes it impossible to innovate and develop new solutions for industry. We have found that publicly-owned builders only invest less than 0.1% in innovation R&D, as compared to 4% for non-agricultural corporations. The only way we get innovation is through high-performance product manufacturers. The Department of Energy’s Building America program fills a huge gap in developing innovations, validating them in the field, and building consumer interest. Given the absence of investment in a fragmented industry, what we do in our nation’s new construction programs is vitally important.
Rhett:As Newton alluded to, industry does to some degree put money into product manufacturing because they want to continue to sell upscale versions of their technologies. But very few, if any, are putting money into tackling existing buildings in a wholesale manner. Right now cities are dealing with energy, environmental, and equity challenges. They realize they need to address problems in buildings that people are currently living and working in. The federal government is in a unique position to aggregate the interest in this area. It can push academia, the national labs, and industry to focus their ingenuity into retrofits. Together they can help retrofits be quick, attractive, easy to deploy, and affordable. That’s just not something that will happen on its own.
BuildingsClimateEnergy

Buildings – A New Hope to Solve Climate Change

Mike Specian November 24, 2018 Leave a Comment 2638 Views

Addressing climate change requires two approaches – mitigation of emissions, and adaptation to its impacts. In this PechaKucha presentation presented as part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Visualizing Science Policy 20×20 event, I lay out the case for how buildings are a critical – if sometimes forgotten – part of the solution. I invite you to watch this talk on YouTube, or read the transcript below.

********

Last September during Hurricane Irma, a tree branch hit a transformer and knocked out power to the air conditioning system of a nursing home in Hollywood, Florida. There were portable air conditioners on site, but they were insufficient, and temperatures rose to a sweltering 110 degrees Fahrenheit. By time emergency responders realized the scope of the problem, 12 residents had tragically lost their lives.

It was situations like these that compelled me a few years ago to set aside my career as an astrophysicist and devote my attention towards the phenomenon that’s making extreme events like Hurricane Irma more intense – and that’s climate change.

Through this AAAS Fellowship I’ve had the privilege of working with the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office. And when I told people I’d be going to BTO they’d say…”Why? I thought you were concerned about climate change.” And I’d have to tell them that in United States buildings consume about 40% of all energy and 75% of all electricity. So if BTO could achieve its mission of making building technologies more energy efficient, not only could we create jobs and save tens of billions a dollars a year for Americans, we could also cut out a significant chunk of our greenhouse gas emissions, and begin to mitigate this massive problem.

So I’m going to put my salesman’s hat on for a second and sell you on two energy efficiency success stories. Number 1! This [pointing towards slide] is what refrigerators used to look like – bulky, ugly, expensive energy hogs. But through advances in technology refrigerators have more available space, yet only consume 1/4 the energy, cost 1/3 the price, and allow you to watch cable news right on the refrigerator door!

Number 2! Clothes dryers, which consume about 1% of energy in the U.S., largely by heating and evaporating water. But right now researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working on ultrasonic drying technology in which a rapidly vibrating membrane atomizes the water, which can then be siphoned off as a cool mist. If we can bring this to scale you will be able to dry your clothes in half the time with 1/5 the energy. And I’ve already got the slogan: The Ultrasonic Clothes Dryer – Taking your sock drawer, to Mach 4.

But mitigating emissions goes beyond just using less energy. It’s about using the right kind of energy. Every so often I’ll run into a young idealist who will say, “We need to go 100% renewable energy! More wind! More solar!” Our electric grid must balance generation and demand in real time. And while admire the idealism, how do we meet demand when the sun stops shining and the wind stops blowing?

There is a new device that’s made its way into about half of all buildings, and that number is rising. That device is the smart electricity meter. And what’s unique about it is that it enables utilities to send signals to buildings.

I want you to imagine the hottest day of the year. People are getting off work, driving home, and what’s one of the first things they do when they walk in the door? They turn on their air conditioners at the same time. These tend to be the highest demand hours of the year, and the grid has to be overbuilt to accommodate them. It would be like building a 100-lane highway just to accommodate Thanksgiving Day traffic. It’s great for a few hours per year, but then we have to pay to build and maintain all that infrastructure that most of the time is being underutilized. And the more lanes of the highway we drive on, the higher the toll – or in this case the price of electricity – gets for everybody.

Now smart meters allow utilities to send signals to buildings that are like, “Hey, we’re about to have a really expensive event on our hands. If you are willing, we will pay you to reduce your demand.” And literally with the instantaneous flip of a switch, buildings help the grid balance, including instances when variable renewable energy like solar and wind suddenly become unavailable. This is known as demand response.

Another way to help the grid balance is by storing excess solar and wind energy, then dispatching it later as needed. Yet going 100% renewable requires a ginormous amount of storage. We can get some of it from grid-scale pumped hydroelectric energy, and some of it from electrochemical batteries.

But there’s another way to store energy – in a building’s thermal mass. So imagine that you take a liquid material and embed it in the bricks that make up the wall of your building. It’s a hot, sunny day, so using available solar energy, the grid instructs your building to turn on its air conditioning at 2pm. The liquid material freezes, and AC shuts off at 5pm. The building then acts like a giant cooler, keeping the occupant comfortable without having to consume electricity at the worst part of the day.

And while all of this is fantastic, even if we could go zero carbon tomorrow, so much inertia has been built up in Earth’s system that global climate conditions would continue to deteriorate for decades to come. That means more extreme weather events, and more prolonged power outages.

Now it would be great if everyone could evacuate to safe locations, but for a variety of reasons that remains impractical or impossible for far too many people. That means we need ways to help people shelter-in-place safely. And if you need buildings to maintain safe thermal conditions longer and with less energy, two of the most valuable assets are high-quality walls and windows. Combine that with network connectivity and smarter controls, buildings will eventually be able to prepare themselves thermally and electrically when adverse conditions can be predicted ahead of time. And unlike centralized power plants or even solar panels, energy efficiency and demand response can be deployed absolutely anywhere.

Now look, I fully acknowledge that there are other resiliency strategies out there. Utilities must continue to harden our electrical distribution system, and communities should have up-to-date climate and disaster preparedness plans. But as long as climate change remains a wicked problem, everyone one of us, in our own capacities, is going to have to do what we can. Then maybe, collectively, we’ll get to the point where tragedies like the one in that Hollywood, Florida nursing home never have to happen again.

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