Browsing by Author "Im, Piljae"
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Item A Methodology to Evaluate Energy Savings and NOx Emissions Reductions from the Adoption of the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) to New Residences in Non-Attainment and Affected Counties in Texas(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Im, PiljaeCurrently, four areas of Texas have been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as non-attainment areas because they exceeded the national one-hour ground-level ozone standard of 0.12 parts-per-million (ppm). Ozone is formed in the atmosphere by the reaction of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) in the presence of heat and sunlight. In May 2002, The Texas State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5, the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP), to reduce the emissions of NOx by several sources. As part of the 2001 building energy performance standards program which is one of the programs in the TERP, the Texas Legislature established the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) as the state energy code. Since September 1, 2001, the 2000 IECC has been required for newly constructed single and multifamily houses in Texas. Therefore, this study develops and applies portions of a methodology to calculate the energy savings and NOx emissions reductions from the adoption of the 2000 IECC to new single family houses in non-attainment and affected counties in Texas. To accomplish the objectives of the research, six major tasks were developed: 1) baseline data collection, 2) development of the 2000 IECC standard building simulation, 3) projection of the number of building permits in 2002, 4) comparison of energy simulations, 5) validation and, 6) NOx emissions reduction calculations. To begin, the 1999 standard residential building characteristics which are the baseline construction data were collected, and the 2000 IECC standard building characteristics were reviewed. Next, the annual and peak-day energy savings were calculated using the DOE-2 building energy simulation program. The building characteristics and the energy savings were then crosschecked using the data from previous studies, a site visit survey, and utility billing analysis. In this thesis, several case study houses are used to demonstrate the validation procedure. Finally, the calculated electricity savings (MWh/yr) were then converted into the NOx emissions reductions (tons/yr) using the EPA's eGRID database. The results of the peak-day electricity savings and NOx emissions reductions using this procedure are approximately twice the average day electricity savings and NOx emissions reductions.Item Methodology for the Preliminary Design of High Performance Schools in Hot and Humid Climates(2010-07-14) Im, PiljaeA methodology to develop an easy-to-use toolkit for the preliminary design of high performance schools in hot and humid climates was presented. The toolkit proposed in this research will allow decision makers without simulation knowledge easily to evaluate accurately energy efficient measures for K-5 schools, which would contribute to the accelerated dissemination of energy efficient design. For the development of the toolkit, first, a survey was performed to identify high performance measures available today being implemented in new K-5 school buildings. Then an existing case-study school building in a hot and humid climate was selected and analyzed to understand the energy use pattern in a school building and to be used in developing a calibrated simulation. Based on the information from the previous step, an as-built and calibrated simulation was then developed. To accomplish this, five calibration steps were performed to match the simulation results with the measured energy use. The five steps include: 1) Using an actual 2006 weather file with measured solar radiation, 2) Modifying lighting & equipment schedule using ASHRAE's RP-1093 methods, 3) Using actual equipment performance curves (i.e., scroll chiller), 4) Using the Winkelmann's method for the underground floor heat transfer, and 5) Modifying the HVAC and room setpoint temperature based on the measured field data. Next, the calibrated simulation of the case-study K-5 school was compared to an ASHRAE Standard 90.1-1999 code-compliant school. In the next step, the energy savings potentials from the application of several high performance measures to an equivalent ASHRAE Standard 90.1-1999 codecompliant school. The high performance measures applied included the recommendations from the ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guides (AEDG) for K- 12 and other high performance measures from the literature review as well as a daylighting strategy and solar PV and thermal systems. The results show that the net energy consumption of the final high performance school with the solar thermal and a solar PV system would be 1,162.1 MMBtu, which corresponds to the 14.9 kBtu/sqft-yr of EUI. The calculated final energy and cost savings over the code compliant school are 68.2% and 69.9%, respectively. As a final step of the research, specifications for a simplified easy-to-use toolkit were then developed, and a prototype screenshot of the toolkit was developed. The toolkit is expected to be used by non-technical decision-maker to select and evaluate high performance measures for a new school building in terms of energy and cost savings in a quick and easy way.