Proposed Agreement between California Energy Commission
and

Bruce Wilcox

Title: Central Valley Research Home Program

Amount: $1,882,125.00

Term: 43 months

Contact: Elaine Hebert

Committee Meeting: 12/17/2009

Funding

FY / Program / Area / Initiative / Budget / This Project / Remaining Balance
08 / Electric / Buildings / Standards and Policy Coordinations / $2,650,000 / $1,350,000 / $0 / 0%
08 / Natural Gas / Buildings / Standards and Policy Coordinations / $1,750,000 / $420,627 / $0 / 0%
09 / Natural Gas / Buildings / Energy Efficient Hot Water Distribution / $1,800,000 / $111,498 / $3,000 / 0%

Recommendation

Approve this agreement with Bruce Wilcox for $1,882,125.00. Staff recommends placing this item on the discussion agenda of the Commission Business Meeting.

Issue

The California Residential Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24) are widely respected as the best in the United States, but they are implemented most prominently in new construction which in normal economic conditions is a tiny number of new homes (and in recent years smaller yet) compared to the existing stock. The majority of California homes were built using earlier, less stringent versions of the Title 24 Residential Energy Efficiency Standards than today's, or they predate standards entirely. The majority of these existing homes offer significant opportunities for cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades. Current energy calculation tools have an abysmal record at estimating the energy use and energy efficiency of existing homes. In a 1998 study by Bruce Wilcox, Home Energy Rating System (HERS) calculations overestimated heating energy consumption by a factor of four, and homes that were rated high for energy efficiency actually used more cooling energy than lower rated homes. Utility incentive programs often do not accurately measure the performance of individual energy measures. Many efficiency measures that are required for new buildings in the Title 24 Residential Building Energy Efficiency Standards are considered too expensive for retrofit applications.

Background

There is currently no research facility that provides the opportunity described in this proposal to collect detailed data under controlled conditions in older California homes. The development of HERS procedures has been hampered for years by this lack of data to validate energy calculations in older homes. Most current energy use data are derived from utility bill analysis, surveys, and monitoring in occupied homes in which the presence and behavior of occupants preclude detailed monitoring.

Proposed Work

The research team will 1) set up a "laboratory" of four heavily instrumented, unoccupied homes in or near Stockton, operated to carry out a set of carefully designed and controlled experiments in energy efficiency retrofit measures; 2) analyze the as-found baseline heating and cooling loads and heating and cooling efficiency of the research homes; 3) produce a calibrated simulation model of each home, using the measured characteristics and detailed hourly data to adjust model parameters and algorithms for accuracy; 4) compare energy use and energy efficiency of the homes to simulated energy use of a similar home meeting the Building Energy Efficiency Standards for new homes; 4) develop and validate packages of envelope and HVAC efficiency upgrades for the test houses. The packages will be designed to achieve 50-75 percent savings in heating and cooling energy, using techniques which could be cost effective when applied as part of a multi-house, optimized upgrade program; 5) develop life cycle cost-effective packages of retrofit measures that save 50 to 75 percent of the as-found heating and cooling energy use in the experimental homes; 6) develop and test improvements to the heating and cooling energy estimates produced by the Energy Commission's Home Energy Rating System (HERS ) software and procedures to identify and characterize alternative air distribution systems that are of interest because of their popularity and/or impact on energy use. The primary technology transfer will be via the Title 24 energy efficiency standards and the Energy Commission's HERS staff and processes, where results and reports will form the basis of changes for future standards.

In addition, the projects in this Central Valley Research Home Program will provide critical information on the energy, peak demand, and carbon savings available from cost effective efficiency upgrades in existing California homes. The program will test and improve the HERS procedures that are central to large scale efficiency retrofit programs. It will also provide solid data on the energy and peak demand impacts of alternative heating and cooling distribution systems.

Justification and Goals

This project "[will develop, and help bring to market] increased energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, lighting, and other applications beyond applicable standards, and that benefit electric utility customers" (Public Resources Code 25620.1.(b)(2)), (Chapter 512, Statues of 2006)); and supports California's goal to transform RD&D projects on energy efficiency technologies into energy efficiency tools and standards per the Energy Action Plan 2005.

This will be accomplished by:

·  Providing a test facility for emerging and existing retrofit technologies for California homes;

·  Developing analytical approaches and optimized packages of retrofit measures for typical existing homes;

·  Informing local and statewide energy efficiency programs;

·  Improving calculation methods and HERS ratings processes.

O: mt 7/29/10 1 of 2 500-10-014

Bruce Wilcox