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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

A Methodology to Create Prototypical Building Energy Models for Existing Buildings: A Case Study on U.S. Religious Worship Buildings

Prototypical building energy models are of great significance because they are the starting point in conducting analyses for various applications, such as building energy saving potential analysis, building design, building energy market evaluation, and building energy policy-making. However, current prototypical building energy models only represent limited types of buildings in certain countries. To fill the gap, this paper proposes a methodology to systematically create prototypical building energy models. First, a six-step methodology is introduced: model input identification, data collection, data cleaning, data conversion, model simulation, and model calibration. Then, the methodology is demonstrated by a case study of creating 30 prototypical energy models for U.S. religious worship buildings, representing buildings in 15 climate zones and 2 vintages (pre- and post-1980). Finally, to show the applications of the models, the building energy saving potentials from six efficiency measures are analyzed for pre-1980 U.S. religious worship buildings in three ASHRAE Climate Zones. The results show that the maximum energy saving potentials are approximately 30% for the religious worship buildings in all three climate zones investigated.

prototype building model, building simulation, Bui↗
DOE OSTI2021

Italian prototype building models for urban scale building performance simulation

Urban building energy modeling (UBEM) seeks to evaluate strategies to optimize building energy use at urban scale to support a city's building energy goals. Prototype building models are usually developed to represent typical urban building characteristics of a specific use type, construction year, and climate zone, as detailed characteristics of individual buildings at urban scale are difficult to obtain. This study investigated the Italian building stock, developing 46 building prototypes, based on construction year, for residential and office buildings. The study included 16 single-family buildings, 16 multi-family buildings, and 14 office buildings. Building envelope properties and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system characteristics were defined according to existing building energy codes and standards for climatic zone E, which covers about half the Italian municipalities. Novel contributions of this study include (1) detailed specifications of prototype building energy models for Italian residential and office buildings that can be adopted by UBEM tools, and (2) a dataset in GeoJSON format of Italian urban buildings compiled from diverse data sources and national standards. Finally, the developed prototype building specifications, the building dataset, and the workflow can be applied to create other building prototypes and to support Italian national building energy efficiency and environmental goals.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhancements to ASHRAE Standard 90.1 Prototype Building Models

This report focuses on enhancements to prototype building models used to determine the energy impact of various versions of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1. Since the last publication of the prototype building models, PNNL has made numerous enhancements to the original prototype models compliant with the 2004, 2007, and 2010 editions of Standard 90.1. Those enhancements are described here and were made for several reasons: (1) to change or improve prototype design assumptions; (2) to improve the simulation accuracy; (3) to improve the simulation infrastructure; and (4) to add additional detail to the models needed to capture certain energy impacts from Standard 90.1 improvements. These enhancements impact simulated prototype energy use, and consequently impact the savings estimated from edition to edition of Standard 90.1.

ASHRAE 90.1↗
DOE OSTI2018

Development of a Supermarket Prototype Building Model

The U.S. Department of Energy supports the development of commercial building energy codes and standards by participating in industry reviews, update processes, and providing technical analyses to support both published model codes and potential changes. In support of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 and the International Energy Conservation Code, 16 commercial prototype building models were developed that cover 80% of the commercial building floor area in the United States for new construction, including both commercial buildings and mid- to high-rise residential buildings, across all U.S. climate zones. However, the current set of commercial prototype building models does not include a supermarket building type, which is one of major building types defined in the Energy Information Administration’s Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey. As part of an ongoing effort to expand the current Commercial Building Prototype Model suite, this paper presents the procedure used to develop the prototype supermarket building model based on multiple studies as well as a previously developed reference building model. The final set of prototype models includes 68 models for different vintages of ASHRAE Standard 90.1 (i.e., 2004, 2007, 2010, and 2013) and for 17 ASHRAE climate zones.

Im, Piljae↗
DOE OSTI2024

Systematic approach to define a prototype building model: Convenience Store

The US Department of Energy supports the development of commercial building energy codes and standards. To support commercial building energy research activities, continuous efforts have been made to convert 30 prototype building models, which cover 80% of commercial building floor space in the United States, into OpenStudio Standards prototype buildings. In this paper, we provide a systematic approach to define the building and system characteristics of a convenience store, which has the largest energy use intensity among the commercial building types not covered by current prototype models. This study will be used as a basis for developing the prototype convenience store building model.

Yoon, Yeobeom↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhancements to ASHRAE Standard 90.1 Prototype Building Models

Since the last publication of the commercial prototype building models, PNNL has made numerous enhancements to the original prototype models compliant with the 2004, 2007, and 2010 editions of Standard 90.1. Those enhancements are described here and were made for several reasons: (1) to change or improve prototype design assumptions; (2) to improve simulation accuracy; (3) to improve simulation infrastructure; and (4) to add additional detail to the models needed to capture certain energy impacts from Standard 90.1 improvements.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Process for Defining Prototype Building Models: Courthouse Case Study for U.S. Commercial Energy

Buildings currently consume 36% of the world’s energy and contribute nearly 40% of CO 2 emissions. Many countries desire to generate virtual models of their nation’s buildings in order to coordinate research activities and inform market opportunities for a more sustainable built environment. The United States Department of Energy uses a suite of Commercial Prototype Building Models, which currently includes 16 building types and covers 80% of US commercial floorspace. Efforts are underway to expand this suite by developing prototype models for additional building types. In this paper, we outline a systematic approach to defining the building, collecting relevant information and creating a flexible model while doing so in the pragmatic context of a courthouse building. Informed by building design guides, databases, documented projects and inputs from courthouse design experts, we define a small, 69,324 ft 2 (6440 m 2 ), four-courtroom, low-rise courthouse as the prototype to represent an average-size courthouse in the US. We present building characteristics relevant for energy model development and provide the rationale for their selection. These details combined with climate- and construction-vintage-specific requirements for the building envelope and systems from building standards will be used for developing the courthouse model for the Commercial Prototype Building Models suite. The comprehensive information presented will also guide model modification to capture the dynamics of smaller or larger courthouses more accurately for building or system size-specific research.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

Development of Residential Prototype Building Models and Analysis System for Large-Scale Energy Efficiency Studies Using EnergyPlus

ABSTRACT: Recent advances in residential building energy efficiency and codes have resulted in increased interest in detailed residential building energy models using the latest energy simulation software. One of the challenges of developing residential building models to characterize new residential building stock is to allow for flexibility to address variability in house features like geometry, configuration, HVAC systems etc. Researchers solved this problem in a novel way by creating a simulation structure capable of creating fully-functional EnergyPlus batch runs using a completely scalable residential EnergyPlus template system. This system was used to create a set of thirty-two residential prototype building models covering single- and multifamily buildings, four common foundation types and four common heating system types found in the United States (US). A weighting scheme with detailed state-wise and national weighting factors was designed to supplement the residential prototype models. The complete set is designed to represent a majority of new residential construction stock. The entire structure consists of a system of utility programs developed around the core EnergyPlus simulation engine to automate the creation and management of large-scale simulation studies with minimal human effort. The simulation structure and the residential prototype building models have been used for numerous large-scale studies, one of which is briefly discussed in this paper.

Mendon, Vrushali V.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development of National New Construction Weighting Factors for the Commercial Building Prototype Analyses (2008-2022)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) tasked Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with updating commercial building construction weights for the purpose of estimating national and state-by-state energy savings impacts of changes made to various commercial energy codes and standards. A similar activity was last completed by PNNL in 2020 using disaggregate construction volume data acquired from the Dodge Data & Analytics database (formerly McGraw Hill) for the years 2003-2018 (Lei et al, 2020). As time passes, changes in economic and social demand reshape construction volume trends. For the current update, PNNL reviewed the same data source with the latest construction data for the years 2008-2022. For commercial building analyses, PNNL typically uses a suite of 16 prototype buildings simulated in the 19 ASHRAE climate zones with 16 of them present in the United States. The 2008-2022 commercial building weighting factors were derived using the same approach employed to develop the 2003-2018 set (Lei et al, 2020). Applying the construction volume data from the database to the prototypes and climate zones resulted in the following new construction area-based weighting factors. Table ES.1 shows the weighting factors including all building categories found in the database, and Table ES.2 shows the weighting factors normalized to include only buildings represented by the 16 prototypes. Section 3.0 also includes national- and state-level weighting factors by area and building count.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multi-Variable Parametric Analysis of Prototype Building Energy Performance Using Current and Future Weather Scenarios For Data-Driven Market Transformation Support

This project aimed to develop a public building simulation data set that may be used to inform building code development and guidelines for building innovation. The data set consists of several common building types and many representative locations across the United States. A parametric design of building properties was developed to create a range of building energy models that represent common building design decisions with a particular focus on fenestration options. The US Department of Energy prototype building energy models were altered according to a parametric building design and simulated using both current weather data and future weather estimates derived from global climate models. The resulting data set allows for pertinent exploration of building design parameters, including fenestration, within different environments across the United States in the broader context of climate change.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Commercial Building Prototypes Based on ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2019 Appendix G PRM: Technical Support Document

The two paths for documenting compliance with ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 are the prescriptive path and the performance path. Beyond code programs and rating systems (for example, USGBC-LEED ) are primarily known to use a third path – the Appendix G Performance Rating Method. An update in the 2016 edition of Standard 90.1 approved the Appendix G Performance Rating System for code compliance, extending its application and allowing for greater consistency of modeling rules for code and beyond code building energy modeling. The Appendix G PRM provides rules for the development of whole building energy models of baseline and proposed models for calculating the “performance cost index target” value using the simulated energy results of the baseline and proposed models and the building performance factors published in Table 4.2.1.1 of the Standard. This report documents (1) the methodology used for development of the baseline and proposed energy models of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and U.S. Department of Energy commercial building prototypes using the Appendix G Performance Rating Method; and (2) the building performance factors that were calculated using those models.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of National New Construction Weighting Factors for the Commercial Building Prototype Analyses (2003-2018)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Building Technologies tasked Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to develop construction weights for various commercial building categories for the purpose of estimating weighted national energy savings from the development of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2019 compared to ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2016. Disaggregate construction volume data was acquired from the McGraw Hill Construction Database for the years 2003-2018 and analyzed to develop detailed construction weights by climate zones, subzones and by states. These weights are provided in this report and will be subsequently used in developing a weighted national energy savings estimate for the impact of the 2019 standard. For the current update, PNNL reviewed the same data source with the latest construction data for the years 2003-2018.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

The Home Depot Upgrades its Corporate Building Prototype

The Home Depot partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and implement solutions to build new, low-energy buildings that are at least 50% below Standard 90.1-2007 of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) as part of DOE’s Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) Program.

CBP↗
DOE OSTI2022

Prototype College Building Energy Model: Building Characteristics and Energy Simulation Results

The US Department of Energy supports the development of commercial building energy codes and standards. To support commercial building energy research activities and the development of commercial building energy codes and standards, continuous efforts have been made to convert 16 prototype building models, which cover 80% of US commercial building floor space, to OpenStudio prototype buildings. Additionally, the suite of prototype building models was expanded to include the addition of new building prototype models (e.g., courthouse, college building). Multiple sources, including databases, documented projects, and personal communications, were used to define the prototype college building, and a 4-story with 69,063 ft 2 building was considered as the prototype college building to represent an average-sized college building in the United States. To represent realistic occupancy schedules and increase the granularity of information, actual class reservation schedules were collected and used. This report documents the building and system characteristics of the prototype college building model combined with climate-specific and construction vintage–specific requirements for the building envelope and systems from ASHRAE Standard 90.1. The energy simulation results are presented for 4 construction vintages (2004, 2007, 2010, and 2013) and 15 ASHRAE climate zones. The site energy use intensity of the college building was compared with 2012 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) and ENERGY STAR data to verify the simulation results. The site energy use intensity of the college building ranged from 60 to 202.4 kBtu/ft 2 , and compared with the energy use intensities of Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (122.9 kBtu/ft 2 ) and ENERGY STAR (84.3 kBtu/ft 2 ) data, the prototype college building results are in a reasonable range.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2019

Prototype Supermarket Building Energy Model

The U.S. Department of Energy supports the development of commercial building energy codes and standards by participating in industry reviews, update processes, and providing technical analyses to support both published model codes and potential changes. In support of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 and the International Energy Conservation Code, 16 commercial prototype building models were developed that cover 80% of the commercial building floor area in the United States for new construction, including both commercial buildings and mid- to high-rise residential buildings, across all U.S. climate zones. However, the current set of commercial prototype building models does not include a supermarket building type, which is one of major building types defined in the Energy Information Administration’s Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey. As part of an ongoing effort to expand the current Commercial Building Prototype Model suite, this report presents the procedure used to develop the prototype supermarket building model based on multiple studies as well as a previously developed reference building model. The final set of prototype models includes 60 models for different vintages of ASHRAE Standard 90.1 (i.e., 2004, 2007, 2010, and 2013) and for 15 ASHRAE climate zones.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Prototype Courthouse Building Energy Model: Building and System Characteristics

As part of the Department of Energy’s support of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 and the International Energy Conservation Code, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory apply a suite of prototype buildings covering 80% of the commercial building floor area in the United States for new construction. Efforts have begun to cover 90% of the commercial building floor area in the United States by developing prototype models for additional building types that include supermarket, laboratory, place of worship, public order and safety, and public assembly. “Courthouse” is a subcategory under the “Public Order and Safety” building type category defined by the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS); other subcategories include police station, fire station, and detention and correctional facilities (i.e., jail, reformatory, or penitentiary). Oak Ridge National Laboratory used building design guides, databases, and documented courthouse projects, supplemented by personal communication with courthouse facility planning and design experts, to systematically conduct research on the courthouse building and system characteristics. This report documents this research and reports the building and system characteristics necessary for developing a Courthouse prototype building energy model to be included in the Commercial Building Prototype Model suite.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗