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Modeling, simulation, monitoring, and verification in a design- build residential housing project

Abstract: Energy conservation is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Residential energy usage currently represents over 20% of all consumption in the US. While many energy efficiency technologies such as fluorescent lighting, energy efficient appliances, and improved windows have made headway in the residential housing market, home owners, buyers, and even builders still have little solid information on the question of “Where does all the energy go in my home?”

ecoMOD, a sustainable, affordable design-build project engages architecture and engineering students in modular residential design and construction. Over the past two years the team has designed and built two houses, and is currently in the design-phase of a third. This paper will describe our use of modeling, simulation, and post-construction monitoring of energy usage to improve the energy-efficient design and operation of these houses. We modeled the ecoMOD 1 house using CFD software, Simulink, Energy plus, eQUEST, and Excel, and tested simulation results against data obtained with our data monitoring system.

The ecoMOD team designed and installed a residential energy monitoring system in each house to measure energy usage and ambient conditions (indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, CO and CO2 levels). This ecoMOD 1 system is capable of monitoring, analyzing, and displaying energy data using National Instrument’s Compact Fieldpoint, and remotely reports it through the internet for analysis. For ecoMOD3 the team is focused on creating a low cost, portable system that could be used in any home. By helping students and residents better understand energy consumption in a house, we hope to advance the art of energy-efficient residential design and operation.

Introduction As demand for energy has continued to increase, efficiency has become a byword among engineers, architects, and politicians alike. Fortunately, energy efficiency is a win-win situation for everyone. Reduced energy consumption eases the burden on finite energy supplies, reduces pollutants, and reduces costs for the end users as well. In fact, savings in energy costs are generally proportional to the reduction in pollutants [1]. The ecoMOD project seeks to reduce energy consumption in affordable residential housing through exploration of existing and new energy saving technologies, savvy architectural design, and public awareness [2].

ecoMOD is a research and design / build / evaluate project at the University of Virginia that aims to create a series of ecological, modular and affordable house prototypes. Our goal is to demonstrate the environmental and economic potential of prefabrication, and to challenge the modular and manufactured housing industry in the U.S. to explore this potential. In the context of this multi-year project, an interdisciplinary group of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, historic preservation, business, environmental science, planning and economics students are participating in the design, construction and evaluation phases of the project. Three prototypes are being developed for Piedmont Housing Alliance, and one for Habitat for

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Marshall, P. P., & Kidd, B., & Guan, P. (2007, June), Modeling, Simulation, Monitoring And Verification In A Design Build Residential Housing Project Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2462