English

This paper presents a techno-economic analysis of deep energy retrofit strategies aimed at improving a typical existing home to a Net Zero Ready (NZR) level. Three distinct pathways are selected to examine the impact of modifying the mechanical system and building envelope. Each pathway is analyzed in TRNSYS for both the Montreal and Vancouver regions using a validated housing model. A techno-economic analysis methodology then combines the calculated annual energy costs with the associated material and labour costs for each option.

This publication includes the papers presented at the AIVC -TightVent-venticool Workshop: "Quality of Methods for Measuring Ventilation and Air Infiltration in Buildings", held in Brussels, 18-19 March, 2014.

This publication includes the papers presented at the AIVC -TightVent Workshop: "Design, Implementation, Control and Durability: Feedback from Practice and Perspectives", held in Washington DC, 18-19 April, 2013.

The sixth issue of the AIVC newsletter was out in September 2014. Its contents include:

The climate indicators that are currently used in the building energy area, summations of degree-days, are not suitable for net-zero and low energy analysis, because they fail to characterize the building-climate interaction. This paper presents a new set of climate indicators that focuses on overall climate and building performance, as well as specific climate statistics that have a relevant impact in NZEB and passive buildings. The proposed framework is based on three interrelated energy performance indicators.

The application of building simulation and modelling is becoming more widespread, particularly in the anal-ysis of residential buildings. The energy consump-tion and control of systems in residential buildings are tightly linked to the behaviour of people, arguably more so than in commercial buildings which have tra-ditionally been the preserve of building simulation analysis. The input profiles used in simulation pay little attention to the link between numerical charac-terisations of observed ‘behaviour’ and the way people actually live in the home.