English

This report summarizes the potential for new technologies for ducts, duct fittings, and insulation. It begins with a review of what technology is currently in use or available and found that the only inexpensive ducts in production are insulated wireflex ducts, sheet metal ducts, fiberglass board ducts, and uninsulated plastic ducts. For duct fittings, the market was found to be dominated by sheet metal fittings with some use of ductboard. Fittings that snap together were found for use with steel ducts but are too expensive for a residential setting.

This paper describes the concept of using simulation as a tool for performance validation and energy analysis of HVAC systems. Recent advances in control system technology, including the development of open protocols such as BACnetTM have made sensor and control signal information from various components and subsystems in a building more accessible. This development has created significant potential for improving the monitoring and supervision of building systems in order to optimize operational performance.

The commissioning-related system and house performance improvements and energy savings translate to additional benefits throughout California and beyond. By applying commissioning principles to their work, the building community (builders and contractors) benefit from reduced callbacks and lower warranty costs. HERS raters and inspectors will have access to an expanded market sector. As the commissioning process rectifies construction defects and code problems, building code officials benefit from better compliance with codes.

In this report, we describe what residential commissioning is, its characteristic elements, and how one might structure its process. Our intent in this discussion is to formulate and clarify these issues, but is largely preliminary because such a practice does not yet exist. Subsequent sections of the report describe metrics one can use in residential commissioning, along with the consolidated set of 24 practical diagnostics that the building industry can use now to evaluate them.

A model for predicting the rate at which a volatile organic compound (VOC) is emitted from a diffusion- controlled material is validated for three contaminants (n-pentadecane, n-tetradecane, and phenol) found in vinyl flooring (VF). Model parameters are the initial VOC concentration in the material-phase (C0), the material/air partition coefficient (K), and the material-phase diffusion coefficient (D).

Basic strategy for providing indoor air quality in residences is to dilute indoor sources with outdoor air. This strategy assumes that the outdoor air does not have pollutants at harmful levels or that the outdoor air is, at least, less polluted than the indoor air. When this is not the case, different strategies need to be employed to ensure adequate air quality in the indoor environment. These strategies include ventilation systems, filtration and other measures. These strategies can be used for several types of outdoor pollution, including smog, particulates and toxic air pollutants.

Residential commissioning is a new procedure to ensure that a house can perform optimally or at least meet basic safety, health, comfort, and energy intents. Many procedural elements, such as visual inspection and functional performance diagnostics, already exist in a fragmented environment. Most can be integrated into new industry guidelines for testing and tuning system performance in new and existing houses. This paper describes a consolidated set of practical diagnostics that can be used now to commission envelope and HVAC system performance.

The literature review reported here is the first step in a larger 30 month-long project that will lay the groundwork for a residential commissioning industry in California focused on end-use energy and non- energy issues. The intent of the review is to facilitate access to existing literature related to residential commissioning. Emphasis is placed on reviewing documents published over the past 20 years, which represents the period of time over which building commissioning and closely related issues have been actively reported.

The role of ventilation in the housing stock is to provide fresh air and to dilute internally-generated pollutants in order to assure adequate indoor air quality. Energy is required to provide this ventilation service, either directly for moving the air or indirectly for conditioning the outdoor air for thermal comfort. Different kinds of ventilation systems have different energy requirements. Existing dwellings in the United States are ventilated primarily through leaks in the building shell (i.e., infiltration) rather than by mechanical ventilation systems.

Airflow measurement techniques are necessary to determine the most basic of indoor air quality questions: "Is there enough fresh air to provide a healthy environment for the occupants of the building?" This paper outlines airflow measurement techniques, but it does not make recommendations for techniques that should be used. The airflows that will be discussed are those within a room or zone, those between rooms or zones, such as through doorways (open or closed) or passive vents, those between the building and outdoors, and those through mechanical air distribution systems.