Testing and Analyzing U.S. Army Buildings Air Leakage

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct05) requires that federal building energy-efficiency performance standards be revised. New federal buildings must be designed to achieve energy consumption levels at least 30 percent below the levels established in the currently applicable version of standards published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1 or the International Energy Conservation Code. ERDC CERL has conducted investigations to develop design/construction strategies to improve energy efficiency, prevent mold, and improve indoor air quality in buildings newly constructed or undergoing renovations. Also, ERDC CERL researchers tested Army building envelopes to investigate building air leakage and analyzed effects of increased airtightness on the building energy consumption. As a result, they have developed airtightness criteria and performance requirements for inclusion in design/construction strategies. Results are presented for 15 representative U.S. and 16 Canadian and European climate conditions. Based on these results, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has set a requirement that all new buildings and buildings undergoing major renovation shall pass an air leakage test where the results are less than or equal to 0.25 cfm per square foot of exterior envelope at 0.3 inches of water gage (75 Pa) pressure difference.