Residential Energy Modeling

Energy modeling is becoming more common place with the design of commercial buildings.  However it is primarily used by the mechanical engineer to design and size their systems.  Very seldom is it used in the early stages of a project as part of the design process for the entire building to maximize the energy efficiency.  In the residential sector of design and construction, energy modeling is rarely used.  It is more common place with Energy Star rated homes, even then it is only used to show compliance with the requirements of Energy Star standards, not a part of the design process.

 

Energy modeling in new home design, construction and renovations can be a very effective tool to weigh the cost effectiveness of any design strategy used to improve energy efficiency in a home.  Actually most energy auditors use some form of energy modeling to show their customers what kind of financial payback they could expect when implementing any of the recommended improvements.  So why is this tool not used more within the design industry?  Energy modeling is a standard service I provide with any home design work that I do, as well as a service that I provide to other design and construction professionals.  I offer this because some jurisdictions do require an energy compliance certificate.  Granted most design professionals and builders use REScheck as their preferred method.  However, REScheck will only demonstrate compliance using the trade-off approach and the prescriptive packages approach as described in the energy conservation codes.

 

More advanced software packages such as REM/Design which I use takes this a step further.  REM/Design and other software packages will not only provide you with a compliance certificate, but it will provide design loads along with estimated energy usage and cost to operate the home.  This can be helpful as a preliminary sizing tool for your heating and cooling systems.  What is also valuable about this feature is it gives you the ability to weigh the cost effectiveness of “upgraded” insulation levels or more efficient systems.  The software will even break up the loads into building components, so you know where most of your energy is being lost in the homes envelope.  For instance a recent project I was consulting on, I was able to determine that the six skylights the homeowner wanted in their passive solar home were more of an energy penalty than an overall gain.  So there was a compromise and the number of skylights was reduced to 3 as a daylighting strategy instead of one for heat gain in the winter time.

 

Component loads

 

In an article posted on the American Institute of Architects website (Sustainable AIA: 2031–Why Energy Models Don’t Predict Actual Energy Use), it discusses the criticisms that energy modeling does not predict the actual energy usage of the building or home.  To some degree that is expected, energy modeling simulates the energy usage of a home to determine design loads based upon your geographical region.  Each software package takes into account occupants; however they cannot take into account occupant behavior which has a huge impact on the performance of any building or home.  Of course each software package has its flaws and performs some calculations better than others.

 

In the coming weeks, Chris Laumer-Giddens with Energy Vanguard in Georgia who is a licensed architect and HVAC designer will tell us the basic differences in some of the more widely used energy modeling tools.

Our work isn’t always sexy

Is it Form Follows Function, or Function Follows Form?  As designers and architects we are taught that design or more specifically aesthetics are an important aspect of the job.  However good design is not always a priority, or should I say what we consider to be good design.

Twitter PostA picture and comment posted on twitter reminded me of that.  It sparked a conversation with John Morefield (@Arch5cents) of Architecture 5¢, he is quick to remind us we don’t work for sexy, we work for our clients.  And that is what makes our job difficult.  What is not aesthetically pleasing to our trained eyes may be beautiful to our clients.  After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  With each project we spend lots of time with our clients to personalize their home, and at times it can be hard to not get personally attached to the project because you have made some sort of personal connection with that person, couple, or family.   So we have to remind ourselves that every aspect of our job is about design, we are designing our clients new way of life and it goes way beyond the exterior facade.  We design spaces, solve problems and in general improve our clients way of life by accommodating their needs and wants.

Now I don’t claim to be a strong designer, nor do I have a style.  My style is what the clients’ style or needs are; I solve the problem handed to me.  And sometimes aesthetics takes a back seat to budgets, programming needs and site constraints.  Again, we as designers may not be satisfied by the final solution, but in the end, if the clients life has been improved and they are happy, then it was a successful project.

View more photos of this project on our facebook page.


Challenging our priorities

As the new year begins, we all have resolutions to improve or change our lives in some way.  For the design and construction industry, I truly believe there needs to be a shift in thinking.  Energy efficiency needs to be a key player in all of our work, and I am not just talking code minimums.

As I am now performing home energy audits, I am inspecting way too many homes built before the 1960′s with small to large additions or alterations.  Yet the majority of the original structure in not touched.  This is why I am visiting these homes, they have these brand new additions and brand new high efficiency furnaces, yet they are not comfortable.  No surprise when a newly insulated addition is added to the home and the original structure stills sits uninsulated.  But what may be more disturbing is the rare addition built within the past couple of years that are extremely under-insulated at the ceiling.  And what amazes me even more is that home owners are so conditioned into thinking that they are uncomfortable because they have “bad” windows. Read the rest of this entry »

Project Invasion

Frank Lloyd Wright was known for making surprise visits to his residential projects.  During these visits he would rearrange the furniture (in most cases he designed it specifically for the project), and even took pictures down and asked the home owner to throw them away.  Now I am not such a control freak, but I did have a chance to stay in one of my residential design projects for almost two weeks.  So what better way to make a designer to second guess and critique old work than to experience living in it firsthand.

Overall my family and guests enjoyed our time at the lakeside cottage in upstate New York.  The open floor plan flowed nicely and left plenty of room for the 5 kids to run around and play.  The 4 bedrooms gave both families plenty of room and allowed them to have their own private space.  This will be nice for the owners as their family grows in size and is passed along between generations.  The bunk room was a hit with the kids and the open railing served its purpose to monitor the little ones from sneaking out.  My wife liked how she could lock the first floor bathroom and Master bedroom can act as a Master Suite by opening the pocket door.  During the planning and design I was skeptical of the placement of the laundry in the main entry.  Although spacious, the main entry is very utilitarian and is only used as a transition between spaces and the laundry goes almost un-noticed.  Plus being only a summer home, you tend to overlook the utilitarian nature of the space.

The large South facing windows provide a great view of the lake (a far cry from the original design provided by a drafter that was originally hired).  And with the clerestory windows, plenty of daylight was available in all areas of the home.  This also took advantage of the prevailing winds and is a very effective way to naturally ventilate the home.  At times it felt as if we were sitting on the screened in porch.

Overall the experience staying in the home was good and it was a fun project to work on.  Therefore  looking back, I really wouldn’t change anything that I did.  As a designer, our job is to solve problems and create places.  We were given the task to add two bedrooms and an additional bath to and existing cottage, and I think we came up with the best solution possible.  However the only complaint from the owner is they wish they had more storage space in form of cabinets and a larger deck that will soon be rectified.

Sym-Home Re-Launched

Symbiotic Home (sym-home) has expanded upon its mission of documenting the “Greening” of a typical 1960’s home on a modest budget prioritizing projects in terms of needs, environmental benefits and financial paybacks.

Sym-Home is now providing residential design services, home energy audits and consulting.  Sym-Home specializes in energy efficient, healthy & durable homes.  Joshua Lloyd, owner of sym-home, draws from a decade’s worth of experience in the architectural field. In addition, his experience includes producing construction documents and coordinating LEED documentation for Ohio’s first LEED Platinum Home, located in Columbus, Ohio.

Sym-Home also provides home energy audits, helping home owners to take control of their homes energy usage by providing them the appropriate information after a thorough inspection and test on the home to see where the most energy is used and prioritize a list of recommended projects in terms of financial payback.  Joshua Lloyd, is a certified Building Analyst through the Building Performance Institute (BPI) to conduct home energy audits.

Sym-Home also provides consulting services to homeowners, builders and other design professionals.  Sym-Home can assist project teams with issues related to high performance structures, from building science issues, schematic level energy modeling for both commercial and residential structures, and LEED documentation and coordination.

Sym-Home considers residential design and home energy audits as a complimentary service to each other, especially for home owners looking to renovate or add on to an existing home.  Home energy auditing tools can be a valuable resource during the design and construction phases of a new home and renovation.

For those of you who have been following the renovation process, we will be re-posting all the projects with more images and information regarding each project in a series called “To Kill an Energy Hog”

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