Pacific Northwest LaboratoryRichland, Washington 99352 PNL-6751 UC-95d• FOREWORD This report is one in a series of reports describing research activities in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Commercial Building System Integration Research Program. The goal of the program is to develop the scientific and technical basis for improving integrated decisionmaking during design and construction. Improved decision-making could significantly reduce buildings' energy use by the year 2010.The objectives of the Commercial Building System Integration Research Program are:• to identify and quantify the most significant energy-related interactions among building subsystems [for example, walls; roofs; windows; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) subsystems and equipment; lighting; power]• to develop the scientific and technical basis for improving energy-related interactions in building subsystems• to provide guidance to designers, owners, and builders for improving the integration of building subsystems for energy efficiency.The lead laboratory for this program is the Pacific Northwest Laboratory. A wide variety of expertise and resources from industry, academia, other government entities, and other DOE laboratories are used in planning, reviewing and conducting research activities. Cooperative and complementary research, development, and technology transfer activities with other interested organizations are actively pursued.In this report, the interactions of a water loop heat pump system and building structural mass and their effect on whole-building energy performance is analyzed. Comments about the work described in this report will be appreciated by the authors or program managers. The research reports prepared for the program are in a bibliographic list at the back of this report. SUMMARYAn earlier study of small office buildings indicated that many commercial buildings need heat in one part of a building while cooling another part. Even more common is the need for heating during one part of the day and cooling during another in the same spaces. If that energy could be economically shifted or stored for later use, significant energy might be saved. It was also hypothesized that if a building's heating and cooling subsystems could be integrated with the building's structural mass and be effectively used to collect, store, and deliver energy, the cost effectiveness of such an approach might be enhanced.In response to the above problem and hypothesis, researchers at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory {PNL) examined the thermal interactions in a commercial building between the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and the building structure. Computer models were developed to simulate this interaction in an existing base building located in Seattle, Washington, in order to find how these building subsystems could be integrated to improve energy efficiency.The HVAC subsystems in the existing building were modeled. These subsystems consist of decentralized water-source heat pumps in a...
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