Executive SummaryThis analysis was conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building Energy Codes Program (BECP). DOE supports the development and adoption of energy efficient and cost-effective residential and commercial building energy codes. These codes set the minimum requirements for energy efficient building design and construction and ensure energy savings on a national level. This analysis focuses on one and two family dwellings, townhomes, and low-rise multifamily residential buildings. For these buildings, the basis of the energy codes is the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). This report does not address commercial and high-rise residential buildings (four or more stories). This technical support document provides additional detail and documents the specific assumptions used in applying the cost-effectiveness methodology. iv The analysis is conducted using DOE's EnergyPlus simulation software. PNNL developed two prototype building models to represent the single-family and the multifamily buildings defined in the methodology. These two prototypes were then expanded to a suite of 32 energy models to represent four commonly used heating systems in homes (i.e., gas furnace, oil furnace, heat pump, and electric furnace) and four commonly used foundations (i.e., vented crawlspace, slab-on-grade, heated basement, and unheated basement). Different versions of the models are created to match the requirements of the 2006, 2009, and 2012 IECC for each location. The entire set is simulated across 119 locations to represent the different climate-zone and moisture regimes in each state across the country. The annual energy consumption for space heating, cooling, domestic hot water heating, and lighting is extracted for each case. The energy use is converted to energy cost using fuel costs in the different states. Incremental first costs are calculated for each location for the energy provisions of the 2009 and 2012 IECC over the baseline code, as applicable, using the Building Component Cost Community (BC3) data repository. 1 These first costs are adjusted for variation in construction and material costs across the country using location multipliers developed by Faithful+Gould for PNNL. 2 The energy costs and first costs are aggregated based on new housing construction starts from the U.S. Census data 3 , weights of the different foundation types from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey data 4 , and heating system weights based on National Association of Home Builders data (NAHB 2009). Life cycle cost (LCC) analysis is then conducted for each case to assess cost effectiveness. DOE uses LCC as the primary measure of cost effectiveness.
This report was completed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Energy Codes Program. DOE supports the development and adoption of energy efficient and cost-effective residential and commercial building energy codes. These codes set the minimum requirements for energy efficient building design and construction and ensure energy savings on a national level. This report focuses on enhancements to prototype building models used to determine the energy impact of various versions of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 1 Standard 90.1 (herein referred to as Standard 90.1).
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