Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership

Disclaimer: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agencies thereof.

III. BAIHP Research

Overview

BAIHP conducts research with Industry Partners in manufactured and site built housing and using the laboratory facilities at the Florida Solar Energy Center.

Research Context for Hot-Humid Climate

The primary opportunities for improving energy efficiency can be generalized into two categories: increasing equipment efficiency and reducing equipment loads. The latter of these contributes to improving comfort, durability, and indoor air quality also.

In hot humid regions, the primary building energy use (Figure 56) is air conditioning (AC) with heating making up only a small portion of total. As in other climates, water heating constitutes the second largest residential energy draw. Refrigerators follow just ahead of other household appliances such as stoves and dryers.

Figure 56. Distribution of Residential Energy Consumption measured in 171 Florida homes shows typical energy profile for homes in
hot-humid climates.

Source: Parker, D. S., 2002. "Research Highlights from
a Large Scale Residential Monitoring Study in a Hot Climate." Proceedings of International Symposium on Highly Efficient Use of Energy and Reduction of its Environmental Impact, pp. 108-116, Japan Society for
the Promotion of Science Research for the Future Program, JPS-RFTF97P01002, Osaka, Japan, January 2002. (Also published as FSEC-PF369-02, Florida Solar Energy Center, Cocoa, FL.)

The primary loads on residential AC systems (Figure 57) are appliance generated heat, window radiant heat gain, attic and duct related heat gain, infiltration (primarily latent heat gain), and wall heat gain coming in last.

Figure 57. Typical components of annual residential cooling load in hot-humid climates.

Source: Florida Solar Energy Center web site: http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/bldg/fyh/priority/Index.htm

By systematically evaluating the savings potential technologies and construction techniques, research provides the home building industry with vital information needed to meet the Department of Energy’s industry challenges of building high performance homes. BAIHP Research presented here is grouped into three categories:

Manufactured Housing Research
Site Built Housing Research
Field and Laboratory Building Science Research

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