Project 2.5 - Simplified HVAC Controls

Objectives

• To evaluate options for easier-to-use controls (e.g., occupancy thermostats) for space conditioning systems
  
• To understand how these measures may affect low-income housing energy use
  
• To determine how occupants use air conditioning or heating equipment compared to responses they provide in interviews.
  

Prior Research

• An energy efficiency measure often advocated is the installation of programmable thermostats. Many HfH houses now being built are equipped with programmable thermostats. However, both monitored data and survey responses raise questions about the effectiveness of programmable thermostats when installed in housing for low-income households.
  • Limited monitored data suggest that low-income households are not using programmable thermostats to control their space conditioning systems.
  • Residential surveys in which households are asked "At what temperature do you keep the house in the winter and what temperature do you keep the house in the summer" show that many respondents cannot give an answer that follows a systematic logic that can be used in computer simulation of the household energy use. Thus, actual effectiveness of programmable thermostats as an energy efficiency measure is an unanswered research question.

Task List

• Select Homes, Thermostats and Instrumentation for Study
• Interviews and Temperature Logger Installation
• Revisit 100 Homes
• Install Occupancy Thermostats in Twelve Homes
• Collect and Analyze Temperature Data

Projected Outcomes

• Tabulation of use patterns against type of temperature control options available and used at 100 low-income homes. Evaluation of occupancy thermostat as possible compromise between manual and programmable thermostats for energy savings.
• Technical goal for this project is to achieve savings of 150 kWh per house.
• Market penetration goal for HfH houses is 15 percent of newly constructed HfH houses in the first year and 75 percent in the fifth year. For manufactured houses, the market penetration goal is 10 percent in the first year and 50 percent in the fifth year.

Please visit the Project News and Public Documents page to view updates for this task, and current research activities.

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