Project
2.6 - Evaporative Coolers and Whole-House Fan Integration
Objective
To evaluate whether integrating a whole house fan with either a standard or
an evaporative cooling system provides economically viable and efficient alternatives
for comfort cooling needs in new houses for low-income households.
Prior Research
- A whole house fan system
is one of most effective mechanical ventilation systems both in terms of cost
and performance. With the technical improvements in whole house fan ventilation,
homeowners now install them to supplement standard air conditioning.
- From the perspective
of housing for low-income households, evaporative cooling is attractive because
it is 30 to 40% cheaper to buy and operate in California climates than are
standard air conditioning systems.
- Research issue is whether
whole house fans can also work well with evaporative cooling systems.
Task List
- Investigate Factors
Affecting Combined Technologies
- Evaluate and Develop
Alternative Designs
- Prepare Monitoring Plan
- Install Technologies
in Eight Homes
- Monitor Test and Control
Homes
- Analyze Data
Projected Outcomes
- Use of integrated evaporative
and whole-house fan for comfort cooling is expected to save about 30-40% in
energy use with more savings from maintenance cost and indirect health benefits
from better indoor air quality. Improved control strategies and installation
guidelines have to be used for efficient operation and homeowner acceptability.
Technology and achievements can be translated to other homes (other than affordable
and manufactured housing.)
- Technical goal for this
project is to achieve savings of 450 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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