Rapid Energy Modeling Workflow Demonstration
EW-201259
Objective
To make consistent and well-informed decisions regarding energy reduction and sustainable facility management, the Department of Defense (DoD) needs a consistent, inexpensive, and easily deployable way to evaluate the existing energy consumption of individual facilities and to compare and identify which facilities are in greatest need of improvement. Current energy assessment methods, such as energy audits, are labor intensive and expensive, and energy database information cannot be guaranteed to be consistent and dependable across the Department.
The objective of this project is to validate the accuracy of Rapid Energy Modeling (REM), a protocol for rapidly calculating the energy consumption of an existing building. The project will also validate that satellite or aerial photography is a suitable substitute for the on-site photographic method used as part of producing a building model. If this is validated, the time required to capture the data needed to create a building model will be significantly reduced, allowing DoD to inexpensively perform REM on thousands of facilities each year.
Technology Description
This project will identify 32 DoD facilities of various types in different locations. These buildings will be surveyed and each building's energy manager will complete an energy questionnaire. Autodesk researchers will develop an energy model and analyze it with Autodesk Green Building Studio (GBS) software. GBS uses DOE-2.2 (eQuest) software to run the analyses. The results of these analyses are represented as annual energy use and cost, monthly energy use and energy demand, and energy use intensity (EUI) in kBtu/ft²/yr. The energy consumption predictions of GBS will be compared to historic utility bills. Less than a 10% variance between predicted and actual consumption is anticipated. If the variance is greater than this, researchers will revisit the site to determine why.
Benefits
REM will provide a lightweight, easily deployable methodology for estimating energy consumption across the DoD enterprise and for identifying buildings that are the best choices for remediation. It will help DoD prioritize energy efficiency retrofit projects, track reductions in energy use, and manage facilities in new and cost-effective ways. The models can also be used to derive information about carbon footprint, identify the potential for integration of renewable energy technologies, and help achieve other sustainability management goals. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2013)
Points of Contact
Principal Investigator
Mr. John Sullivan
Autodesk
Phone: 301-529-7165
Document Types
- Fact Sheet - Brief project summary with links to related documents and points of contact.
- Final Report - Comprehensive report for every completed SERDP and ESTCP project that contains all technical results.
- Cost & Performance Report - Overview of ESTCP demonstration activities, results, and conclusions, standardized to facilitate implementation decisions.
- Technical Report - Additional interim reports, laboratory reports, demonstration reports, and technology survey reports.
- Guidance - Instructional information on technical topics such as protocols and user’s guides.
- Workshop Report - Summary of workshop discussion and findings.
- Multimedia - On demand videos, animations, and webcasts highlighting featured initiatives or technologies.
- Model/Software - Computer programs and applications available for download.
- Database - Digitally organized collection of data available to search and access.