Newsbrief from Environmental Building News

ORNL Testing Energy Efficiency in Model Homes

 

Joe Tobb from General Electric shows off a device that opens and closes refrigerator doors, simulating house occupants in ORNL’s study homes in Tennessee.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in cooperation with the Tennessee Valley Authority, is building three houses in Tennessee to different energy-efficiency specifications in order to test their performance for up to seven years.

The homes range in size from 2,400­ to 2,512 square feet (220–230 m2) and have HERS ratings of 85, 64, and 30 (the lower the number, the better the energy performance). Each house incorporates some energy-efficient features; the highest-performance house will feature triple-glazed windows from Serious Materials and a roof that is expected to perform 55% better than a roof built to code.

Researchers will use mechanical devices and control systems to simulate, in a consistent manner, occupants in the house—including opening the refrigerator, running the clothes washer and dryer, and taking showers. Each home will be tested with the equivalent of low-energy-use and high-energy-use families based on national averages.

November 1, 2009

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1. Photo: Jeff Christian, ORNL
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