Executive Summary
To meet current U.S. Department of Energy zero-energy home (ZEH) performance goals,
new technologies and solutions must increase whole-house efficiency savings by an
additional 40% relative to those provided by best available components and systems. An
expanded research program is needed to develop the key ZEH technologies and systems
to fill this performance gap.
This report identifies a range of technology options to fill the residential efficiency gap in
two categories:
• Improved systems based on modifications of existing products
• High-risk advanced system concepts.
Three sequential levels of market maturity and risk reduction must be accomplished
before a new ZEH technology can be successfully used by builders, contractors, and
homeowners:
1. Level 1 Risk Reduction – The technology must meet minimum builder, contractor,
and homeowner performance and reliability requirements to be used in new and
existing homes.
2. Level 2 Risk Reduction – The design, construction, and commissioning details for
integrating the new technology into homes must be understood and validated.
3. Level 3 Risk Reduction – The field training, quality assurance/quality control,
commissioning, and operations and maintenance requirements for the technology
must be integrated as part of a production construction process to ensure that potential
savings and benefits are achieved when the technologies are broadly implemented.
Ignoring these risk reduction requirements can significantly increase costs, homeowner
complaints, and building or component failures and reduce near- and long-term energy
savings.
At least $4 million per year is needed for research on low- to medium-risk ZEH systems
and $8 million per year for research on high risk ZEH systems to achieve current U.S.
Department of Energy ZEH performance goals. This estimate is based on the assumption
that 10 projects per year will be supported in each risk category, with an average annual
cost of $400K/year for each low- to medium-risk project and an average annual cost of
$800K/year for each high-risk project. Based on research progress, the initial set of
technology opportunities presented in this report will be downselected over time to focus
on the subset of projects and solutions that are expected to provide the greatest overall
cost and performance benefits. The final development of ZEH systems for Building
America research homes from this expanded research program is required by 2015 to
achieve the Department’s net ZEH goal by 2020.
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/44547.pdf
To meet current U.S. Department of Energy zero-energy home (ZEH) performance goals,
new technologies and solutions must increase whole-house efficiency savings by an
additional 40% relative to those provided by best available components and systems. An
expanded research program is needed to develop the key ZEH technologies and systems
to fill this performance gap.
This report identifies a range of technology options to fill the residential efficiency gap in
two categories:
• Improved systems based on modifications of existing products
• High-risk advanced system concepts.
Three sequential levels of market maturity and risk reduction must be accomplished
before a new ZEH technology can be successfully used by builders, contractors, and
homeowners:
1. Level 1 Risk Reduction – The technology must meet minimum builder, contractor,
and homeowner performance and reliability requirements to be used in new and
existing homes.
2. Level 2 Risk Reduction – The design, construction, and commissioning details for
integrating the new technology into homes must be understood and validated.
3. Level 3 Risk Reduction – The field training, quality assurance/quality control,
commissioning, and operations and maintenance requirements for the technology
must be integrated as part of a production construction process to ensure that potential
savings and benefits are achieved when the technologies are broadly implemented.
Ignoring these risk reduction requirements can significantly increase costs, homeowner
complaints, and building or component failures and reduce near- and long-term energy
savings.
At least $4 million per year is needed for research on low- to medium-risk ZEH systems
and $8 million per year for research on high risk ZEH systems to achieve current U.S.
Department of Energy ZEH performance goals. This estimate is based on the assumption
that 10 projects per year will be supported in each risk category, with an average annual
cost of $400K/year for each low- to medium-risk project and an average annual cost of
$800K/year for each high-risk project. Based on research progress, the initial set of
technology opportunities presented in this report will be downselected over time to focus
on the subset of projects and solutions that are expected to provide the greatest overall
cost and performance benefits. The final development of ZEH systems for Building
America research homes from this expanded research program is required by 2015 to
achieve the Department’s net ZEH goal by 2020.
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/44547.pdf
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