ENERGY EFFICIENT RETROFITS: AN ANAYLSIS ANALYSIS OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK HOMES Ryan J. Grace University at Buffalo rjgrace@buffalo.edu
Nathaniel J. Heckman University at Buffalo njheckma@buffalo.edu
Nathan St. John University at Buffalo nathanst@buffalo.edu
ABSTRACT
1.
INTRODUCTION
This case study discusses high performance retrofits for early 20th century homes in Buffalo, NY. As millennials are moving back into the city, once vacant homes are being renovated and inhabited again. However, due to the early construction period of these houses, many lack adequate energy performance practices; therefore, making these homes consume a great amount of energy. With the recent success of The University at Buffalo’s Solar Decathlon 2015 House, we looked towards this as a precedent as an ultraefficient home for Buffalo. Although, the Solar Decathlon home proposes new construction, we looked to utilize the same general strategies that allow it to gain efficiency. We asked ourselves, “What would it take to make a typical Buffalo single family home become net zero?” The four strategies we used from the University at Buffalo’s Solar Decathlon house were: a tight envelope, high performing windows, photovoltaic panels, and lastly insulation improvements. We sought to find the most ideal combinations for home owners to renovate a typical Buffalo house and make it an ultra-efficient home. By testing varying combinations of these strategies in the program Building Energy optimization (BEopt), we found many different solutions for a typical Buffalo home. When these solutions are cross referenced with upfront costs for renovation, we can evaluate the most efficient strategies based on payback period and energy efficiency. Home owners can look to the outcome of our results as a starting point to analyze which strategies they can implement into their existing Buffalo house. Although the results can be interpreted based on users’ needs or expectations, we have provided three options which cover the spectrum of our findings.
The average age of the housing stock in the Buffalo/Niagara region is 63 years old (AHS, Census 2011). Only 36.4% of these houses have central air conditioning, while 72% have warm air furnaces as their main heating system (AHS, Census 2011). Since 2002 the US Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon has been focused on creating highperforming, cost-effective, single family homes (U.S. Department of Energy). The 2015 University at Buffalo’s Garden, Relax or Work (GRoW) Home proposed a Buffalo specific approach to the Solar Decathlon. However, an understanding of how to successfully retrofit older homes to become net zero is needed to enable a wider adoption of such strategies and positives city wide effects. This becomes even more necessary as an increasing number of people are returning to Buffalo, specifically on the Buffalo’s west side; these people will then generally be rehabilitating these homes as they move in. These renovations have typically been within a historic preservation context, however, renovations that take into account energy resilience need to be considered for the future of these homes. Technologies and strategies developed and utilized in the GRoW Home can be used as strategies to retrofit the current housing stock to make it more energy efficient; these different renovation strategies can improve the energy efficiency of Buffalo’s housing stock. However, cost for implementation and lifecycle cost could make certain renovation strategies unfeasible. We looked to analyze the best retrofits available to reduce the energy loads of the current residential buildings in Buffalo, while providing a reasonable payback for the homeowners. This report will analyze a typical house in Buffalo to determine what it will take to make the home net-zero from an envelope perspective. This envelope perspective includes renovation
1