A Comparison of Energy Calculations for a Single-Family Detached Home with Two Energy Simulation Methods

Authors: Amir Sattari

Abstract:

For newly produced houses and energy renovations, an energy calculation needs to be conducted. This is done to verify whether the energy consumption criteria of the house -to reach the energy targets by 2020 and 2050- are in-line with the norms. The main purpose of this study is to confirm whether easy to use energy calculation software or hand calculations used by small companies or individuals give logical results compared to advanced energy simulation program used by researchers or bigger companies. There are different methods for calculating energy consumption. In this paper, two energy calculation programs are used and the relation of energy consumption with solar radiation is compared. A hand calculation is also done to validate whether the hand calculations are still reasonable. The two computer programs which have been used are TMF Energi (the easy energy calculation variant used by small companies or individuals) and IDA ICE - Indoor Climate and Energy (the advanced energy simulation program used by researchers or larger companies). The calculations are done for a standard house from the Swedish house supplier Fiskarhedenvillan. The method is based on having the same conditions and inputs in the different calculation forms so that the results can be compared and verified. The house has been faced differently to see how the orientation affects energy consumption in different methods. The results for the simulations are close to each other and the hand calculation differs from the computer programs by only 5%. Even if solar factors differ due to the orientation of the house, energy calculation results from different computer programs and even hand calculation methods are in line with each other.

Keywords: Energy calculation, energy consumption, energy simulation, IDA ICE, TMF Energi.

References:

[1] European Parliament, Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the Energy Performance of Buildings (recast), Official Journal of the European Union L153 (2010) 13–35.
[2] The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings. Official Journal of the European Union, L 153 (2010) 13–35.
[3] European Environment Agency. Energy and Environment Report, 2008. ISBN: 978-92-9167-980-5.
[4] European Commission Environmental Improvement Potentials of Residential Buildings (IMPRO-Building). Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008. ISBN: 978-92-79-09767-6.
[5] Boverket, Bygg och renovera energieffektivt (energy efficient building and renovation), 2017, Accessed 15 April 2019 at https://www.boverket.se/sv/byggande/bygg-och-renovera-energieffektivt/
[6] Warfvinge, C., Dahlblom, M, 2010. Projektering av VVS-installationer. Lund: Johanneshov, ISBN:9789144055619.
[7] Boverket, Konsoliderad version av Boverkets byggregler – föreskrifter och allmänna råd, 2018, Accessed 20 April 2019 at https://www.boverket.se/sv/lag--ratt/forfattningssamling/gallande/bbr---bfs-20116/
[8] Jensen, L. (Processed by Warfvinge, C.), 2001, Värmebehovsberäkning (Heat requirement calculation), Accessed 25 April 2019 at http://www.hvac.lth.se/fileadmin/hvac/files/varmebeh.pdf
[9] RISE, About RISE, 2019. Accessed 20 April 2019 at https://www.ri.se/en/about-rise
[10] TMF, About TMF energi, 2017. Accessed 28 April 2018 at http://www.tmf.se/siteassets/bransch/teknik--forskning/tmf-energi/tmf-energi-bakgrund.pdf
[11] European Commission, Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings, 2010. Accessed 10 February 2019 at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/;ELX_SESSIONID=FZMjThLLzfxmmMCQGp2Y1s2d3TjwtD8QS3pqdkhXZbwqGwlgY9KN!2064651424?uri=CELEX:32010L0031
[12] Swedish Standard Institute, Energy performance of buildings - Energy needs for heating and cooling, internal temperatures and sensible and latent heat loads - Part 1: Calculation procedures (ISO 52016-1:2017), 2017. Accessed 20 April 2019 at https://www.sis.se/en/produkter/construction-materials-and-building/protection-of-and-in-buildings/thermal-insulation-of-buildings/ss-en-iso-52016-12017/
[13] EQUA, IDA Indoor Climate and Energy, 2018. Accessed 25 April 2019 at https://www.equa.se/se/ida-ice
[14] Fiskarhedenvillan, official website, 2019. Accessed 10 August 2019 at https://fiskarhedenvillan.se/
[15] International Organization for Standardization, Thermal performance of buildings -- Determination of air permeability of buildings -- Fan pressurization method, 2015. Accessed 20 April 2018 at https://www.iso.org/standard/55718.html