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Navigation for a Sustainable Future

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Navigation for a Sustainable Future ASHRAE Research Strategic Plan 2010- 2018 Navigation for a Sustainable Future American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Overview and Vision ........................................................................................................................3 1. Maximize the actual operational energy performance of buildings and facilities ........................5 2. Progress toward Advanced Energy Design Guide (AEDG) and cost-effective net-zero-energy (NZE) buildings ....................................................................................................7 3. To reduce significantly the energy consumption for HVAC&R, water heating and lighting in existing homes .......................................................................................................9 4. Significantly advance our understanding of the impact of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) on work performance, health symptoms and perceived environmental quality in offices, providing a basis for improvements in ASHRAE standards, guidelines, HVAC&R designs and operation practices ...............................................11 5. Support the development of ASHRAE energy standards and reduce effort required to demonstrate compliance..........................................................................................13 6. Building Information Modeling (BIM) of energy efficient, high-performing buildings ...............15 7. Support development of tools, procedures and methods suitable for designing low energy buildings ...................................................................................................16 8. Facilitate use of natural and low global warming potential (GWP) synthetic refrigerants and seek methods to reduce refrigerant charge .....................................................18 9. Support the development of improved HVAC&R components ranging from residential through commercial to provide improved system efficiency, affordability, reliability and safety ...............................................................................................19 10. Significantly increase the understanding of energy efficiency, environmental quality and the design of buildings in engineering and architectural education ......................21 11. Understand influences of HVAC&R on airborne pathogen transmission in public spaces and develop effective control strategies .........................................................23 Overview and Vision The ASHRAE Research Strategic Plan for 2010-2018 consists of 11 strategic goals that were chosen to address technical challenges that limit our ability to maximize building performance, energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality while minimizing our impact on the environment. Meeting any of the 11 strategic goals will require coordinated effort among multiple technical committees. Who is ASHRAE? ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of 55,000 members. It is the world’s foremost technical society in the fields of HVAC&R. Through its meetings, research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education, the Society helps keep indoor environments comfortable and productive, deliver healthy food to consumers and preserve the outdoor environment. ASHRAE’s Research Vision ASHRAE conducts timely research to remain the foremost, authoritative and responsive international source of technical and educational information, standards and guides on the interaction between people and the indoor and outdoor environment through the operation of HVAC&R systems in buildings and other applications. Purpose of the Plan The ASHRAE Board of Directors requires that a Strategic Plan for ASHRAE Research be prepared and updated every five years. The plan identifies key HVAC&R research needs and provides that information to ASHRAE members and technical committees as guidance while they develop research projects and to the Research Administration Committee as it approves and funds research proposals. The Research Plan is not meant to take the initiative for research design from the cognizant committees, but rather to use input from ASHRAE members to identify strategic research needs that are appropriate for many commit- tees to collaborate on, that may require larger budgets, and for which additional outside funding may be available to supplement ASHRAE’s budget. Navigating the Plan For each goal, specific objectives are given and the current technical challenges to be addressed by the research are explained. This is followed in each case by a discussion of the needed research. As the goals vary significantly in their scope, current state-of-the-art and technical challenges, the needed research also varies widely. Many of the goals are outcome-based, which means that rather than specifying the type of research that should be conducted, the outcomes in terms of performance are specified. This approach will provide flexibility and encourage innovation in research. Needed research for other goals is specified in terms of specific projects that are needed. In all cases, though, specific projects will be defined and scoped by one or more ASHRAE technical committees. The Research Administration Com- mittee in turn will evaluate and prioritize these topics against the plan so the topics that best address these goals are funded first. The plan will be updated every five years following the same broad input collection process so that it remains pertinent in a rapidly changing HVAC&R research environment. Development of the Plan The plan was developed collaboratively over a three-year period by ASHRAE’s Research Advisory Panel. Input was provided by ASHRAE chapter members, technical committee (TC) members, research fund contributors and representatives from HVAC&R-related organizations throughout the process via surveys, meetings, forums and e-mail. Once an initial list of goal topics was formed based on the input and deliberations of the Research Advisory Panel, ad hoc committees, primarily made up of volunteers from TCs, were formed to work on each of the goal topics. Goal topic descriptions developed by the ad hoc committees underwent several review and editing cycles prior to final approval by ASHRAE Technology Council. Research Advisory Panel Members The Research Advisory Panel members are listed below. Research Advisory Panel members that served over the duration of the panel’s existence each championed one of the goals and, for those members, their goal number is listed parenthetically. Martha Hewett, Center For Energy and Environment, Minneapolis, MN (1) Jim Brodrick, Ph.D., U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. (2) Larry Markel, Sentech Inc, Knoxville, TN (3) Steve Taylor, P.E., Taylor Engineering LLC, Alameda, CA (5) Hywel Davies, Ph.D., CIBSE, London, United Kingdom (6) Jeffrey Spitler, Ph.D., P.E., Chair, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK (7) Zahid Ayub, Ph.D., P.E., Isotherm Inc, Arlington, TX (8) Wayne Reedy, Retired, Monticello, IN (9) Alison Kwok, Ph.D., University of Oregon, Eugene, OR (10) Jim Braun, Ph.D., Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN Donald Colliver, Ph.D., P.E., University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY In addition, the panel was augmented by two other ASHRAE members who championed goals: William Fisk, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, Berkley, CA (4) Richard Fox, Honeywell (11). 4 Goal 1: Maximize the actual operational energy performance of buildings and facilities. Objective: Sharpen the understanding of the technical, 4) Lack of sufficient feedback to design professionals on economic, institutional and human factors that contribute to the effectiveness of their designs. the gap between potential and actual energy performance. 5) Lack of sufficient site-specific documentation and Develop additional tools and methods to maximize the training to communicate the design intent to building actual energy performance of buildings. Document the operators. Difficulty for decision-makers to quantify energy savings and improvements in performance that can the value of such documentation and training. be realized through use of these tools and methods. 6) Insufficient quality control (e.g., peer review, Technical Challenges: Available data strongly suggest that commissioning) in design and construction; difficulty the actual energy use of buildings is often higher than for decision-makers to reliably quantify the benefits design energy use and/or higher than necessary to deliver of commissioning and reliably compare quality and the required services. At the same time, indoor air quality, value of commissioning providers, leading to an thermal comfort, noise and other performance attributes overemphasis on price in selection. (e.g., infection control, food refrigeration temperatures) may not meet target levels. Many factors contribute to this, Operation and maintenance factors including but not limited to: 1) Lack of meaningful feedback to owners, facility managers and operators on energy use. General industry and decision-making factors 2) Lack of sufficient feedback on other performance 1) Increasing complexity of building enclosure, parameters to ensure that energy savings are not mechanical, control and other systems without a achieved at the expense of functionality. corresponding increase in the sophistication and ease of use of tools and building operator knowledge and 3) Inadequate benchmarks for energy use (e.g., not training to manage this complexity. sufficiently matched to
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