Final Deliverable: Final Report | JUNE 30, 2021 Focus on Energy Cold Climate Variable Refrigerant Flow Program Study Copyright © 2021 Slipstream. All rights reserved This document was prepared as an account of work by Slipstream. Slipstream, any organization(s) named herein, or any person individually or on behalf of any organization(s) named herein: (a) does not make any warranty, express or implied, with respect to the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this document, or represent that such use does not infringe upon privately owned rights; (b) does not assume any liability incurred with respect to or damages arising out of the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this document. Project Manager: Greg Marsicek Acknowledgements Other Slipstream authors: Kevin Frost, Scott Hackel, Scott Schuetter, Allie Cardiel CEE authors: Ben Schoenbauer, Russ Landry 431 Charmany Drive | Madison, WI 53719 slipstreaminc.org Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. i Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 4 Background and Objective .......................................................................................................... 4 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Stakeholder Interviews............................................................................................................ 4 Energy and Economics ........................................................................................................... 5 Site Interviews ........................................................................................................................ 6 Program Framework Recommendations..................................................................................... 7 Variable Refrigerant Flow Technology .......................................................................................... 9 Background ................................................................................................................................. 9 VRF Advantages and Benefits .................................................................................................. 10 Design Challenges and Solutions.............................................................................................. 11 Cold Climate Technology ......................................................................................................... 14 Applying Variable Refrigerant Flow in Cold Climates ............................................................ 14 Product, Supply Chain and Trade Ally Network Review ............................................................. 16 Literature Review...................................................................................................................... 16 Product Offerings ...................................................................................................................... 17 Manufacturer and Sales Representative Interviews .................................................................. 18 Trade Allies and Contractor Interview Results ......................................................................... 20 Product and Building Types.................................................................................................. 20 Installation and Maintenance ................................................................................................ 21 Barriers, Challenges, and Solutions ...................................................................................... 22 Impact of Increased Refrigerant Usage......................................................................................... 22 Refrigerants in VRF Systems.................................................................................................... 22 Refrigerant Leakage and Management ..................................................................................... 23 Site Assessment ............................................................................................................................ 24 Energy Performance.................................................................................................................. 25 Comfort Performance................................................................................................................ 25 Capacity Challenges.............................................................................................................. 25 Control Challenges................................................................................................................ 26 Comfort Satisfaction Based on Project Type ........................................................................ 27 i Utility Bill Analysis .............................................................................................................. 27 Program Baseline .......................................................................................................................... 30 Gas-Fired (or Combination) Equipment Baseline .................................................................... 30 All-Electric Heating Source Baseline ....................................................................................... 31 Cooling Only Savings ............................................................................................................... 32 Energy Modeling .......................................................................................................................... 32 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 32 Baseline cases ....................................................................................................................... 32 Variable Refrigerant Flow cases ........................................................................................... 33 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 34 Economics and Emissions............................................................................................................. 38 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 39 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 40 Emissions .................................................................................................................................. 41 Wisconsin VRF Market Assessment ............................................................................................ 42 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 42 Baseline Impact on Savings ...................................................................................................... 43 Savings Potential ....................................................................................................................... 45 Programmatic Calculation ............................................................................................................ 47 Custom energy model ............................................................................................................... 47 Calculator or TRM measure...................................................................................................... 48 Energy modeling tool ................................................................................................................ 48 Focus on Energy VRF Program Framework ................................................................................ 49 Nationwide VRF Program Review ........................................................................................... 49 Program Interviews ............................................................................................................... 53 Program Lessons Learned for Wisconsin ................................................................................. 55 Pathway to Focus on Energy VRF program ............................................................................. 57 Formalize baseline ................................................................................................................ 57 Develop savings calculation ................................................................................................. 57 Offer incentives to projects which implement VRF ............................................................. 58 Create criteria for eligibility which ensures project success ................................................. 58 Increase market awareness of VRF....................................................................................... 58 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 59 Next steps and Future work .....................................................................................................