Kearney Residence Energy Audit

8/19/2019 Kearney Residence Energy Audit

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Energy Audit and Assessment Recommendationsfor

15535 Nalles Mill

Culpeper, VA 22701

by

Adrian Wos

John Kearney

12/4/14


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Certification

This energy audit was conducted as a student project in ISAT 411 at James Madison University. Itfollowed professional energy auditing methods and protocols, and represents a standard Level 2 energyaudit. The analysis and recommendations are based on:

A visual inspection of the home and all major energy systems to the extent that these wereaccessible

An analysis of energy utility data and additional energy consumption information, if relevant(e.g., woodstove heating)

Estimates of energy usage based on the age and model of equipment

A thermal imaging analysis of the home and accessible ductwork

Direct measurement through datalogging as discussed in the report if it was performed

No blower door analysis was conducted, nor were there any mechanical tests of potential leakage fromheating and cooling ductwork.

I certify that this project was conducted under my supervision, and that all findings and data analysis areaccurate based on the information gathered by and available to the audit team. I concur with therecommendations contained in this report.

_________________________________________________Maria C. Papadakis, Ph.D.

Association of Energy Engineers, Certified Energy Manager #16774

_______________________Date


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Contents

Certification .................................................................................................................................................. 2

Summary and Recommendations.................................................................................................................. 4

Home Energy Use ......................................................................................................................................... 4

Major Energy Systems .................................................................................................................................. 6

Hot Water .................................................................................................................................................. 6

Heating and Cooling ................................................................................................................................. 7

The Building Envelope ............................................................................................................................. 7

Lighting ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

All Other Electrical Loads ........................................................................................................................ 7


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Summary and Recommendations

15535 Nalles Mill rd. is a 6090 square foot farm house, built in 1967, on 300 acres of land. It has about4090 square feet in the primary living space, and about 2000 in the basement. All living space and basementis conditioned with both heating and air conditioning. The current owners have lived in the house since itwas built, with a recent occupancy change occurring in December 2013, when 3 more occupants moved in.The electric utility for this home is Rappahanock Electric Company, and the annual electricity rate is11¢/kWh. The owners would like to address the many building weatherization issues such as infiltrationthrough windows and doors.

Table 1. Summary of Energy Conservation OpportunitiesHome EnergySystem Conservation Opportunities Efficiency UpgradesLighting Incandescent Lights in high use areas (such

as kitchen, den, bathroom, living room) shouldbe used less.

All of these can be replaced with a 60-Wequivalent CFL or a higher equivalent CFL.

Hot water None This can be replaced with either a more

efficient electric resistance heater or a heatpump water heater with pay back periodsranging from 2.5 years to 6.3 years.

Heating None, heating temperature on thermostatskept at reasonable levels. Building envelopeupgrades will result in lower heating load

Home heating oil is expensive in general, butthe furnace is relatively new so the technologyshould only be upgraded once the furnacefails. A heat pump is much more efficient buttwo may be needed to take on the heatingload previously done by the furnace.

Cooling None, cooling temperatures on thermostatskept at reasonable levels. Building envelopeupgrades will result in lower cooling load

Once heat pump needs replacement, a heatpump with a good SEER and HSPF ratingshould be bought.

Building envelopeWeather Stripping in many places is needed,especially around windows. Insulation in atticshould be added as it is inexpensive.

None

Major appliances If possible, try to only use 2 out of 3refrigerators/freezers. Otherwise, just try toremember to turn off TVs

LED or LCD TVs can be bought onceplasmas burn out to save on energy usage.Once refrigerator/freezer fails. Buy one withbetter efficiency rating.

Home Energy Use

There are 3 adult occupants, one of which is retired and spends the majority of his time at home. Theother 2 adults work 8-5 most days of the week, all year round. During summer and breaks from college,the household has one more occupant, making 4.

The house is all electric, with the exception of the home heating oil used for heating in the winter. Thekey energy usage are shown in Table 2 below. One notable feature in the energy usage is the very largeamount of energy used in heating.


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Table 2. Key Energy Usage Indicators

Energy Usage, 2013*

Energy

Indicator

Total household electricity use13582 kWh46.3 MMbtu

Energy Utilization Index 24,280 btu/ ft2 Monthly baseload energy use (hot water, lights, majorappliances, consumer electronics, and all otherelectrical loads)

1275 kWh

Annual heating energy use 187.3 MMBtu

Annual cooling energy use3071 kWh

10.5 MMBtu

Energy Star Home Yardstick benchmark, primary livingspace

3.2

Energy Utilization Index, primary living space plusconditioned basement

40,800 Btu/ft2

Figure 1. Energy Star Yardstick Rating for the Primary Living Space. The Energy Star Yardstick is a benchmark that showshow a home compares to those of similar size, location and occupancy. The average home represents a 5 on the yardstick’s scale.

The majority of the energy used in this house is for heating, with it accounting for about 75% of all energyusage. Figure 2 displays the load profile, which shows us that the major energy saving opportunities comefrom heating and water heating.

Lighting

3%Cooling

4%

Heating

75%

Hot Water

9%

Other

9%

Annual Load Profile

Figure 2. Load Profile for Home. The load profile illustrates where the energy use inthe home is being distributed


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Major Energy Systems

Hot Water

The home has a very old model hot water heater, so some information such as the model number is notknown. The brand, which is not still around today, is White Ultonium. It is an 82 gallon electric hot water

tank installed approximately 30 years ago. The estimated hot water load is 6210 kwh/year. This water heaterdoes present an energy saving opportunity due to the age and size of the tank, as well as the new standards being implemented next year. After April 14, the only available water tanks this size will be heat pumpwater tanks. A replacement electric water heater can be bought before that time for approximately $535.The payback period on this would be 7.8 years. A heat pump water heater (which is more efficient) can be bought and installed for approximately $1105, with a payback period of 2.3 years.

Table 3. LCC Comparisons of Hot Water System Upgrades

Standard Option

(Whirlpool 50-Gallon, ES50R123-45Dl)

More Energy Efficient Option(Whirlpool 50-Gallon 120-Month

Hybrid, HPSE2K50HD045V)Purchase and Installation (costof tank only, labor is assumed tobe the same)

$535 $1,105

Maintenance and repair -- --Replacement -- --Annual energy consumption(in physical units)

4721 kWh 1597 kWh

Annual energy consumption(in dollar cost)

$567 $192

Salvage -- --

Total life cycle costs, 12 & 10years $7339 $3025

Lighting

The total lighting energy used in this residence was based on the total number of light fixtures and theestimated time each fixture is used. The lighting load estimate is shown in Appendix A, at the end of thisreport.

Our analysis identified many energy saving opportunities, including many high use fixtures that utilizeincandescent bulbs. The areas of highest usage are the living room, kitchen, den, and bathroom. These areashave incandescent bulbs that have heavy usage, resulting in a high load. It is proposed to replace the 12light bulbs that are highlighted in Appendix A with three 4-packs of 60W Equivalent Daylight Spiral CFLLight Bulbs. The lighting intensity of some areas will be reduced, but there were no complaints about lackof lighting intensity. With the replacement of the bolded lighting technologies, there is a net annual energysavings of 823 kWh per year, resulting in savings of $82.3. With an initial purchase cost of only $18.51,the payback period for the entire replacement will be 2.7 months.


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Heating and Cooling

Both the heating and cooling system in this residence were replaced about 10 years ago. The heating systemconsists of a home heating oil furnace and an HVAC unit for directing air. While the furnace has a decentefficiency rating, home heating oil is one of the most expensive ways to heat a house. Therefore, it is

recommended to either upgrade to a heat pump system as soon as the HVAC unit or furnace need to bereplaced.

The furnace used about 1225 gallons of HHO in 2013, and 1339 gallons in 2014. At the estimated averagerate of $3.35 per gallon HHO, the costs to heat the home these two years were $4103.75, and $4485.65,respectively. When a replacement is needed for the furnace, it is recommended to look for a heat pump witha SEER rating of 15+ and an HSPF rating of 9+. Highly expensive heat pumps will give better ratings, butthe recommended ratings will guarantee low energy use as well as a relatively cheap purchasing cost. Anexample of such a heat pump is a Goodman DSZC160361 which can be found for approximately $2000.Two heat pumps may be needed in a zone heating arraignment to supply the needed amount of heating forthe whole house.

The Building Envelope

The building envelope is perhaps the largest opportunity for energy savings. Each window and door requiresweather stripping to eliminate the infiltration that is making its way through the many cracks in theenvelope. The windows are all double paned, besides the 2 that have storm windows. Ideally, the windowswould all be replaced due to their age and condition, but since the cost to replace all windows may not justify this need, weather stripping will be our recommendation. Areas of high infiltration can be seen fromthe FLIR thermal images attached. The whole house is conditioned, with the exception of attic space. Theinsulation used in the envelope is a 6”, R -19 fiberglass insulation. There were complaints about cold airinfiltration in the first floor bedroom as well as in the utility closet. Using the FLIR thermal imaging gun,we saw areas of little to no insulation, as well as areas that should be caulked/weather stripped. The atticwalls immediately touching the outdoors was uninsulated in many places, but there was some insulation

between that space and the attic entry rooms. Therefore the uninsulated space was assumed to have a wallR value of 5. With the installation of standard R-13 insulations, there is an annual energy savings of 1552kWh ($155). This results in a payback period of less than 1 month assuming no installation costs.

All Other Electrical Loads

This residence has a wide variety of household appliances and electronics that represent the remaining loadsin the home. Some of these include a freezer, two full sized refrigerators, three televisions, a home desktopcomputer, telephones, washer and dryer, and many other kitchen appliances. These appliances and theirelectricity loads are shown in Table 4 below.


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Table 4. Energy Use of Miscellaneous Electrical Equipment

Appliance Basis of Energy Estimate

Monthly Energy

Use

kWh %Kitchen

Refrigerator

Energy Guide label 49.2 8.57

Freezer Energy Guide label 57.5 10.02

Basement Fridge Energy Guide label 57.0 9.93

Den Tv 68W at 5hr per day 10.2 1.78

Total The total is an estimate of all remaining electricalloads after hot water, lighting, heating, and coolinghave been accounted for.

100

There are no energy efficiency upgrades that would save an excessive amount of energy with respect to thehome’s energy use for these remaining electrical loads. We would recommend that the owners buy anEnergy Star LED or LCD television to replace the more energy intensive plasma TVs. The kitchenappliances such as the stoves, dishwasher and microwave have all been recently replaced, so there are no

recommendations in that area.

Final Recommendations

The house was found to have a lot of air infiltration through cracks in the trimming around doors andwindows, as well as lack of insulation. Weather stripping, caulking and adding insulation should be the firstcourse of action because it is inexpensive and has a short payback period. More importantly, an upgraded building envelope will help lower heating and cooling load, which make up the majority of energy usage.A dozen lighting replacement will also net good energy savings, with a short payback period. The heatingand cooling system are not currently recommended due to their age only being 10 years, although there ismuch room for cost and efficiency savings. When a replacement is needed, it would be ideal to switch from

home heating oil to a two-zone heat pump system with SEER of at least 15, and HSPF rating of 9. Thiswould help with the problem of the uneven heating distribution, while also lowering energy usage and cost by a considerable amount.


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Appendix A Estimated Weekly Lighting Load

Lighting Load

Location Light Type # of bulbs Wattage hrs/day Watt-hr/day Btu/day

Dining IN 5 15 0.25 18.8 63.98

Foyer CFL 1 26 10 260.0 887.16

IN 1 25 0.5 12.5 42.65

Living room IN 2 100 2 400.0 1364.86

1st floor hall IN 1 25 0.25 6.3 21.33

Bathroom IN 1 60 1.5 90.0 307.09

Den IN 1 100 0.25 25.0 85.30

IN 1 72 7 504.0 1719.72

CFL 1 26 7 182.0 621.01

Kitchen IN 1 72 2 144.0 491.35

IN 4 72 5 1440.0 4913.48

Bedroom IN 1 72 3 216.0 737.02Bathroom IN 5 60 1.5 450.0 1535.46

Basement IN 1 60 0.5 30.0 102.36

IN 1 300 1 300.0 1023.64

IN 1 60 1 60.0 204.73

IN 2 100 0.25 50.0 170.61

2nd floor hall IN 2 25 0.5 25.0 85.30

Bedroom IN 1 100 2 200.0 682.43

IN 1 40 2 80.0 272.97

Bathroom IN 4 60 1 240.0 818.91

Bedroom IN 1 90 2 180.0 614.19IN 1 25 2 50.0 170.61

John's room IN 1 60 0.5 30.0 102.36

CFL 1 14 0.5 7.0 23.88

Bathroom IN 2 60 0.5 60.0 204.73

TOTAL 44 1719 54 5060.5 17267

Kearney Residence Energy Audit

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