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Integrated Project Delivery is an ever-growing project delivery approach which integrates people, systems, business structures and practices into a process that collaboratively harnesses the talents and insights of all participants. This paper will focus on one of the key internal processes: Decision Matrices (DM) within the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) model and how it was applied on one of the largest IPD projects in Canada (Canadian Nuclear Laboratories campus) to achieve the ultimate objective of optimizing the project results that increases value to the owner, reduce waste, and maximize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction. It will highlight the advantages observed by engaging all partners for key project decisions and exploring the benefits of utilizing certain design opportunities discovered as the project progressed. The paper will also briefly talk about different challenges with this process and how it impacts the project. Specifically, this paper will discuss 2 different Decision Matrices and dive deeper into the process and analysis which resulted in a positive impact for the overall project both financially and in terms of energy efficiency. The Decision Matrix process was conducted through different phases in the project and the impacts were assessed based on several different project values such as Stakeholder Satisfaction, Design Excellence, Maintenance and Operation, Innovation, Schedule, Budget, Quality and Safety among others. The discussion in the decision matrices is about passive load reduction strategy by incorporating unique architectural design elements and Heating Plant Reconfiguration. The outcome of these decision matrices will be shared and the measurable impact on the project will be explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution and delivery of fuels to the built environment is a mega-scale form of seasonal energy storage in the United States, delivering greater than 600 GW of energy during the winter, often in the form of heating, and with storage built up over periods of 6-8 months. Combined with Canada, this distribution system serves 85 million homes and businesses with a network spanning 5.4 million km. With increasing efforts to reduce the impact of buildings on the environment, the greater than 1,000 Mt CO2e/year emitted from this fuel consumption must be mitigated. In addition to energy efficiency and conservation, which remain the pillars of any climate mitigation scheme, one pathway to reduce CO2e emissions from buildi ngs is displacing delivered fossil fuels (e.g. natural gas) with low or zero carbon fuels, which can include methane-based fuels and hydrogen, generated from renewable energies/feedstocks or employing integrated carbon capture. Seeking to scale-up the generation and distribution of these low or zero carbon fuels in many regions throughout the U.S. and Canada, utilities are demonstrating the injection, blending, and delivery of these fuels. Of particular note are the hydrogen-focused demonstrations, which seek to quantify the risks and benefits of distributing hydrogen using legacy and purpose-built infrastructure, and its impacts on the downstream homes and businesses, with activity in numerous large metropolitan areas and in cold and hot climate zones alike. This paper provides an overview of these North American utility projects, which displace delivered fossil fuels with low or zero carbon fuels, from the end user perspective and with a focus on the hydrogen-based fuels, both blended and 100%. The authors compare and contrast these projects with similar projects abroad, where in the U.K., Germany, and Japan, for instance, significant fractions of homes and businesses already enjoy access to these non-fossil fuels. Finally, using the historical transition from manufactured gases to widespread distribution of natural gas, a ~30 year transition that occurred from the 1920s to the 1950s, the authors draw comparisons between this significant historical energy transition to the modern context, considering safety implications, regionality, impacts on HVAC equipment, and the role of codes and standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the early performance of the Varennes Library, a building designed for net-zero annual energy balance in Varennes, near Montréal, Canada. It produces electricity from a 110.5 kWp building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system where heat is also recovered from a section of the array and used to preheat the outdoor air intake. The building's many architecturalandmechanicalfeatureswereintegrallydesignedtoachieve the net zero energy target over a five-year averaging period with several key decisions made at the early design stage. These include the shape, area, andorientation of the roof thatmaximizes electricity productionfromtheBIPV(partBIPV/T[building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal with heat recovery]) system and a design layout that promotes daylight penetration and natural ventilation/freecoolingduringthecoolingseason. In the firstyear after inauguration, an operational energy use intensity (EUI) of 24.8 kBtu/ft²y (78.1 kWh/m²y) was achieved and has since been reduced to 22.20 kBtu/ft²y (70.0 kWh/m²y). Considering renewables production, the net-energy use intensity (EUI) is 4.60 kBtu/ft²y (14.5 kWh/m²y). This is a 95% EUI reduction over the national institutional average and can be further reduced with additional (ongoing) commissioning efforts. Suggested improvements in operation include ensuring the electricity production is optimized and any faults corrected, dimming electric lighting when daylight is sufficient, extending the hours of natural ventilation, and better utilization of the hydronic radiant slab for thermal storage using predictive controls. This paper discusses the process followed in the design of the library, its key features, its early performance, and some of the lessons learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EnerGuide Rating System (ERS) is a program of the Government of Canada to rate the energy performance of low-rise housing. The process to rate a house requires a site visit by a certified energy advisor to measure energy affecting parameters such as building location, orientation, geometry, airtightness, and envelope characteristics, as well as mechanical equipment. These data are then used to simulate the energy performance of the house, from which the rating is determined. As this process is labour intensive and requires approval and attendance by homeowners, an alternative method for the calculation of the rating is sought. In this paper, we propose a black-box approach to derive an equivalent ERS rating based on a basic list of building characteristics to enable a virtual energy audit. Given the large number of parameters available in the original dataset, a random forest-based feature selection method is developed to find the most influential inputs. The selected parameters from more than 7,000 houses were used to estimate the EGH rating using black-box modeling. The results indicate that a reasonable accuracy for representation of the traditional methods is achieved given sufficient training data samples from previously rated buildings in the same region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occupant response to thermal discomforts plays a significant role in uncertainties associated with modeling and implementing building energy performance measures. In particular, for managers of small commercial building portfolios, a better understanding of the occupants' interactions with the HVAC system is necessary for managing these uncertainties and reducing discrepancies between predicted and actual energy use. In Canada, these buildings are currently underserved by energy conservation and thermal analysis tools because of their dispersion and lower payback potential. Smart thermostats, along with their centralized data collection platform, provide an efficient and low-cost solution to collect massive amounts of data from a portfolio of these buildings that can be used to improve the understanding of the occupants' behaviours and preferred thermal conditions. This paper presents the results of a longitudinal study based on the smart thermostat data from a portfolio of more than 240 small commercial buildings located in Ontario, Canada. We analysed the occupantthermostat interactions, as well as the HVAC setpoints adjusted by the portfolio manager, to answer two main questions: 1) what contextual factors are associated with the initializing of overrides in the portfolio of small commercial buildings, and 2) how do the thermal conditions managed by HVAC schedules (that are based on seasonality and occupants' feedback) and occupant overrides reflect industry-standard criteria; specifically PMV? The results can help the portfolio managers to better understand the users' interactions with the HVAC system under various circumstances and create efficient energy conservation programs while meeting the occupants' thermal preferences and organizational productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupants' presence, activities, and interaction with buildings' systems play a vital role in modeling household energy demand. However, the currently available energy models overlook this essential parameter by oversimplifying occupants' parameters and neglecting the population's heterogeneity, leading to overestimating the peak loads and improper systems' sizing. In this context, developing scalable, adaptable, and representative occupancy models is essential for developing reliable energy models. The literature showed various attempts to build such data-driven occupancy models, increasing interest in developing survey-based models using the Time Use Surveys (TUS) data. The TUS-based models showed promising results in simulating occupancy, activities, and related energy consumption. However, the Canadian TUS data is rarely used for calibrating TUS-based models, and representative district-scale occupancy profiles are essential for applying research activities on Canadian residential districts. In this paper, a bottom-up TUS-based model is proposed to simulate a residential district occupancy schedule in Canada during weekdays and weekends. The model is based on the Monte Carlo Semi-Markov method with an adjustable spatial scale from a single building to the district level. The proposed model is adjustable in terms of number of activities and the temporal resolution based on required application and granularity level, and it considers the impact of occupants characteristics (age, gender,..etc.). and day type on the generated activities profiles. The obtained occupancy schedules are valuable inputs for enriching urban building energy models, especially designing demand response programs and integrating renewable energy systems applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, builders and energy advisors use HOT2000 for simulation of new housing and retrofits for various labelling, energy rating and incentive programs as well as code compliance. HOT2000 is a monthly building energy simulation tool, specifically made for low-rise residential buildings. It calculates monthly loads from a combination of first principles, and various simple mathematical models developed from hourly simulation tools. As a consequence of the methodology, many state-of-the-art Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) can not be simulated accurately in HOT2000. A Housing Technology Assessment Platform (HTAP) software was previously developed, using HOT2000 as the simulation engine. HOT2000 was chosen as the simulation engine, because of its wide adoption and acceptance by builders and professionals in Canada. HTAP can run parametric runs, and provide energy demand and costing for a variety of ECMs. However many ECMs require hourly simulations to provide accurate energy demand estimates. In order to be able to evaluate these ECMs in HTAP, a methodology has been developed to estimate hourly heating, cooling, domestic hot water, and plug load profiles using monthly loads, and hourly climate data. This paper presents the approach and its limitations, as well as some validation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines temperature, airflow, and binary window position data of several rooms in an institutional building in Canada during three months of the summer to identify possible motivations for window usage and to estimate cooling energy usage. Window state change information was collected from contact sensors for 27 rooms, 16 of which had window openings and closings during the three-month period. Thermostat and air handling data were utilized to estimate the room level cooling energy usage. The resulting data was analyzed to determine if patterns in the window state and intuitive thermal behavior could be observed. A total of 197 window openings and closings occurred for all the rooms. It was found that indoor and outdoor air temperature did not correlate well with window opening, and that window state changes cannot be reliably predicted with the data collected. A significant number of occupants (25%) were found to change their window position when the outdoor temperature was higher than the indoor temperature over the three-month period. Occupant preferences were found to be unpredictable. Increasing window usage was found to decrease cooling energy usage at the room level. Instrumentation bias error was high relative to the measurements obtained in this study and limits the conclusiveness of results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the performance of a Canadian near-net zero energy solar house, known as ÉcoTerra, located near Montreal. The total energy consumption and energy end-use breakdown are presented and several findings from the energy analysis discussed, such as the importance of occupant behavior, occupant comfort, and the improvements that could lead to achieving full net zero energy performance. It was demonstrated that large reductions in energy consumption can be achieved with little effect on comfort. Occupants affect the loads significantly and need to be educated and given specific feedback about their energy-use patterns in order to help them adjust their behavior for energy efficiency. Although already far below the typical home in energy consumption (about 90%), this paper shows how ÉcoTerra could consume even less energy and how similar houses could be designed or upgraded to achieve net zero energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High energy efficiency is a target for any refrigerating plant. To date, no known survey of the practical energy efficiency of refrigerated warehouses has been made in the USA. Such a survey project was conducted by the authors and the results are presented in this paper. A total of 62 responses to a questionnaire were collected from various installations in the USA and Canada. In addition, a field investigation of 14 plants was conducted. Several aspects of the surveyed refrigeration plants, including their energy efficiency, refrigerant selection, compression stages, types of two-stage cycles, and compressor selection, are discussed in this paper. Some recommendations and conclusions are proposed based on the first-hand information surveyed and the authors' knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrared thermography is a process that uses an infrared scanner to produce thermal images of surfaces by detecting the radiosity of these surfaces. The use of infrared thermography (IR) as a diagnostic tool in building science has been known particularly for qualitative assessment of building envelopes. Its use as a quantitative means to measure surface temperatures was demonstrated in a major Canada/USA joint research project that used IR thermographic techniques to measure the surface temperature of insulated glass window units. The results of that project were published in 1996. The earlier work has now been extended in a recent study of complete window assemblies (including frames). This paper describes the use of lR thermography to determine surface temperatures of the glass and frame members of two window units and a calibration transfer standard unit. The IR results were compared with thermocouple temperature measurements at specific locations on the surface of the assemblies. Other participants in this project have presented their findings in ASHRAE publications, and a summary paper will be prepared to compare all the experimental and simulation results. This paper focuses on the results obtained from the work performed at the Institute for Research in Construction of the National Research Council Canada (IRC/NRCC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the methodology developed to identify the least cost specifications in residential new housing constructions to achieve improved energy efficiency standards, including the "EnerGuide 80," which is a requirement of the 2012 Ontario Building Code (OBC) and beyond, ultimately reaching the net zero energy (NZE) level. The proposed methodology considers the initial capital cost and the life cycle cost implications of achieving such standards while maintaining an adequate level of thermal comfort. The results showed that, based on the life cycle cost analysis of 30 years, the combination of least cost upgrades includes improved thermal resistance in the building envelope components (ceiling, both above and below-grade walls, floors, and basement slab) and installation of the most efficient heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, resulting in 25% reduction in the estimated annual space and domestic hot water (DHW) energy consumption, while achieving the EnerGuide Rating of 82, thereby meeting the requirements of the 2012 OBC. With the installation of a photovoltaic (PV) system, the estimated profit of up to $70,038 could be achieved through Ontario's micro Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to simulate different domestic hot water (DHW) systems to study their fuel consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and 30-year life-cycle costs. This study is composed of two parts. In the first part of the study, tests were performed using the TRNSYS simulation model (TESS 2011) for seventeen different DHW systems. These systems include two-panel solar-based systems with electric and gas backup tanks, modulating gas combo boilers, on-demand gas water heaters, and conventional electric and gas hot water tanks. Results showed that a DHW system with solar preheat with TOU electric backup (0.94) with timers is the best system for energy consumption and GHG emissions. This system uses 1.22 MWh of electricity and produces 266 kg (586lb) of GHG emissions. A DHW system with a high-efficiency on-demand modulating gas combo boiler with gray-water heat recovery is the best system in terms of 30-year life-cycle cost (CAN $12,332, US$11,839). In the second part of the study, a hybrid water heating system for the Net Zero Energy Healthy Housing project located in Toronto was simulated using the TRNSYS model, and sensitivity analysis was performed. The purpose of the sensitivity analysis was to study the effects of various components in the hybrid model on electricity consumption and GHG emissions per year. In total, 96 different scenarios of the hybrid models were tested. The results conclude that a hybrid system with a gray-water heat recovery unit achieves 80% reduction in electricity cost and GHG emissions when compared with conventional systems without gray-water heat recovery units. The hybrid system with 225L (59 gal) daily hot water demand and auxiliary setpoint temperature at 60°C (140°F) has the lowest payback period. It was also concluded that the hybrid system results are not sensitive to the preheat tank size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On average, Commercial Buildings in Canada have shown little improvement in their energy balance over the last decade. A recent study assessing the progress made in designing high performance buildings in Canada i.e. consuming less than 60% of the Energy Code Base line showed a pleasant significant number of these buildings. The same study identified however only few buildings being close to net-zero and no existing net-zero commercial building. This paper wants to identify what progress have been made and what are the gaps to reach the net-zero energy target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stratified air distribution systems are increasingly being installed in Canadian buildings. Field studies have shown that existing guidelines for their design are often not followed leading to oversizing of systems. Simulation offers a design mechanism whereby the performance of a system can be predicted. This reduces the uncertainty over performance and increases the likelihood that the designed system will perform as intended and be correctly sized. In recent years several approaches and models have been developed to model stratified air distribution systems (UFAD or Displacement) in energy simulation programs. While models for UFAD are well advanced those for displacement have attracted less attention. In addition much of the research has focussed on cooling season performance, rather than heating season. The focus of this paper is displacement ventilation modelling in heating season. In the current study predictions are compared to the output from a CFD model. The results show surprisingly little variation between the different energy models in terms of temperature predictions, but a large variation in energy demands. Future work will compare these results to measured data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that stratified ventilation systems (UFAD and DV) work well for regions where buildings require year-round cooling; however there are a growing number of buildings using this approach in Canada, where buildings require heating during winter months. This paper presents results from two field studies conducted in a school equipped with a combination of displacement ventilation and radiant heating system. The results show that the measured contaminant removal effectiveness is better than that predicted in previous studies for heating conditions. In addition, key predictors of thermal comfort are also generally within limits set by ASHRAE standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the calibration of a building energy model of a university building, developed using the EnergyPlus simulation program, by comparing data monitored over the spring season, from March 20 to June 20, 2006. The building under study is the new Concordia Sciences Building, located in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The building has a total floor area of 32,000 m2 (344,445 ft2), and mainly consists of research and academic labs. This paper presents the approach used to calibrate the model, the results of calibration, as well as problems encountered throughout the process from the user's perspective. The predictions of the supply and return air temperatures, the supply airflow rate, and the whole-building cooling loads, made by the EnergyPlus program over the spring season, are in agreement with monitored data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main issues facing the supermarket refrigeration industry are the phaseout of ozone-depleting refrigerants and the improvement of refrigeration waste heat recovery. The system presented in this paper involves secondary fluid loops on both condensing and refrigerating sides, with water-to-air heat recovery heat pumps. This improved concept has demonstrated its ability to reduce by at least 82% the quantity of primary refrigerant required. It has also a considerable potential to reduce combined refrigeration and HVAC energy use in stores located in northern climates compared to multiplex refrigeration systems with more conventional heat recovery approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the preliminary measurements performed in an indoor ice rink. The results include the cooling load, the air temperature variation at several locations, the ice temperature, and the brine temperature. The measured data will be used for the verification and calibration of a new numerical model that was developed for ASHRAE Research Project RP-1289. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study to characterize design fires for commercial buildings. The study includes a survey of different stores, which was conducted to determine fire load and type of combustibles and to design representative fuel packages, medium- and full-scale testing using the fuel packages, and computer modeling. The experiments were conducted in collaboration with the Fire Research Program of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) using NRC's full-scale facilities. In total, 168 different stores were surveyed and the data collected were analyzed to determine the total fire load in each of the stores, the fire load density, and the contribution of different combustible materials to the total fire load. The survey was conducted in 2003 in the Canadian cities of Ottawa and Gatineau. The data from the conducted survey show that clothing stores occupy 30% of the total floor area of all surveyed stores, restaurants 13%, storage areas 9%, arts and crafts supplies 5%, and fast food outlets 4%. The data also show that the fire load in stores consists of a vast variation of combustibles with different contributions depending on the type of store. Analysis of the data found a clear correlation between the floor area of stores and fire load densities. The fire load density decreases as the floor area increases. Based on the survey data, a number of fuel packages were designed representing fire load densities and types of combustibles of different stores. The developed fuel packages were used to perform experiments to characterize design fires for commercial buildings. The results from the medium-scale experiments show that the fuel package representing shoe storage areas produced the highest heat release rate, followed by the fuel package representing fast-food outlets. The experimental data were analyzed to determine the relative tenability levels based on the CO and CO2 concentrations of the products of combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A research project is being conducted at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to evaluate the effectiveness of current emergency ventilation strategies to control smoke spread in the event of a fire in two road tunnels. The research study includes numerical and experimental phases. The numerical phase uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to study smoke ventilation in the tunnels. The experimental phase is used to calibrate and to partially validate the chosen CFD models and to provide the necessary initial and boundary conditions. SOLVENT, a CFD model, was used to model ventilation scenarios using existing data. The current paper presents the efforts to validate the CFD model against on-site flow and fire test measurements conducted in a 1.8 km road tunnel. The CFD model includes aerodynamically significant physical features of the tunnel and is customized to provide general roughness replicating the actual roughness in the tunnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a joint research project involving ASHRAE and the National Research Council Canada (RP-1108), the effect of fires involving communication cable installed in air-handling plenums was investigated. The project included surveys in North American office buildings to determine the type and quantities of cable in return air plenums and fire scenarios that could potentially ignite the cables. It also included fire tests performed at three scales: small, medium, and full. The bench- scale tests were conducted using a cone calorimeter In addition, medium-scale tests were conducted using a modified standard room fire test facility Tests conducted in this facility were used to determine the behavior of communications cable with exposure to air heated to 200°C, 325°C, and 450°C, as well as direct flame impingement. Finally, a series of full-scale fire tests were conducted in a full-scale facility set up specifically for this project. Tests in this facility were used to determine the behavior of communication cables in plenums with fully developed fires in the compartment below the plenum. In this paper, data from the tests are used to investigate the potential effect of fires involving cables in plenum spaces on the hazard to building occupants in compartments contaminated by smoke distributed through a building HVAC system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]