The Energy Efficiency Lab Home is a highly in-depth research effort. We've put in years of work and hundreds of hours of research to reach this point, and the process of designing and building the house has already paid off in what we've learned.
But we've got a lot more to find out from our house, which is why we call it a "lab home." We've modeled the technical systems and have an idea of how they'll perform, but the proof will be in the numbers. The plan is to monitor every aspect of its performance for three years, unoccupied, and then continue to monitor it for two more years after the first homeowners move in.
Of course we're going to be on-site doing tests and keeping an eye on things during that time, but a lot of the information we collect will come from sensors--more than 300 of them.
Five different types of sensors embedded in every part of the Lab Home--just what are they doing? They're collecting data on how all the house systems, and the house itself, is performing.
While the house is unoccupied, we have ways of simulating almost any situation that might arise for an actual family. Our testing will focus on energy efficiency, but will also look at measuring the comfort, durability and health of our lab home and its systems.
One of the most important areas we'll be looking at is how the HVAC system and our home's airtight enclosure work together. Although a highly insulated enclosure is vital to energy efficiency, it can also have unwanted consequences, like condensation forming inside wall assemblies in extreme weather. Our monitors will tell us if moisture becomes an issue, and we can respond by experimenting with different measures to correct it. Although our ventilation system should provide plenty of fresh air, we'll also be checking to make sure air quality remains high.
During the first three years, we'll also alternate the use and testing of our redundant systems. For example, we installed three different HVAC duct systems, each using a different material. We'll switch among them and get specific answers about how effectively they deliver and throw air and which might be best. In the same way, we'll be able to study what combination of lighting is most efficient and which of the two varieties of heat pump wells perform better.
Once the homeowners move in, we'll continue our research with their permission, of course. Our sensors will tell us a lot about what is happening inside the house and how it impacts every system.
Part of the advantage of monitoring the house over a period of 5 years is that we'll get a good picture of how the house and its systems respond to different seasons over a long period of time and under diverse circumstances. The wider our data set, the more reliable and accurate our research will be. We've run the numbers on paper, and now it's time to see how our choices perform in the real world to deliver energy savings, comfort and overall performance.
