Role of Solar Water Heating in Multifamily Zero Energy Homes

Aldrich, Robb¹  Williamson, James¹ 

[1] Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States)

关键词: CARB;    Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings;    SWA;    Steven Winter Associates;    Building America;    residential buildings;    residential;    multifamily;    solar thermal;    solar domestic hot water;    SDHW;    zero;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1247460
RP-ID  :  NREL/SR--5500-65405
RP-ID  :  DOE/GO--102016-4825
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1247460

学科分类：能源（综合）

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Solar domestic hot water (SDHW) systems have been installed on buildings for decades, but because of relatively high costs they have not achieved significant market penetration in most of the country. As more buildings move towards zero net energy consumption, however, many designers and developers are looking more closely at SDHW. In multifamily buildings especially, SDHW may be more practical for several reasons: 1) When designing for zero net energy consumption, solar water heating may be part of the lowest cost approach to meet water heating loads; 2) Because of better scale, SDHW systems in multifamily buildings cost significantly less per dwelling than in single-family homes; 3) Many low-load buildings are moving away from fossil fuels entirely. SDHW savings are substantially greater when displacing electric resistance water heating; and 4) In addition to federal tax incentives, some states have substantial financial incentives that dramatically reduce the costs (or increase the benefits) of SDHW systems in multifamily buildings. With support from the U.S. DOE Building America program, the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) worked with a developer in western Massachusetts to evaluate a SDHW system on a 12-unit apartment building. Olive Street Development completed construction in spring of 2014, and CARB has been monitoring performance of the water heating systems since May 2014.