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Proceedings of SimBuild Conference 2004: 1st conference of IBPSA-USA

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Analysis of Air-Conditioning Options for Fourteen Existing Schools in Colorado

Tracy Phillips, Donald J. Frey, V. Robert Salcido
Architectural Energy Corporation, Boulder, Colorado

Abstract: This paper describes the process used to simulate the performance, energy, and economic impact of four different AC system types selected for investiagtion at fourteen schools in a Colorado School District using the DOE-2 building energy simulation. The AC systems investigated included direct expansion, chilled water, indirect evaporative, and geoexchange systems. The project encountered many interesting challenges, including assessment of potential energy conservation measures that would affect the cooling load, accurately modeling the geoexchange systems, assessment of the impact that the increased energy use would have on electricity billing rates, and other miscellaneous modeling challenges. All of these challenges were overcome in one form or another, and the results presented interesting insight into the comparative performance of these four system types at different schools, regarding initial installation costs, annual energy costs, and life-cycle costs. These simulation results will be used to make highly informed decisions about cost-effective energy conservation and AC system options in these schools, and help the Distrcit decide what to finance from their operations budget, how much money to ask for from a bond issue, and what to include as part of a performance contract.
Pages: 1 - 9
Paper:
simbuild2004_SB04T3A2