Conference Paper

Proceedings of SimBuild Conference 2024

Development of a Prototype Energy Modeling Framework for Residential Buildings in Rural Alaska

Patricia Guillante ¹, Christiana Kiesling ¹, Janie Cooper ¹, Zachary Gioppo ¹, Kristen Cetin ¹, Cristina Poleacovschi ^2
1 Michigan State University, United States of America
² Iowa State University

Abstract: Communities in rural Alaska face many housing challenges. Existing housing is often overcrowded, outdated, and not well designed for extreme weather conditions experienced in the arctic climate. In addition, heating oil and electricity are notably higher than average of the U.S. Increases in weather extremes and climate change have impacted Native Alaskan housing exacerbating energy inefficiencies and energy burden and impacting indoor air quality. Some retrofits through weatherization programs have been implemented and have helped promote improvements in existing housing in these communities. However, more alternatives are needed to help support housing improvements in these highly energy burdened areas. In order to address these challenges and improve energy efficiency, building energy simulation is a tool that can be used to estimate energy consumption of homes, and to estimate energy savings potential resulting from energy efficiency improvements both for individual and groups of homes. It can also be used to help identify the most effective energy efficiency measures to implement according to community needs. This study aims to develop a residential building prototype model for modeling rural communities in Alaska. This is used to evaluate energy consumption and preliminary energy savings potential estimates of these existing homes.
Keywords: Residential buildings, Energy efficiency, Energy modeling, Rural communities
Pages: 588 - 597
Paper: