Create and share a Psychometric chart for your project location

I select the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve as my project location for my assignment because the views are great and there is a lake. In addition, I would like build my building on flat ground so that my solar inclined roof can receive a respectful amount of solar. I also analyze the climate conditons near the site (please see below sections).

*There is a lake next to my project and I would like to utilize it to save my annual energy. I wish I can design the HVAC or ventilation system to circulate the stable lake water.

From the overall climate analysis, we can see the wind mostly comes from west, sometimes come from south. Hence, we may use one or two wind turbine to generate electricity to circulate the water or reverse electricity bill. For rainwater collection feature,

We need to address the uncomfortable temperatures during whole year. Hence, I prepare to use passive heating, and water thermal mass to store the energy during the day. After the sun set, the heat can be released through the mass to the room to save heating bill. In addition, I also plan to design the overhang to let the solar energy enter the building.

The sun radiation is a little bit low, and this may compromise the PV efficiency. Further investigation would be needed to see how many PV panels are required. We would not worry about the humidity since the location is at California and the leeward slope side.

We also need to consider the cloudy weather for our PV efficiency.

As we predicted from weather data, We need high thermal mass and passive solar design to achieve comfort level 72%.

Test 2 different alternative conceptual building forms using:

Insight analysis to predict the energy performance each of the forms

By reducing three important factors (Lighting, plug load, operating schedule), we can see our EUI reduced significantly. In addtion to thsoe factors, there are some other important factors we need to consider (demonstrated in next sections below).

Solar insolation analysis to predict the solar radiation on the surfaces of the forms

Project 1

Project 2

We can see both buildings can receive a very well of solar energy from the roof and wall, and this contributes to a higher energy efficiency if we use PV panels. However, This also means that our building will face cooling load problems since the heat can penetrate the roof into room, and our HVAC system can be stressful. Consequently, selecting project 1 option would be better since it has smaller surface area, and thhere is a courtyear undercovered by the second floor, and people can chill at there.

Post images of the design alternatives that you modeled and the results of the analyses

Project 2

Project 1

Explain your reasoning and the tradeoffs that influenced your decision about which design option to move forward with

I found that the project 2 has large roof surface which can receive a lot of heat from the solar, and its materials are exposure to the Sun significantly. If we use more insulation materials for roof, walls, and windows, our building cost and operating cost would be greater. Hence, selecting the project 2 (building without courtyard is a better options). Although the project 1 has large roof area we can use it for PV panel and plant, rainwater collection, the capacity of HAVC for cooling would be very high considering the solar energy will penetrate the building insulation. More importantly, if we considering using the sustainable materials, the engineering properties are usually very low and we need to deal with that problem. Therefore, selecting project 1 is a smart choice.

For 4 units

• Given the conceptual form that you’ll be carrying forward, use Insight to determine the most important factors and their values that could deliver these performance thresholds:
• Architecture 2030
• Net Zero (if possible) or the best performance reasonably achievable

The following factors are important to change our EUI significantly (wall, window ratio, PV payback and area). The changes of energy consumption are critical if we adjust those factor in Insight. In addition, our building did not meet the architecture 2030 goal, but we can achieve it easily if we slightly calibrate those parameters.

As we can see if we add more than 60% of 10 year payback PV, our EUI can achieve the architecture 2030 goal. Same result can be observed if we calibrate the wall material, window ratio.

Above results are automatically generated by Insight if we set scenario is architecture 2030. By looking through the changed parameters, I think it is not possible to restrict all building materials. We can achieve that goal by calibrate different parameters.

The important factors to affect the net zero is the PV system. If we can use all efficient materials for the buildings and utilize the solar panels efficiently, the PV system can generate the energy more than we consume. This is ideal, but it is quite expensive option. First we need to use most insulated materials, and a lot of PV panels. Obviously, the payback year would be significant. Hence, net zero is a expensive option but environment-friendly option.