Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Residential Building Energy Use”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

A Safe Response to Renewable Energy Hazards

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and Underwriters Laboratories, LLC (UL) in conjunction with UL Solutions initiated a joint project in 2022 under an agreement with the United States Department of Energy-Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE-EERE). This project focused on two separate and important initiatives related to energy efficiency in residential buildings. Initiative 1: Fire Performance on Energy Efficient Exterior Walls. Initiative 2: Firefighting Tactics in Residential Properties with Building Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The project’s first initiative addresses concerns surrounding new technologies with enhanced, energy-efficient exterior walls installed on residential properties. The concerns of fire rapidly traveling vertically up the exterior of these walls were examined. This addressed a growing concern from the first responder community that many times, the fires on the exterior of residential buildings have already evolved into an attic fire by the time of arrival – making it problematic to address the fire scenario. The test plan for Initiative 1 incorporated a modified version of an American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) test method, ASTM E2707, Standard Test Method for Determining Fire Penetration of Exterior Wall Assemblies Using a Direct Flame Impingement Exposure, as the foundation of the research. The test method involved a wall structure intended to represent retrofit construction to evaluate how fire would spread vertically or laterally. The second aspect of the UL-IAFF Project focuses on the fire service response to Residential Battery Energy Storage System (RBESS) incidents. These simulation tests were constructed in the large-scale fire test facility at UL Solutions’ Northbrook, IL campus. A baseline test was conducted that involved a test structure with no batteries—shelving units populated with standardized commodities, representing a typical garage with cellulosic and plastic contents. Three additional tests have been conducted to generate data with the contribution of energy storage system (ESS) batteries to compare fire and explosion hazards against the baseline test. Through this work, fire service tactical considerations can be explored. From the data, the team can determine 1) the visual indicators of a residential fire that has involved an RBESS (or, potentially, other large batteries) and 2) the impact of fire service-initiated ventilation of the structure on the fire conditions and explosion risks.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

U.S. Industrial and Commercial Motor System Market Assessment Report Volume 1: Characteristics of the Installed Base

Motor systems are an integral part of our industrial and commercial facilities. They provide the motive force behind the fans, pumps, compressors, chillers, and conveyors in these facilities. Given their centrality to any facility’s operations, they are a critical energy end use to understand, particularly when developing technologies and policies to meet sustainability goals, improve productivity, and enhance resilience. In the late 1990s, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducted two seminal studies to better understand the installed stock and energy savings opportunities of industrial and commercial motor systems. In the industrial sector, The United States Industrial Electric Motor Systems Market Opportunities Assessment used primary data collected through onsite assessments and led to a greater understanding of the installed base of motor systems, their characteristics, and the opportunities for energy savings (U.S. Department of Energy, 2002). Notable findings included the following: Industrial motor systems consumed 679 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 1994, representing 23 percent of U.S. electricity consumption. Cost-effective energy efficiency measures could result in 62-104 billion kWh of energy savings annually. Sixty-two percent of the energy savings potential was from fan, pump, and compressor end use equipment. Nearly half of motor system electricity consumption was attributable to approximately 3,500 facilities, or 1.5 percent of U.S. manufacturing facilities. Opportunities for Energy Savings in the Residential and Commercial Sectors with High Efficiency Electric Motors provided an evaluation of the installed stock of motor driven equipment in U.S. commercial and residential buildings and opportunities for utilization of high efficiency motors and variable speed technologies (Arthur D. Little, 1999). Notable findings included the following: Commercial motor systems consumed 343 billion kWh in 1995, with refrigeration and space conditioning constituting 93 percent of the total. Cost-effective energy efficiency measures could result in 51 billion kWh of energy savings annually. Due in no small part to these seminal studies, motor system technologies and usage characteristics have changed drastically since the late 1990s. Greater awareness of cost-effective strategies for reducing motor system electricity consumption have been developed and deployed. This includes several software tools, literature, and utility and government programs promoting energy efficiency improvements in motor driven systems. Additionally, several rounds of energy efficiency standards have been enacted, resulting in improved installed motor efficiency. The cost of variable speed drives has dropped substantially, and combined with utility rebate programs, has led to their greater adoption. Further, since these results were published, the U.S. manufacturing sector has undergone a massive transformation. Due to global competition, some sectors have relocated operations overseas. Others have brought operations onshore to avail low cost and abundant natural gas. Additionally, automation and robotics have pervaded the entire sector. Consequently, these two reports likely do not represent the current state of motor driven systems in U.S. industrial and commercial facilities. As cited in recent studies, the lack of current information on motor system electricity consumption and use characteristics limits the ability to conduct analysis on energy savings potential, develop technologies to address energy and productivity gaps, and develop programs to promote energy efficiency practices and technologies for motor systems (International Energy Agency, 2007; UNIDO, 2010; McKane and Hasanbeigi, 2011; Waide and Brunner, 2011). Specifically, the lack of information affects a range of stakeholders: Governments must rely on outdated information when setting research agendas, developing policies, and designing energy efficiency programs and offerings. Utilities and energy efficiency programs cannot identify the current market needs or potential impact when designing rebate and energy efficiency programs. Electric grid planners cannot identify motor system usage characteristics when developing plans to support the resilience of the electric grid. Manufacturers of motors, motor driven equipment, and drives are hampered when developing technologies to meet the needs of their market. Motor system end users are limited in their ability to identify energy saving opportunities within their own facilities because they do not have reliable benchmark information. In response to the lack of current information and analysis on industrial and commercial motor systems, the DOE initiated an update to these two studies. Launched in 2016 and led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the Motor System Market Assessment (MSMA) provides an updated, more comprehensive assessment of the installed stock of motor systems in both the industrial and commercial sectors, a review of the supply chains supporting motor and drives in the U.S., and the performance improvement opportunity available from using best available technologies and maintenance and operation practices. The outcomes of the MSMA are documented in three U.S. Industrial and Commercial Motor System Market Assessment reports, with this report being the first listed: 1. Volume 1: Characteristics of the Installed Base (this report) documents the findings on the installed base of motor systems in the U.S. industrial and commercial sectors. Quantification of energy savings potential is not documented in this report but in Volume 3. 2. Volume 2: Motors and Drives Supply Chain Review reviews the state of supply chains for motors and drives installed in U.S. industrial and commercial facilities, focusing on advanced motor and drive technologies and their constituent materials. 3. Volume 3: Energy Savings Opportunity analyzes the energy performance improvement opportunity for the installed base of U.S. industrial and commercial motor systems. This report has been prepared as a reference for motor system stakeholders. It provides factual information as could be best determined by the assessment results and avoids speculating on any findings.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

National Modeling of Geothermal District Energy Systems with Ambient-Temperature Loops Using dGeo

Geothermal district energy systems (DES) with ambient-temperature loops, also known as thermal energy networks, are one option for decarbonizing space heating and cooling loads. Geothermal fifth-generation DES include an "ambient" temperature thermal loop that connects heat pumps at each building with thermal balancing sources such as geothermal borehole fields. Heating and cooling are provided via a water-source heat pump at each end-user. This project seeks to analyze the nationwide potential for ambient-temperature loop districts by creating a new module within the Distributed Geothermal Market Demand Model (dGeo). dGeo is an agent-based modeling tool for distributed geothermal resources; it can investigate potential on a nationwide or statewide scale using geospatial data for all 50 states and thermal demands for existing buildings. This process allows for high-level estimates of technical and economic potential for ambient-temperature loop districts across the United States. A lookup table was created using GHEDesigner to size borehole fields for different thermal loads and ground conditions experienced across the country. A cost and financing structure, along with incentives, were applied. Cost estimates include costs for the distribution network, borehole field installation and operation, and circulation pump operation, while savings are calculated based on energy bills for building owners (agents). This newly developed module can be used for assessing which areas of the country have the highest potential for agent benefits from ambient-temperature loop installation and assess the impact of future cost and price scenarios. Initial results for statewide analysis (for Vermont) and nationwide (for United States) are provided. Future work includes expanding the module to consider mixed residential and commercial districts as well as evaluating multiple cost scenarios.

ambient-temperature loop↗
DOE OSTI2026

Making Small-Volume Heat Pump Water Heaters Larger: A Design Framework for Integrated Phase Change Material Heat Exchangers

Those that use electricity for water heating, the majority use resistive elements rather than heat pump water heaters (HPWHs), the latter of which use 60-70% less energy than the former. One major barrier to wider HPWH adoption is the added equipment required, which prevents current 50-80-gallon tanks on the market from fitting into smaller utility closets sized for 30-40 gallons, such as those found in manufactured housing. Additionally, these smaller HPWHs tend to underperform relative to their larger counterparts. One solution that addresses both space and performance concerns is thermal energy storage, and in particular, phase change materials (PCMs). PCMs have been studied extensively in building envelope and HVAC systems, but remain a nascent technology in residential water heating. While water itself has a uniquely high energy storage capacity, PCMs have an even higher energy storage density, thus providing the potential to elevate the performance of 40-gallon HPWHs to that of 50-gallon or larger tanks. This research is part of a larger project that seeks to utilize thermal energy storage to enable decarbonized water heating in low-income communities. In this study, we outline the design process used to produce novel PCM heat exchangers for use in small-volume HPWH tanks, including the identification of design constraints and performance targets relevant to real-world applications. In order to ensure optimal PCM utilization and tank storage capacity, we focus here on co-maximizing surface area and PCM volume in the heat exchangers; therefore, this research targets triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) lattices. TPMS lattices boast enhanced heat transfer capabilities compared to traditional heat exchanger geometries and offer highly tailorable designs; thus, they pair well with the growing field of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. Starting with a suite of TPMS lattices, we demonstrate a systematic approach for narrowing down feasible designs that comply with identified constraints while meeting PCM performance objectives.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Intelligent Energy Optimizer for Residential Buildings

Demand-side management in the buildings is essential for meeting grid flexibility needs in a highly renewable energy scenario. Appliance load monitoring helps decision making for demand-side management by providing the information on operation status/power consumption from different appliances in the buildings. Nonintrusive load monitoring (NILM) is an attractive option for appliance load monitoring using because it has lower cost for sensors and helps mitigate privacy concerns. In this study, the team used an event detection technique followed by two different methods for event classification. The results from k-means clustering showed that the events from a single appliance are often distributed in multiple clusters. Thus, the unsupervised method of NILM using k-means clustering used in this study was not very suitable for load disaggregation. The results from NILM showed that the F1 score for event classification was 0.77 for a heat pump water heater and very low for other appliances using the rule-based classification.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS1978

Solar heating and cooling system design and development

Application surveys and performance studies were conducted to determine a solar heating and hot water configuration that could be used in a variety of applications, and to identify subsystem modules that could be utilized in a building block fashion to adapt hardware items to single and multi-family residential and commercial systems. Topics discussed include: subsystem development for the solar collectors, controls, other components, energy management module, and the heating system configuration test. Operational tests conducted at an Illinois farmhouse, and a YWCA in Spokane, Washington are discussed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1983

Economic competitiveness of fuel cell onsite integrated energy systems

The economic competitiveness of fuel cell onsite integrated energy systems (OS/IES) in residential and commercial buildings is examined. The analysis is carried out for three different buildings with each building assumed to be at three geographic locations spanning a range of climatic conditions. Numerous design options and operating strategies are evaluated and two economic criteria are used to measure economic performance. In general the results show that fuel cell OS/IES's are competitive in most regions of the country if the OS/IES is properly designed. The preferred design is grid connected, makes effective use of the fuel cell's thermal output, and has a fuel cell powerplant sized for the building's base electrical load.

Bollenbacher, G.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Empirical Validation of Multi-Zone HVAC System Model: Evaluation of Existing Infiltration Models used in Building Energy Simulation

Infiltration can have a significant impact on building loads. Studies have shown that infiltration can account for 15-40% of annual space conditioning needs in commercial buildings (Emmerich et al. 2019; Younes et al. 2012). The driving force of infiltration is the pressure difference across the building envelope caused by wind, the stack effect (known as buoyancy effect), and the operation of ventilation equipment. Wind pressure is governed by wind direction, speed, building shape, and other structures around the building. The stack effect is a function of the building height and air density differences of ambient air (Han, 2015). The effect of wind is dominant in low-rise residential buildings, and the stack effect is dominant in highrise buildings (ASHRAE 2017). In building energy simulation programs (e.g., EnergyPlus), various empirical infiltration models (e.g., the effective leakage area model, the flow coefficient model) are available to simulate infiltration rates. To help users in selecting a proper infiltration model for modeling of the two-story Flexible Research Platform (FRP), the team evaluates the existing infiltration models in EnergyPlus based on field measurements from the FRP. The blower door and tracer gas decay tests were performed in the FRP. The blower door test result was used to estimate input parameters required in the infiltration models. The actual infiltration rates were estimated with the tracer gas decay test results.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Model America: Data and Models for every U.S. Building

The 5-year goal of the “Model America” concept was to generate a model of every building in the United States. This data repository delivers on that goal with "Model America v1". Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed the Automatic Building Energy Modeling (AutoBEM) software suite to process multiple types of data, extract building-specific descriptors, generate building energy models, and simulate them on High Performance Computing (HPC) resources. For more information, see AutoBEM-related publications (bit.ly/AutoBEM). There were 125,715,609 buildings detected in the United States. Of this number, 122,146,671 (97.2%) buildings resulted in a successful generation and simulation of a building energy model. This dataset includes the full 125 million buildings. Future updates may include additional buildings, data improvements, or other algorithmic model enhancements in "Model America v2". This dataset contains OSM and IDF zip files for every U.S. county. Each zip file contains the generated buildings from that county. The .csv input data contains the following data fields: 1. ID - the Unique Building Identifier (UBID), generated using the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) BuildingID framework 2. Centroid - building center location in latitude/longitude (from Footprint2D) 3. Footprint2D - building polygon of 2D footprint (lat1/lon1_lat2/lon2_...) 4. State_abbr - state name 5. Area - estimate of total conditioned floor area (ft2) 6. Area2D - footprint area (ft2) 7. Height - building height (ft) 8. NumFloors - number of floors (above-grade) 9. WWR_surfaces - percent of each facade (pair of points from Footprint2D) covered by fenestration/windows (average 14.5% for residential, 40% for commercial buildings) 10. CZ - ASHRAE Climate Zone designation 11. BuildingType - DOE prototype building designation (IECC=residential) as implemented by OpenStudio-standards 12. Standard - building vintage This data is made free and openly available in hopes of stimulating any simulation-informed use case. Data is provided as-is with no warranties, express or implied, regarding fitness for a particular purpose. We wish to thank our sponsors which include Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD), U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office (BTO), Office of Electricity (OE), Biological and Environmental Research (BER), and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Update (September 23, 2025): We corrected the ID field in all state-level.csv input files to ensure one-to-one consistency with the corresponding .osm and .idf output files. The schema and file structure are unchanged; only the values in the ID column were modified. No files were added or removed, and the .zip bundles (containing .osm / .idf) are unchanged. The corrected .csv inputs were re-extracted in March 2025 from the original data generated ~ 2021 (Theta supercomputer runs), and published here to align input IDs with model outputs. Update (September 6, 2026): The Model America dataset was updated to replace the previous building ID field with the Unique Building Identifier (UBID), using the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) BuildingID framework. UBIDs provide standardized, location-based identifiers for individual building footprints and improve interoperability with other building and geospatial datasets. The data files containing the previous building identifiers were updated to include UBIDs. This update standardizes building identification; the underlying Model America building characteristics and energy simulation results were not recomputed as part of this update.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Residential Battery Modeling for Control-Oriented Techno-Economic Studies: Preprint

Electrochemical batteries, which serve as electric energy storage devices, are becoming increasingly popular among residential buildings that incorporate solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to help meet their energy needs. Battery economics are affected by performance degradation over time, and managing this degradation can help extend the battery's lifespan. The tradeoff between operational costs/benefits and managing battery degradation is of significant research interest. One of the key factors for assessing battery degradation is the dispatch strategy used to control the charging and discharging of the battery. Conventional dispatch strategies typically use simple rule-based methods, and these overly aggressive charging/discharging cycles can significantly reduce a battery’s life span. Our research seeks to develop optimized dispatch strategies for grid-connected PV homes with a goal of extending battery life while simultaneously taking into consideration utility costs and occupant comfort. To achieve this goal, we adapted lithium-ion battery life- and cyclic-degradation models for use in high-fidelity building simulations, so whole-building and grid-interactive controllers can dispatch the batteries along with other flexible loads. With the help of a co-simulation platform, we performed a simulation study to compute the optimized dispatch strategies for relevant operating conditions brought about by changing geographical locations, weather conditions, and utility pricing. Comparing the optimized strategies with the conventional strategies resulted in a >50% decrease in capacity degradation and >10% average reduction in operational costs during the months of January and July in Fort Collins, Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; and Portland, Oregon.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Short-Term Forecasting of Thermostatic and Residential Loads Using Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Networks

Internet of Things (IoT) devices in smart grids enable intelligent energy management for grid managers and personalized energy services for consumers. Investigating a smart grid with IoT devices requires a simulation framework with IoT devices modeling. However, there lack comprehensive study on the modeling of IoT devices in smart grids. This paper investigates the IoT device modeling of a thermostatic load and implements the recurrent neural networks model for short-term load forecasting in this IoT-based thermostatic load. The recurrent neural network structure is leveraged to build a load forecasting model on temporal correlation. The temporal recurrent neural network layers including long short-term memory cells are employed to learn the data from both the simulation platform and New South Wales residential datasets. The simulation results are provided for demonstration.

electric load forecasting↗
NASA NTRS1978

Residential solar-heating system

Complete residential solar-heating and hot-water system, when installed in highly-insulated energy-saver home, can supply large percentage of total energy demand for space heating and domestic hot water. System which uses water-heating energy storage can be scaled to meet requirements of building in which it is installed.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2026

An Online Tool for Preliminary Design and Techno-Economic Analysis of District Geothermal Heating and Cooling Systems

District geothermal heating and cooling systems (DGHCS) have significant benefits for reducing energy consumption as well as building- and grid-level peak electric demand. Currently, no publicly available tools are available to effectively design and conduct techno-economic analysis of DGHCS. GeoWISE was originally developed for preliminary design and techno-economic analysis of geothermal heating and cooling systems in an individual commercial or residential building. This paper introduces recent upgrades of GeoWISE that allow users to design and conduct techno-economic analysis of DGHCS. Several new features are implemented in GeoWISE to allow selection and specification of multiple new or existing buildings. A database of information for over 125 million existing U.S. buildings was used in GeoWISE that allows users easily locate existing buildings of interest based on street addresses, and optionally edit information of the buildings (e.g., footprint, vintage, principal functions, number of floors, window-to-wall ratio). Unique energy simulation models of the selected buildings are then automatically created using the Automatic Building Energy Modeling (AutoBEM) and EnergyPlus simulations are performed to predict thermal loads of the buildings. A simplified DGHCS is then designed and simulated to predict its energy use. A central borehole heat exchanger (BHE) of the DGHCS is sized using the RowWise algorithm of GHEDesigner to meet the thermal loads within user-specified land areas for installing BHE. The upgraded GeoWISE reports the needed capacity of heating and cooling equipment in each building, design of the central BHE, energy consumption reduction, and energy cost saving resulting from using DGHCS compared with conventional HVAC systems. A case study is showcased using the upgraded GeoWISE to design and conduct techno-economic analysis of a simplified DGHCS.

Prem Anand Jayaprabha, Jyothis Anand [ORNL] (ORCID↗
DOE OSTI2024

Building efficiency, electrification, and distributed solar PV bill savings under time-based retail rate designs

Building energy technologies and distributed generation, including energy efficiency (EE), distributed solar PV (DPV), and building electrification, are critical to meeting decarbonization goals. Rate design may play an important role in determining the customer economics of adopting these technologies, but it is unclear whether – and to what extent – current rate design trends support or impede progress toward these goals. In this study, we answer these questions by quantifying the range of residential customer bill impacts of EE, DPV, and building electrification investments under current and emerging time-based retail electricity rate designs (i.e., time-of-use, event-based pricing, coincident demand charges, and real time pricing). We also compare these customer bill savings to power system and societal benefits and assess how well the investments are compensated relative to the societal value they provide.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Contextually Supervised Optimization-Based HVAC Load Disaggregation Methodology

This paper presents a novel contextually supervised optimization-based approach for disaggregating heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) loads using smart meter or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition data. To disaggregate the load into HVAC loads, large and infrequently used loads (LIUL), and base loads, we formulate an optimization problem to minimize a set of five loss terms, consisting of the reconstruction errors of the overall load profile, the ramp rate losses, and three distinct loss functions linked with the HVAC load, base load, and LIUL, respectively. To enhance accuracy, we incorporate two forms of contextual information into the problem formulation. First, we utilize mutual information to estimate HVAC energy consumption. Second, we employ a base load dictionary to constrain HVAC load estimation errors. The obtained HVAC load profiles are fine-tuned by abnormal ramp detection followed by binary hypothesis testing. Here, the proposed method is developed and tested using sub-metered residential and commercial building data. Simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms existing methods across various data resolutions and load aggregation levels, showing excellent transferability and generalizability.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Impact analysis of heating electrification in US buildings with geothermal heat pumps

Few studies have investigated the impacts of large-scale deployment of geothermal heat pumps (GHPs, also called ground source heat pumps) on the electric grid. GHPs utilize the ground as a heat source to warm buildings more efficiently than other space-heating systems. The coupling with the ground offers seasonal thermal storage so that GHPs can also cool buildings in summer more efficiently than other space-cooling systems. This study simulated the performance of GHP systems for various commercial and residential buildings in 15 climate zones in the United States. Combined with the latest End-Use Load Profiles of the US building stock and grid modeling, this study aims to assess the impacts of a national deployment of GHP systems on the US electric grid in terms of energy consumption, emissions, and operational resilience. The preliminary results show that the GHP deployment can save 429 billion kWh of electricity (a 19% reduction from baseline) and reduce carbon emissions by 496 million tons per year (a 31 % reduction from baseline). A geographical view of the results indicates that retrofitting existing HVAC systems with new GHP systems can lead to further reductions in annual electricity consumption and peak electricity demand in the southern regions of the United States than in other parts of the country. On the other hand, GHP retrofits result in higher percentages of site energy savings and carbon emission reduction in the north (cold climates) than in the south (warm climates).

Liu, Xiaobing↗
DOE OSTI2024

Screening Tool for Equitable Adoption and Deployment of Solar (STEADy Solar)

The Screening Tool for Equitable Adoption and DeploYment of Solar (STEADy Solar) is a database and mapping tool designed to promoting clean energy investments for low-income communities across the United States. The tool indicates locations that may be eligible for the Investment Tax Credit bonus adders defined in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and combines this information with demographics, social vulnerability, solar technical potential, solar economics (modeled net present value), and building counts by use-type. It can be used by states, municipalities, community-based organizations, developers, and researchers to identify sites where solar projects may be economical and where federal incentives may be available to support equitable adoption of solar. Specific values include: Areas eligible for the Energy Communities Tax Credit Bonus Program (including brownfield site counts) Areas eligible for the Low Income Communities Bonus Credit Program (including Tribal Lands, and covered affordable housing project counts) Areas categorized as disadvantaged by Justice40 Commercial and Residential Solar economics characterized by the Net Present Value and Simple Payback Period Total Population, Race, and Ethnicity Median Household Income, Poverty rate, Household Tenure Social Vulnerability Count of buildings, developable rooftop solar capacity (in kWdc) and estimated annual generation potential (in kWh) on four building types: Government General Services, Government Emergency Response, Grade Schools, and Colleges/Universities. The linked report describes the STEADy dataset metadata and presents high level insights from the data. The downloadable and formatted excel dataset makes it easy for users to gain insights for their locations. Supporting .csv and shapefiles provide users with the full data to run their own analyses on equitable solar siting.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1978

Design and operation of a solar heating and cooling system for a residential size building

The first year of operation of solar house is discussed. Selected design information, together with a brief system description is included. The house was equipped with an integrated solar heating and cooling system which uses fully automated state-of-the art. Evaluation of the data indicate that the solar house heating and cooling system is capable of supplying nearly 100 percent of the thermal energy required for heating and approximately 50 percent of the thermal energy required to operate the absorption cycle air conditioner.

Littles, J. W.↗