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DOE OSTI2023

Automatic Building Energy Modeling (AutoBEM)

AutoBEM provides automated building energy modeling for quantifying energy, demand, emissions, and cost reductions for over 1 million buildings per hour. It creates a digital twin energy model of a building from a set of descriptors. Benefits include: Scale - has been used to simulate every building in the U.S. Speed - fastest creation and simulation of energy models for buildings. Accuracy - validated against 15-minute data for 178,000 buildings as well as multiple cities.

New, JoshuaR↗

DOE OSTI2019

Community Energy by Design: A Simulation-Based Design Workflow Using Measured Data Clustering to Calibrate Urban Building Energy Models (UBEMs)

This paper presents a workflow that informs urban design decisions using measured data clustering to calibrate urban building energy models. The method's goal is to support urban design in terms of form, building systems configurations, as well as influencing user behavior aspects in the built environment through a systemic analysis of measured data to develop reliable future-case design scenario energy models. Detailed data on appliance-level electricity use are employed via data clustering to calibrate a urban building energy model for the Mueller community in Austin, TX, USA. The data were collected by the Pecan Street Institute for a year in 2014 from consumers in Austin and other surrounding cities. First, collected energy data were restructured and cleaned from corrupt and/or missing information. Second, in order to identify common energy use patterns, a model-based clustering algorithm for functional data was applied. Behavioral/usage profiles are determined through clustering and translated into usage schedules and behaviors. As a result, an urban building energy model built in the urban modeling interface (umi) was calibrated, with fully calibrated and semi-calibrated buildings, within a maximum calibration error margin of 14% for daily-scale averages. Finally, an illustration of calibrated-urban building energy model design case scenarios is presented, and implications on community energy potential effects are discussed.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2026

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Building Envelope Library (ORNOBEL)

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Building Envelope Library (ORNOBEL) is a collection of dense exterior building-facade point clouds acquired using a survey-grade terrestrial laser scanner. Each file represents an individual facade from a building on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) campus or in Knoxville, Tennessee, with an average point-cloud resolution of approximately 3 mm. The points in each facade are semantically labeled into three classes: (1) window/door, representing openings in the building envelope; (2) wall, representing planar opaque envelope surfaces; and (3) other, representing the remaining facade-adjacent elements, architectural features, and protrusions. ORNOBEL supports the development, training, and evaluation of advanced deep-learning methods for automated building-envelope segmentation, geometric reconstruction, and building information modeling (BIM).

Maldonado Puente, Bryan [ORNL] (ORCID:000000033880↗

DOE OSTI2018

Energy-saving technologies for building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems

Buildings are responsible for about 38-quadrillion BTU of the total energy in the U.S. at present. The energy demands from buildings keep increasing remarkably to meet the improving life level and the needs of occupants' thermal comfort in the future. Therefore, the developments of high-performance building and efficient building energy systems are highly needed to address the challenges of the climate changes and energy depletion. In this paper, we provide a critical review of the studies on energy-saving technologies for building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. We start with the heat recovery technologies applied to HVAC systems. We continue with the reviews on energy-efficient technologies in heating, cooling, and air dehumidification. After a brief background, we focus on the aspects of those systems: advanced materials, component and system design, and system performance. We highlight the recently emergent design, modeling, and experimental research on those technologies and provide the suggestions and outlook for future research and development of energy-efficient building HVAC systems.

Qu, Ming↗

DOE OSTI2025

Extraction and Analysis of Time Series Data from Building Automation Systems Using Large Language Models

Semantic schemas like Haystack 4, Brick and ASHRAE standard 223 enable the structured, standardized, and machine-readable representation of building data, facilitating interoperability, data integration, and advanced analytics. However, extracting information from these models requires specialized expertise in SPARQL and other programming languages, skills that are not commonly found among building professionals. Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, enable the construction of queries using natural language, making it easier for individuals to interact with these systems in a manner that resembles everyday speech. However, these methods have not yet been tested on building semantic ontologies. This paper introduces a novel workflow and tool for enabling users to ask questions about a specific building's data, using natural language and receive answers automatically generated by GPT-4o. Our approach integrates semantic ontologies with advanced LLM capabilities to automate three critical steps: (1) generating SPARQL queries to retrieve time series references from ontological models, (2) extracting the corresponding time series data from the Building Automation System, and (3) performing computations and visualizations tailored to the user's query. The proposed method simplifies access to BAS data, allowing both domain experts and non-specialists to conduct sophisticated analyses without needing extensive technical knowledge of semantic web technologies. By demonstrating this pipeline, we facilitate more accessible and scalable data-driven decision-making in building operations and management.

Mulayim, Ozan Baris↗

DOE OSTI2022

SolarPlus Optimizer: Integrated Control of Solar, Batteries, and Flexible Loads for Small Commercial Buildings

Building-level microgrids may be a key strategy to unlock the combined potential of flexible loads, renewable generation, and energy storage. However, few software options exist for integrated control of building loads and other distributed energy resources at this scale. The commercial software solutions on the market can force customers to adopt one particular ecosystem of products, thus limiting consumer choice. The SolarPlus Optimizer (SPO) is an open-source building-level microgrid control platform that uses Model Predictive Control to optimize both building loads and behind-the-meter energy storage to reduce energy bills and increase demand flexibility. This paper evaluates the capabilities of SPO in a small commercial building in Northern California under multiple electricity tariffs and demand response scenarios. Comparing SPO operation with an emulated battery and baseline operation employing a commercial optimization service, SPO reduced electricity bills by an estimated 7.3% in summer, 3.2% in spring, and 3.7% in winter. In a “load shape” scenario meant to counter the “duck curve”, SPO achieved 71% fewer violations from the load signal than the baseline control method. During a three hour long load shed event, SPO reduced cooling and refrigeration load by 38%. This research shows significant potential to provide load flexibility for building-level microgrids for this type of control systems. Finally, the paper discusses the future direction of research on open-source control systems.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2013

Sault Tribe Building Efficiency Energy Audits

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is working to reduce energy consumption and expense in Tribally-owned governmental buildings. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will conduct energy audits of nine Tribally-owned governmental buildings in three counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to provide a basis for evaluating and selecting the technical and economic viability of energy efficiency improvement options. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will follow established Tribal procurement policies and procedures to secure the services of a qualified provider to conduct energy audits of nine designated buildings. The contracted provider will be required to provide a progress schedule to the Tribe prior to commencing the project and submit an updated schedule with their monthly billings. Findings and analysis reports will be required for buildings as completed, and a complete Energy Audit Summary Report will be required to be submitted with the provider?s final billing. Conducting energy audits of the nine governmental buildings will disclose building inefficiencies to prioritize and address, resulting in reduced energy consumption and expense. These savings will allow Tribal resources to be reallocated to direct services, which will benefit Tribal members and families.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2013

Technical Support Document: Development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Medium to Big Box Retail Buildings - 50% Energy Savings

This Technical Support Document describes the process and methodology for the development of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Medium to Big Box Retail Buildings: Achieving 50% Energy Savings Toward a Net Zero Energy Building (AEDG-MBBR) ASHRAE et al. (2011b). The AEDG-MBBR is intended to provide recommendations for achieving 50% whole-building energy savings in retail stores over levels achieved by following ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (Standard 90.1-2004) (ASHRAE 2004b). The AEDG-MBBR was developed in collaboration with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the U.S. Department of Energy.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2016

Bioinjection Performance Review for the Building 100 Area and 4.5 Acre Site at the Pinellas County, Florida, Site

This document provides a summary of a review of the performance of bioinjection activities at the Building 100 Area and the 4.5 Acre Site at the Pinellas County, Florida, Site since 2010, determines how best to optimize future injection events, and identifies the approach for the bioinjection event in 2016 at (1) the 4.5 Acre Site and (2) the Essentra property at the Building 100 Area. Because this document describes the next bioinjection event at the 4.5 Acre Site, it also serves as an addendum to the Interim Remedial Action Plan for Emulsified Edible Oil Injection at the 4.5 Acre Site (DOE 2013). In addition, this document revises the injection layout and injection intervals for the Essentra property that were originally described in the Interim Corrective Measure Work Plan for Source and Plume Treatment at the Building 100 Area (DOE 2014), and is a de facto update of that document. Bioinjection consists of injection of emulsified vegetable oil (EVO) and the microorganism Dehalococcoides mccartyi (DHM; formerly known as Dehalococcoides ethenogenes) into the subsurface to enhance biodegradation of trichloroethene (TCE), dichloroethene (DCE), and vinyl chloride (VC). VC is the only contaminant that exceeds its maximum contaminant level (10 micrograms per liter onsite and 1 microgram per liter onsite) on the 4.5 Acre Site and the Essentra property. Bioinjection was conducted at the 4.5 Acre Site in 2010 and 2013. Approximately 49,900 gallons of EVO and DHM were injected at 95 injection points in February 2010, and approximately 22,900 gallons of EVO and DHM were injected at 46 injection points in July 2013. The injection locations are shown on Figure 1. The goal of bioinjection at the 4.5 Acre Site is to decrease contaminant concentrations to maximum contaminant levels along the west and southwest property boundaries (to meet risk–based corrective action requirements) and to minimize the extent of the contaminant plume in the interior of the site. Bioinjection was conducted at the Building 100 Area in 3 phases from October 2014 through November 2015 (Figures 2–4). Approximately 32,850 gallons of EVO and DHM were injected using 62 temporary injection points in the onsite plumes in October and November 2014, 16,500 gallons were injected using 33 temporary injection points in the offsite plumes in February 2015, and 51,000 gallons were injected beneath the building using 8 horizontal wells in November 2015. The goal of bioinjection at the Building 100 Area is to enhance contaminant biodegradation to stabilize or shrink the contaminant plumes.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2017

Evaluation of U.S. Building Energy Benchmarking and Transparency Programs: Attributes, Impacts, and Best Practices

In the last decade, a new policy area has emerged to boost energy efficiency in buildings that focuses on the simple action of measuring energy use as compared to buildings of similar type and size, and making that data publicly available. These efforts, referred to as benchmarking and transparency (B&T) policies, seek to unlock new energy efficiency opportunities in the country’s existing buildings by promoting data-driven decision-making and creating stronger market signals. This report focuses on the 24 state and local jurisdictions that (as of December 31, 2016) require owners of privately owned commercial buildings, multifamily buildings, or both to comply with a B&T policy. The report provides a summary of U.S. B&T policy design and implementation characteristics, reports results and impacts for jurisdictions with B&T policies, and discusses opportunities for increasing the efficacy of B&T policies, as well as suggested areas for further research. Among the findings, all but one of the B&T policy evaluation studies reviewed indicate some reduction (from 1.6% to 14%) in energy use, energy costs, or energy intensity over the two- to four-year period of the analyses. More specifically, most of the studies reviewed indicate 3% to 8% reductions in gross energy consumption or energy use intensity over a two- to four-year period of B&T policy implementation. Two additional evaluation studies indicate that there is a causal relationship between B&T policies and energy savings or energy cost savings. These documented impacts should be reviewed with some caution. While consistently showing energy savings benefits associated with B&T policies, these savings estimates should be considered preliminary because of the limited period of analyses and inconsistencies in analysis methods for the various studies. A nationally standardized method for data collection, reporting, and evaluation of B&T policies—developed with an advisory group of state and local jurisdictions, energy efficiency and evaluation experts, building owner and real estate associations, and other stakeholders—could improve the consistency and quality of B&T impact studies, providing policymakers and others with a more complete understanding of the present and future impacts of these policies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2016

Coordination and Control of Flexible Building Loads for Renewable Integration; Demonstrations using VOLTTRON

Renewable energy resources such as wind and solar power have a high degree of uncertainty. Large-scale integration of these variable generation sources into the grid is a big challenge for power system operators. Buildings, in which we live and work, consume about 75% of the total electricity in the United States. They also have a large capacity of power flexibility due to their massive thermal capacitance. Therefore, they present a great opportunity to help the grid to manage power balance. In this report, we study coordination and control of flexible building loads for renewable integration. We first present the motivation and background, and conduct a literature review on building-to-grid integration. We also compile a catalog of flexible building loads that have great potential for renewable integration, and discuss their characteristics. We next collect solar generation data from a photovoltaic panel on Pacific Northwest National Laboratory campus, and conduct data analysis to study their characteristics. We find that solar generation output has a strong uncertainty, and the uncertainty occurs at almost all time scales. Additional data from other sources are also used to verify our study. We propose two transactive coordination strategies to manage flexible building loads for renewable integration. We prove the theories that support the two transactive coordination strategies and discuss their pros and cons. In this report, we select three types of flexible building loads—air-handling unit, rooftop unit, and a population of WHs—for which we demonstrate control of the flexible load to track a dispatch signal (e.g., renewable generation fluctuation) using experiment, simulation, or hardware-in-the-loop study. More specifically, we present the system description, model identification, controller design, test bed setup, and experiment results for each demonstration. We show that coordination and control of flexible loads has a great potential to integrate variable generation sources. The flexible loads can successfully track a power dispatch signal from the coordinator, while having little impact on the quality of service to the end-users.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2018

Transforming State-of-the-Art into Best Practice: A Guide for High-Performance Energy Efficient Buildings in India

India launched the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in 2007, and a revised version in 2017 as ambitious first steps towards promoting energy efficiency in the building sector. Pioneering early adopters—building owners, A&E firms, and energy consultants—have taken the lead to design customized solutions for their energy-efficient buildings. This Guide offers a synthesizing framework, critical lessons, and guidance to meet and exceed ECBC. Its whole-building lifecycle assurance framework provides a user-friendly methodology to achieve high performance in terms of energy, environmental, and societal impact. Class A offices are selected as a target typology, being a high-growth sector, with significant opportunities for energy savings. The practices may be extrapolated to other commercial building sectors, as well as extended to other regions with similar cultural, climatic, construction, and developmental contexts

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2018

Recordation of Buildings 9207 and 9210: The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Biology Complex, Located at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

In the summer of 2018, Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc. (CRA) prepared this recordation package for two World War II-era buildings (Buildings 9207 and 9210) located within what is now known as the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This recordation also briefly addresses Buildings 9767-6, 9767-7, and 9207A: two small utilities buildings and an annex to Building 9207, each of which was constructed in the 1960s. Completed at the request of UT-Battelle, LLC (UT-B) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), this document has been prepared to document the history and current conditions of Buildings 9207 and 9210, which had previously been determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2019

End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock: Market Needs, Use Cases, and Data Gaps

States and utilities are developing increasingly ambitious energy goals. Part of the solution to meeting these goals is improving electric grid flexibility. This includes shifting electric demand to align with grid needs. Thus, identifying and using building energy efficiency and other distributed energy resources to produce the highest grid value requires highly resolved, accurate and accessible electricity end-use load profiles (EULPs). EULPs quantify how and when energy is used. Currently, few accurate and accessible end-use load profiles are available for utilities, public utility commissions, state energy offices and other stakeholders to use to prioritize investment and value energy efficiency, demand response, distributed generation and energy storage. High-quality EULPs are also critical for determining the time-sensitive value of efficiency and other distributed energy resources, and the widespread adoption of grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs).For example, EULPs can be used to accurately forecast energy savings in buildings or identify energy activities that can be shifted to different times of the day. This report serves as the first-year deliverable for a multiyear U.S. Department of Energy-funded project, End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock, that intends to produce a set of highly resolved EULPs of the U.S. residential and commercial building stock. The project team, made up of researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and Argonne National Laboratory, ultimately will use calibrated physics-based building energy models to create these EULPs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2021

Historic Significance and Current Condition Assessment of Building 06-CP-170, the Yucca Flat Weather Station, Area 6, Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, Nevada

This report was produced in partial fulfillment of the mitigation of adverse effects to Building 06-CP-170, the Yucca Flat Weather Station on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), and is intended to comply with the 2021 Memorandum of Agreement DE-GM58-21NA25543 Between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Officer Regarding Demolition of Fourteen Buildings and Structures in Area 6 of the Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, Nevada (hereafter referred to as the MOA). This MOA was executed to resolve adverse effects from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plan to demolish 14 architectural resources at the Control Point and in the vicinity in Area 6 of the NNSS. The management and operations contractor for the NNSS identified these 14 architectural resources as environmental hazards unsafe for human occupation due to deterioration and rodent infestation. Building 06-CP-170 is scheduled for demolition as part of this undertaking. Building 06-CP-170 was originally recorded in 2018 during a Section 106 cultural resources inventory for a proposed installation of a 138-kilovolt transmission line on the NNSS. The building was determined individually eligible by the DOE, in consultation with the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office, for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places under the Secretary of the Interior’s Significance Criterion A because of its association with nuclear testing. Pursuant to Stipulation III.D.3 of the MOA, this report provides a summary of the historic significance of Building 06-CP-170 and a description of its current condition and accessory resources. In addition, an updated Architectural Resource Assessment (ARA) form with new information and photographs is included in the appendix in fulfillment of Stipulation III.D.2.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Sensor Impact Evaluation at Different Sensor Locations in a Multi-zone Office Building

FY 2022 Q1 deliverables include the development of an emulator that can evaluate the sensor impacts at different sensor locations (i.e., thermostat locations) in a multizone office building. This report presents the detailed procedure of developing the emulator and using the emulator for preliminary sensor impact analysis. In designing new multizone buildings or retrofitting existing buildings, the room thermostat locations or subzoning design has been often determined by best practices without considering the effects of this design in terms of energy or thermal comfort. In subzoning design, the total number of thermostats is usually smaller than the total number of rooms. As a result, one thermostat in one room often controls the indoor temperature of several other adjacent rooms. For example, five zones might share one thermostat located in one of the zones. Because the demands for thermal load in different zones could be different for the multizone buildings, this subzoning design can compromise control performance and waste building energy consumption. Furthermore, for multizone buildings, subzoning could introduce thermal discomfort for zones. This issue has not be thoroughly investigated in simulation/field studies, and the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored the impacts of subzoning design through modeling and experimental study.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2022

Computational fluid dynamic modeling to determine the indoor environment of an electron-ion collider service building

The design for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) calls for several service buildings that house various power supplies and control electronics for the collider ring itself. In order to operate within specified conditions, the ambient air entering the power supplies needs to be within a certain temperature range while dissipating the heat from losses. Proper cooling is therefore a necessity in the service buildings to ensure that every aspect of the EIC works as intended. Since the EIC is in the design stage, we are evaluating the indoor environment of the service building using the current design specifications. We have researched multiple forms of literature and performed the necessary calculations to compile a list of boundary conditions that accurately represent the situation at hand. We are using computational fluid dynamics modeling to solve the conservation equations for mass, momentum, and energy (Navier-Stokes). This allows us to perform a finite element analysis which will give us the flow distribution in the room as well as temperature profiles throughout the building. We have obtained a simulation result giving us the temperature profiles for the building and it shows that the placement of the racks and supply vents are essential to obtaining an even temperature distribution. This model will provide a basis for design decisions which will affect the overall cooling of the service building without extending the schedule and avoiding a costly reworking of the cooling system.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Finding of Effect, And Mitigation Documentation for Building 23-620, Mercury, Area 23, Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, Nevada

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office (NNSA/NFO) plans to demolish Building 23-620 in the town of Mercury (Nevada State Historic Preservation Office [SHPO] Resource No. B15283), which is on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in Nye County, Nevada (see Figure 1). The purpose of the undertaking is related to the modernization of Mercury for future mission needs. The NNSA/NFO will implement this undertaking in accordance with the Programmatic Agreement between the National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Officer Regarding Modernization and Operational Maintenance of the Nevada National Security Site, at Mercury in Nye County, Nevada, hereafter referred to as the Mercury PA. Building 23-620 was built in 1968 as office space for the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL), who worked on the design and engineering of nuclear weapons. In the 1990s, it became a maintenance facility for Reynolds Electrical & Engineering Company (REECo), and eventually, it became the Real Estate Services building in 2004. The town of Mercury and the immediate surrounding area have been formally determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register, NRHP) as the Mercury Historic District (MHD, SHPO Resource No. D230) under Criteria A and C for its importance in supporting nuclear testing and scientific research from 1951 through 1992. Building 23-620 was identified as a contributing element to the MHD in a 2018 architectural survey of the district (Reno et al.) and recorded on a Nevada Architectural Resource Assessment (ARA) form (Reno et al. 2017). Building 23-620 was also identified in Appendix C of the Mercury PA as a Category I contributing element, indicating that it might be individually eligible for the NRHP. It is a historic property for the purposes of compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and subject to the stipulations of the Mercury PA. Mitigation Report: The purpose of this letter report is to submit documentation related to the mitigation of the demolition of Building 23-620 (Nevada State Historic Preservation Office [SHPO] Resource No. B15283) in the Mercury Historic District (MHD, SHPO Resource No. D230). This submission is intended to comply with the stipulations in the Programmatic Agreement between the National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Officer Regarding Modernization and Operational Maintenance of the Nevada National Security Site, at Mercury in Nye County, Nevada, hereafter referred to as the Mercury PA.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗