Date of Award

Spring 1-1-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

First Advisor

Moncef Krarti

Second Advisor

John Z. Zhai

Third Advisor

Michael J. Brandemuehl

Abstract

This investigation creates a tool to aid in the assessment of the impacts that behavior modifications and retrofits have on whole building energy usage. The tool was created to analyze pre- and post-retrofit/behavior modification data to determine the degree of savings incurred. The main focus of the project is a sensitivity analysis on the effects of behavior. The study includes the impacts of high- and low-energy-consuming behavior, and the total savings when coupled with building energy retrofits. For heating-dominated climates, results show a potential energy use savings of 10% from behavior, and a savings of 40% when combined with a whole-building retrofit. The number of air changes per hour, the setpoint, and the setback had the most significant savings. In the cooling-dominated climate, behavior had a much higher impact, accounting for 27% of the total 37% energy savings. Equipment schedule and setpoint had the highest impact.

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