Marianne Touchie: "Building Energy Retrofits: Monitoring to Improve Modeling"

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Room 103, 230 College Street

Existing multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) are important assets for the City of Toronto. These buildings provide high-density housing and allow for the efficient provision of public services and utilities. However, MURB energy-use imposes a significant environmental burden. While energy-efficiency standards for new construction are essential to reducing this burden in the future, the rate of building renewal is low. Thus, to significantly reduce building energy use, retrofits of existing buildings must be undertaken. An essential part of planning a retrofit measure is projecting the impact of the work through energy modeling. 

In this presentation, two approaches to energy modeling are described: one using basic building and energy data and a refined approach using data collected from the detailed monitoring of an occupied building to better represent actual building performance. These data reveal how occupants compensated for an ineffective pressurized corridor system and heating system by opening windows during cold winter periods. Finally, an innovative energy retrofit strategy for MURBs will be introduced. This strategy involves operating an air-source heat pump (ASHP) within a thermal buffer zone created by enclosing the existing MURB balconies. In laboratory tests, such a strategy was shown to improve cold-weather ASHP performance in heating-dominated climates.

The modeling approach then used to generate an estimate of the impact of this retrofit on whole-building energy consumption and across the MURB stock will also be discussed. The presentation will conclude by summarizing the impact of this work, including the importance of gathering detailed building data and, will outline future research directions in building energy use monitoring, verification and reduction.

Marianne Touchie, Ph.D. (pending convocation June 2014), B.A.Sc., B.Bus., LEED® AP recently completed her doctoral studies in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto. As part of the Canadian Centre for Building Excellence, her research interests include evaluating building energy performance and developing innovative energy retrofit strategies.  These strategies include improving occupant comfort, particularly in the post-war multi-unit residential building (MURB) sector.

She has worked with the Toronto Atmospheric Fund on numerous projects including a study of MURB energy use in Toronto and contributions to the MURB “Energy Retrofit Case Study” series. At the University of Toronto, Marianne is an instructor for Building Science I at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies and she coordinates the Building Science Certificate Program at the School. She has also been a guest Building Science lecturer at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. Marianne is a founding contributor to the Promise to Future Generations initiative - a voluntary oath taken by graduating students to protect the rights of future generations. Passionate about all of her pursuits, Marianne is particularly committed to seeing that the next generation of designers understand the need to make the part of the world that they can influence better – not only for the present generation, but for future generations as well.