Application of Deep Energy Retrofits to Allow Existing Housing in Toronto to Meet Passive House Certification
Publication: Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 30, Issue 4
Abstract
This study researches the development of a multiobjective optimization environment to continue the investigation of the potential for housing in Toronto to meet Passive House certification. BEopt (Building Energy Optimizer) was used to develop various deep energy retrofits for Century detached, Century-semi, and Wartime archetype homes in Toronto, ON. The optimization environment used various design retrofits to develop configurations of variables which minimize energy use and life cycle cost. The developed solutions were input into WUFI Passive to determine which combination of variables can achieve Passive House certification for the lowest life cycle cost. The optimization results demonstrated that for a life cycle cost of $65,053–$92,950 depending on geometry and housing type, an archetype home in Toronto can reduce energy use by 69%–72% and can meet standards for Passive House. Although the developed numbers include average pricing data, assumptions, and generalizations, the findings of this research demonstrate the applicability of high-performance building standards in retrofit strategies. Through the adoption of energy efficient deep energy retrofits in existing homes, sustainability in the built environment can be achieved.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
Aldrich, R., P. Mantha, and S. Puttagunta. 2012. “Measure guideline: Basement insulation basics consortium for advanced residential buildings.” Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/building_america/measure_guide_basement_insul.pdf.
Centre for Energy. 2013. “Heating and cooling.” Accessed February 15, 2013. http://www.centreforenergy.com/Consumer/Resident ial/HeatingAndCooling/About.asp?page=2.
City of Toronto. 2010. “Toronto neighbourhood profiles.” Accessed March 19, 2023. https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/data-research-maps/neighbourhoods-communities/neighbourhood-profiles/about-toronto-neighbourhoods/.
CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation). 1947. 67 homes for Canadians. Ottawa, ON: CMHC.
Grin, A. 2008. “Evaluation of high performance residential housing technology.” Masters thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Waterloo.
Hester, J., J. Gregory, and R. Kirchain. 2017. “Sequential early-design guidance for residential single-family buildings using a probabilistic metamodel of energy consumption.” Energy Build. 134: 202–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.10.047.
Hoicka, C. E., and P. Parker. 2011. “Residential energy efficiency programs, retrofit choices and greenhouse gas emissions savings: A decade of energy efficiency improvements in Waterloo region, Canada.” Int. J. Energy Res. 35 (4): 1312–1324. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.1860.
Jafari, A., and V. Valentin. 2015. “Decision-making life-cycle cost analysis model for energy-efficient housing retrofits.” Int. J. Sustainable Build. Technol. Urban Dev. 6 (3): 173–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/2093761X.2015.1074948.
Jermyn, D. 2014. Deep energy retrofits: Toronto’s urban single family housing stock. Toronto, ON: Ryerson University.
Jermyn, D., and R. Richman. 2016. “A process for developing deep energy retrofit strategies for single-family housing typologies: Three Toronto case studies.” Energy Build. 116: 522–534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.01.022.
Karunathilake, H., K. Hewage, and R. Sadiq. 2018. “Opportunities and challenges in energy demand reduction for Canadian residential sector: A review.” Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 82: 2005–2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.07.021.
Kavgic, M., A. Mavrogianni, D. Mumovic, A. Summerfield, Z. Stevanovic, and M. Djurovic-Petrovic. 2010. “A review of bottom-up building stock models for energy consumption in the residential sector.” Build. Environ. 45 (7): 1683–1697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.01.021.
Lawrence, C. R. 2020. A surrogate modelling methodology to predict energy use for a multiple single family century home archetypes in Toronto. Toronto, ON: Ryerson University.
Lawrence, C. R., R. Richman, M. Kordjamshidi, and C. Skarupa. 2021. “Application of surrogate modelling to improve the thermal performance of single-family homes through archetype development.” Energy Build. 237: 110812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.110812.
Lisa, K., B. Purcell, and N. Lysenko. 2017. “Zero emissions buildings framework.” City Toronto 1 (1): 118.
Ma, Z., P. Cooper, D. Daly, and L. Ledo. 2012. “Existing building retrofits: Methodology and state-of-the-art.” Energy Build. 55: 889–902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2012.08.018.
Mucciarone, A. 2011. “Towards a proposed framework for analyzing sustainable renovation building envelope assemblies.” Master thesis, Dept. of Architectural Science, Ryerson Univ.
Nguyen, A.-T., S. Reiter, and P. Rigo. 2014. “A review on simulation-based optimization methods applied to building performance analysis.” Appl. Energy 113: 1043–1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.08.061.
Niger, S. 2016. High performance retrofit opportunities of Toronto’s 1970s residential detached and semi-detached houses. Toronto, ON: Ryerson University.
NRCanada (Natural Resources Canada). 2017a. “Air-source heat pumps natural resources Canada.” https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-efficiency/energy-star-canada/about/energy-star-announcements/publications/heating-and-cooling-heat-pump/6817.
NRCanada (Natural Resources Canada). 2017b. “Government of Canada.” Accessed December 5, 2020. https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/energy-star-canada/about-energy-star-canada/energy-star-announcements/publications/heating-cooling-heat-pump/air-source-heat-pumps/6831.
Orr, H. 1982. “Saskatoon’s superinsulated house.” Mother Earth News, Issue # 75 May/June.
PHIUS (Passive House Institute US). 2019. PHIUS+ 2018 passive building standard certification guidebook. Chicago, IL: PHIUS.
Qasass, R., M. Gorgolewski, and H. Ge. 2014. “Timber framing factors in Toronto residential house construction.” Archit. Sci. Rev. 57 (3): 159–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/00038628.2013.869193.
Reinhart, C. F., and C. Cerezo Davila. 2016. “Urban building energy modeling—A review of a nascent field.” Build. Environ. 97: 196–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2015.12.001.
Skarupa, C. 2020. Building energy surrogate modelling methodology for a detached single-family century home archetype. Toronto, ON: Ryerson University.
Tokarik, M. S. 2015. A multi-objective optimization analysis of passive energy conservation measures in a Toronto house. Toronto, ON: Ryerson University.
Wills, A. D. 2018. “On the modelling and analysis of converting existing Canadian residential communities to net-zero energy.” Ph.D. thesis, Carleton Univ.
Wright, G. S., and K. Klingenberg. 2015. Climate-specific passive building standards. Building America Rep. No. - 1405, BA 1405. Oak Ridge, TN: DOE.
Zirnhelt, H. E., and R. C. Richman. 2015. “The potential energy savings from residential passive solar design in Canada.” Energy Build. 103: 224–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.06.051.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 19, 2023
Accepted: Apr 8, 2024
Published online: Jul 17, 2024
Published in print: Dec 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Dec 17, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Architectural engineering
- Architecture
- Benefit cost ratios
- Building design
- Buildings
- Business management
- Construction engineering
- Construction methods
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering profession
- Financial management
- Housing
- Infrastructure
- Licensure and certification
- Life cycles
- Practice and Profession
- Professional practice
- Rehabilitation
- Residential buildings
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
- Urban and regional development
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.