Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: EVALUATING ecoMOD: Building Performance Monitoring and Post-Occupancy Evaluation of an Ecological, Modular House
EPA Grant Number: SU832505Title: EVALUATING ecoMOD: Building Performance Monitoring and Post-Occupancy Evaluation of an Ecological, Modular House
Investigators: Quale, John , Marshall, P. Paxton , De Carvalho, Patricia Vaz , Donovan, Adam , McCarthy, Alex , Tramba, Alison , McKeithen, Amelia , Kanoria, Anand , Klepac, Andy , Kidd, Benjamin , Tuncer, Betul , Yamakoshi, Brooke , Shiflett, Carol , Zennie, Caroline , Logan, Chad , Dunn, Chris , Calabrese, Christina , Wesner, Debora , Uang, Elaine , Kahley, Elizabeth , Modesitt, Greta , Mays, JP , Palmer, Joshua , Shirley, Lauren , delRe, Leyland , Holmquist, Mark , Young, Matthew , Sathre, Melinda , Lewis, Michael , O’Donnell, Molly , Guan, Ping , Schmitt, Rosalyn , Foster, Sally , Foster, Sarah , Gambill, Scottie , Zhang, Toby , Becker, Tristan , Faulconer, Whit
Institution: University of Virginia
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: September 1, 2005 through August 31, 2006
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2005) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
The ecoMOD project at the University of Virginia School of Architecture was established to create a series of ecological, modular and affordable house prototypes. The goal is to demonstrate the environmental potential of prefabrication, and to challenge the modular and manufactured housing industry in the U.S. to explore this potential. In the context of this multi-year research and design / build / evaluate project, an interdisciplinary group of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, business, environmental science, planning and economics students are participating in the design, construction and evaluation phases of the project. The project is embedded in the curriculum of the university, and is intended to create well designed and well-built homes that cost less to live in, minimize damage to the environment, and appreciate in value.
Over the next several years, UVA students and faculty are providing a minimum of four prefabricated houses, through partnerships with Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA) of Charlottesville and Habitat for Humanity (HFH). PHA will sell three of the homes to low-income families in the Charlottesville area with down payment and financing assistance. One house is being designed and built in partnership with HFH for a family in Gautier, Mississippi displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Each completed house is to be monitored and evaluated carefully, with the results guiding the designs of subsequent houses.
During Phase I of the EPA P3 grant, UVA students evaluated the first home, the OUTin house, in the Fifeville neighborhood of Charlottesville, Virginia. The team researched the environmental impact of the materials and methods, analyzed the affordability of the housing market and the OUTin house, and designed and installed a home monitoring system to provide data for the evaluation of OUTin’s energy performance. The monitoring system measures temperature, relative humidity, electric power consumption and air quality throughout the house, as well as the efficiency of the rainwater collection and solar hot water systems. The data gathered from the system has helped students and faculty begin to evaluate the effectiveness of the OUTin house’s passive and active systems in reducing operating costs and improving environmental performance.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The ecoMOD evaluation team believes the OUTin house provides a high-quality alternative to conventional affordable housing. From the projections made by the team, the OUTin residents will reap considerable financial and health benefits from their home. Through ecoMOD’s partnership with PHA, residents will receive subsidies to help defray the cost of their home. Energy- and water- efficient strategies, passive design, rainwater collection, solar hot water heating, appliances, heating and cooling, and lighting will save residents over $1,925 each year in operating costs. This represents 22,287 kWh less energy consumption than a conventional home, conserving resources and avoiding an estimated 4.35 tons of CO2 emissions. The carefully chosen materials used in the house minimize environmental and human health impacts, improving indoor air quality and reducing embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions.
The ecoMOD team employed the advantages of modular construction in the fabrication of the OUTin house. OUTin was fabricated off-site in an airplane hangar renovated to mimic a modular manufacturing plant. The team attempted to follow a process similar to a commercial prefabrication facility in order to test the feasibility of the design as a modular construction. The innovative design OUTin and the adherence to guidelines based on affordability and ecology make ecoMOD unique in the modular industry.
PHA, inspired by the ecoMOD project, recently hired Virginia-based modular builder – ModUKraf – to reproduce three units of one of their conventional homes for another neighborhood. The houses were delivered to the site in December of 2005. In addition, developers in Louisa County and Batesville, Virginia are considering incorporating several OUTin houses in their communities.
Conclusions:
Despite these findings, the evaluation team is concerned that except for the operating cost savings, our analysis methods and results will not be understood by the general public. The metrics can be complicated, and the message about reduced environmental impact is muted when there is so much background knowledge necessary to comprehend it. The team plans to address this issue in two ways. First and foremost, we want to simplify the monitoring technology so any contractor or homeowner can easily analyze and visualize the performance of their house. In our Phase II proposal, we envision a wireless monitoring system with a user-friendly computer interface. The system could be packaged and sold in home improvement stores, similar to the wireless home security systems currently available.
In addition, we are proposing a simple efficiency rating system that can be easily applied to any new house. In 1975, during the last energy crisis, a system was created to rate automobile efficiency, requiring all new cars to include their gas mileage per gallon (MPG) information for city and highway miles on a window sticker. This system has become an industry standard, clearly portraying energy efficiency in numeric terms that equate in the consumer’s mind with dollars and cents values. The team feels architects, engineers and builders need a system to communicate the sustainability and affordability of new homes. We want to print this home efficiency rating system on a window sticker, to be used by both the conventional and industrialized housing industry. We imagine the rating could be used to supplement the certification systems based on design strategies and intentions such as EarthCraft certification and LEED for Homes. We propose a system where the house is rated as a single entity, not a grouping of decisions. In this system passive design strategies are rewarded in conjunction with photovoltaic systems. Recognizing that homes have different efficiencies for heating and cooling, ecoMOD proposes two equations for evaluation:
number of occupants / area |
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number of occupants / area |
Our concept is that the home should be viewed as a system with inputs and outputs; efficiency is based on minimizing these and therefore the overall ecological footprint, or impact on the environment, while maximizing the amount of people and area for which it is provided. The rating for the OUTin house is calculated to be 2.51 in heating months and 2.65 in cooling months, whereas a comparable house without any of the sustainable features or strategies would be 2.30 in heating months and 2.10 in cooling months. We recognize that the rating equations do not document the full environmental impact of the buildings. The team would like to further research the possibility of integrating material and system life cycle analysis into the equations.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 17 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
environmental impact; building performance monitoring; post occupancy evaluation; design criteria; life cycle analysis; sustainable design; sustainable industry; affordable housing; modular housing; architecture; landscape architecture; engineering; pollution prevention, alternative materials; construction materials; environmentally conscious design; environmentally preferable products; green design; green home building; Mid-Atlantic; Virginia, RFA, Scientific Discipline, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Sustainable Industry/Business, POLLUTION PREVENTION, Sustainable Environment, Energy, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Environmental Engineering, energy conservation, cleaner production, alternative building technology, ecological design, environmental conscious construction, green building design, alternative materials, modular home, energy efficiency, engineering, pollution prevention design, construction material, environmentally conscious designRelevant Websites:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.