[Bldg-sim] comparing insulated core masonry block with stick built

[Murray Milne]

HEED (Home Energy Efficient Design) shows you graphically a thermal 
comparison of up to nine different building designs, and allows you 
to input custom values for U-factor, time lag, and decrement factor 
of all opaque surfaces. It calculates a whole-building hourly heat 
balance for 8760 hours per year. It accounts for thermal mass within 
the envelope and also inside the insulated envelope. It has a number 
of typical wall assemblies, including the two you mentioned, but if 
you want to calculate a custom assembly use OPAQUE. You can load an 
EPW weather file for you location. Both programs are available at no 
cost (along with a link to the EPW files) on 
www.aud.ucla.edu/energy-design-tools.

Murray Milne
Research Professor, UCLA

 >
 > On Jan 17, 2008 2:57 PM, Christian Stalberg <
 > cstalberg at southern-energy.com <mailto:cstalberg at southern-energy.com>>
 > wrote:
 >
 >     I'm doing a modeling comparison in REM/Rate of two identical
 >     houses except one has 8" insulated core masonry block walls
 >     whereas the second has 4" wood stud insulated walls. Both walls
 >     end up having comparable U values. REM/Rate shows negligible
 >     difference in energy usage. I am suspicious that REM/Rate does not
 >     model the thermal bridging and mass features very well. Would I be
 >     better served performing this comparison in DOE-2 or would the
 >     results not be that much different?
 >

Murray 
Milne                                                      Research 
Professor
UCLA,  Department of Architecture and Urban Design, Los Angeles, 90095
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