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Keith,<br>
If you have a cooling dominated application and a relatively cool
average annual ground temperature, insulating underneath the slab is
going to disrupt some amount of free cooling that you are getting.
Adding insulation would drive cooling energy up a bit and heating
energy down. Depending on the magnitude of the heating and cooling
changes, you could see a net increase in HVAC energy over the year. An
increase in heating energy and no change in cooling energy is a bit
suspicious. You might look into how the software you are using models
the ground heat transfer. There has been a good bit of work done and
recently wrapped up under IEA Task 34/45 on evaluating the ground
coupling models used by various simulation tools.<br>
Kind regards,<br>
David<br>
<br>
<br>
Keith Swartz wrote:
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Do any of you know the
reasoning behind why the 2006 edition
of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) removed the
requirement
for insulation for unheated slabs for some climate zones? I have done a
few
energy models recently with slab insulation as a potential energy
saving
measure. The numbers were very small, which was expected, but what
surprised me
was that the savings were negative. Adding insulation to the slab
actually <u>increased</u>
annual energy usage (very slightly). Cooling was unaffected, but fan
energy was
slightly higher during the heating season. My quick search for research
reports
or other insights to explain this came up empty. Do any of you have any
thoughts? Are the results so insignificant that the differences I am
seeing in
the calculations could just be considered “noise”?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">_____________________</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><ns0:PersonName
w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z">Keith
Swartz</ns0:PersonName>, P.E., LEED
AP<br>
Energy Engineer / Senior Project Manager<br>
<ns0:PlaceName w:insauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z" w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Energy</st1:PlaceName></ns0:PlaceName>
<ns0:PlaceType w:insauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z" w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></ns0:PlaceType>
of <ns0:place w:insauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z" w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><ns0:State
w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:place></st1:State><br>
</ns0:State></ns0:place><ns0:Street w:insauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z" w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><ns0:address
w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><st1:Street
w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">455 Science Drive, Suite 200</st1:address></st1:Street><br>
</ns0:address></ns0:Street><ns0:place w:insauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z" w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><ns0:City
w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Madison</st1:City></st1:place></ns0:City>,
<ns0:State w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><st1:State
w:st="on">WI</st1:State></ns0:State> <ns0:PostalCode
w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">53711</st1:PostalCode><br>
</ns0:PostalCode></ns0:place>Phone: 608.238.8276 x123<br>
Fax: 608.238.0523<br>
Email: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:kswartz@ecw.org">kswartz@ecw.org</a><br>
Web: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.ecw.org"
title="http://www.ecw.org/">www.ecw.org</a><br>
<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><ns0:place
w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"><ns0:PlaceName
w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z">Energy</ns0:PlaceName>
<ns0:PlaceType w:insauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z" w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz"
w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z">Center</ns0:PlaceType> <ns0:PlaceType
w:insauthor="Keith Swartz" w:insdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z"
w:endinsauthor="Keith Swartz" w:endinsdate="2009-01-22T14:34:00Z">University<br>
</ns0:PlaceType></ns0:place></span></b><i><span
style="font-style: italic;">Your
gateway to sustainable design training and online education programs.<br>
</span></i></span></font><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ecw.org/university/"
title="http://www.ecw.org/university/"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><span
title="http://www.ecw.org/university/">www.ecw.org/university/</span></span></font></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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