U.S. Commercial Building Stock Analysis of COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies: Preprint

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of improving building indoor air quality to reduce occupants’ chances of contracting airborne illness. The ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force (ASHRAE-ETF) released several COVID-19 mitigation strategies at the onset of the pandemic. This study explores four of those recommendations for reducing transmission of COVID-19 inside buildings: (1) 100% outdoor air ventilation, (2) MERV-13 or better filters, (3) demand control ventilation removal, and (4) HVAC flushing mode. These recommendations were simulated and assessed using ComStock, a model of the U.S. commercial building stock. The study showed the 100% outdoor air ventilation recommendation had the largest impact on energy consumption, noncoincident peak demand, and thermostat violations. Removing demand control ventilation had the smallest national aggregate impact, installing MERV-13 filters led to slight increases in energy use and peak demand, and HVAC outdoor air flushing led to modest energy use and peak demand increases.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages12
StatePublished - 2022
Event5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2022) - Montreal, Canada
Duration: 25 Jul 202229 Jul 2022

Conference

Conference5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2022)
CityMontreal, Canada
Period25/07/2229/07/22

Bibliographical note

See NREL/CP-5500-87850 for paper as published in proceedings

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/CP-5500-82515

Keywords

  • building energy modelling
  • building stock modeling
  • commercial building stock modelling
  • ComStock
  • COVID-19 HVAC strategies
  • COVID-19 pandemic

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