CH-81-03-2 -- Estimating Residential Seasonal Cooling Requirements PDF

Currently the only reliable method for determining residential seasonal cooling requirements is by using large sophisticated computer programs such as NBSLD, BLAST and DOE-2. These programs are however limited to those who have the financial support and access to large computers. The purpose of this report is to provide a simple and precise method for estimating seasonal residential cooling requirements for “hand calculation” techniques.

A modified building load and temperature bin method (MBLTBM) is presented for calculating residential building cooling loads and seasonal cooling requirements for various geographical regions. The method incorporates the effects of solar radiation, internal heat gains, outdoor temperature, infiltration and thermal response on the cooling load for different periods of the day.

The modified building load and temperature bin calculation method (MBLTBM) has a number of potential uses. The MBLTBM can be readily applied to the method of calculating the seasonal cost and seasonal cooling performance of residential air-conditioners [1]. The method can also be used to investigate simply and quickly various energy saving options of the building envelope since the various heat sources contributing to the load are easily identified. The calculation procedure is applicable to detached residential structures which are cooled as a single zone. It is assumed that the residence is air-conditioned and occupied throughout the entire cooling season since natural or forced ventilation and occupancy habits are unpredictable .

The development and validation of the MBLTBM was accomplished by comparing with the results obtained by the BLAST computer program [2]. The costly alternative method of conducting numerous field studies for the various configurations investigated was beyond the scope of the investigation.