Equipment Efficiency and Next-Generation Systems
The group has long been focused on how to increase the efficiency of oil-fired and gas-fired heating systems, and particularly the issue of idle loss- the energy these systems use when they are inactive. They have developed performance maps for many different systems and matched them with building energy-use profiles for different cities to look at the effect of steady-state efficiency and the effect of idle loss, among other things, on annual fuel use. The group has created a web tool people can use to estimate the potential savings for their buildings.
Group members have been involved with advanced oil burner development, and will be studying the next generation of HVAC equipment with efficiency levels far higher than those achieved in current systems. The goal is to understand the real performance of the current generation of equipment and the next, including micro CHP systems (heating systems that also make electricity ) and a wide variety of heat pumps. They are currently studying fuel-fired heat pumps - absorption heat pumps which offer the potential to go to efficiency levels in the range of 160 percent.