Drone-based scanning technology for characterizing the geometry and thermal conditions of building enclosure system for fast energy audit and design of retrofitting strategies
Published in 6th Residential Building Design & Construction Conference, 2022Mirzabeigi, S., Eteghad, P., Razkenari, M., Crovella, P., & Zhang, J. (2022). Drone-based scanning technology for characterizing the geometry and thermal conditions of building enclosure system for fast energy audit and design of retrofitting strategies. 6th Residential Building Design & Construction Conference (RBDCC), 251-260. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shayan-Mirzabeigi/publication/360461605Drone-based scanning technology for characterizing the geometry and thermal conditions of building enclosure system for fast energy audit and design of retrofitting strategies
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has set a goal of 30% reduction in energy use intensity (EUI) in the building sector by 2030. The majority of opportunities to meet this clean energy goal will be in retrofitting the existing building stock. Approximately 50-90% of energy reduction of existing buildings has been achieved through deep retrofits. An initial step for planning building energy retrofit is to perform a building energy audit and determine inputs for creating an energy model baseline (existing condition of the building). Most of these inputs can be captured using building envelope scanning techniques, including but not limited to Infrared Thermography, Laser Scanning, or Ultrasound. This study created a workflow for collecting thermal and visual data during building inspection and using the data for energy simulation. The workflow is demonstrated in a building envelope inspection case study in the city of Syracuse, New York. We transformed the data into inputs for the building model. Furthermore, there is potential to integrate the framework with building energy modeling toward enriching the energy assessment process in retrofit projects. This study contributes to creating a more robust connection between energy auditing and retrofitting in the building sector and providing quick, inexpensive, and reliable approaches to inspect, assess, and report buildings for building retrofit projects.
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