Facilities

The Varennes library is the first institutional solar net-zero energy building (NZEB) in Canada. The building integrated energy concept was developed with guidance from a team led by Dr. Athienitis at the early design stage. The SNEBRN-CZEBS team provided guidance on the energy concept to achieve net-zero, sizing of solar system and the building shape, as well as other details such as roof slope. Currently, the building is used a case study for developing optimal control strategies, including grid interaction under a NSERC/Hydro Quebec Industrial Chair.

NZEB design features employed:

• Integration of passive solar, daylighting and natural ventilation for high quality indoor environment.

• Radiant slab for both heating and cooling using a geothermal heat source; some heating/cooling is provided also by the ventilation system.

• Concrete radiant slab also provides heat storage for passive solar gains.

• Building Operation and grid interaction are being optimized under an NSERC/Hydro Quebec Industrial Research Chair held by Dr. Athienitis,

• Predictive control strategies to reduce peak demand in winter, increase thermal storage effectiveness, and improve comfort.

The roof is covered with photovoltaic (PV) panels, with 120 kW capacity. Part of the system is BIPV/T with fresh air preheating during the heating season.

Located in the downtown campus of Concordia University, the Engineering, Computer Science, and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV building) is a 17-storey high institutional building with 5 south-facing, highly glazed atria interconnected through floor openings with motorized dampers, and forming a solar chimney.

The EV building has a high level of thermal mass and was designed and built for the option to use of fan-assisted hybrid ventilation during cooling season. Openings with motorized dampers on opposing two façades allow cool outdoor air directly into the corridors. Through stack effect or 3 pairs of variable speed fans at the roof, warmer air is drawn upwards through the exhaust duct at the ceiling of the top atria towards the roof.

The operation of the fans and dampers can be modified through the building automation system to study the effect of variations of fan-assisted hybrid ventilation coupled with thermal mass, both in terms of thermal energy and comfort.

The Solar Simulator - Environmental Chamber (SSEC) laboratory is an internationally unique facility developed with a $4.6 M grant from the Knowledge and Infrastructure Program (KIP). It enables accurate and repeatable testing of solar systems and advanced building envelopes under standard test conditions with full simulated sun and indoor plus outdoor conditions. It consists of two major systems:

• The large scale solar simulator consists of 8 special metal halide (MHG) lamps with an artificial sky to remove infrared radiation from lamps (lamps individually controlled and dimmable); meets the specifications of the relevant standards EN 12975:2006 and ISO 9806-1:1994.

• Test specimen size: up to 2.4 m x 3.2 m.

• Less than ± 5 to 10% homogeneity, under 1-sun (depending on test specimen size).

A two-storey high environmental chamber with a mobile solar simulator lamp field used to test building technologies under controlled environmental condition (from arctic to desert).

Specific capabilities of environmental chamber:

• Test wall systems and rooms up to 3 m wide x 7 m high,

• Temperature test range: -40° to 50°C ,

• Relative humidity range between 20% – 95%

• Specially designed windows that allow through sunlight produced by a 6-lamp mobile solar simulator

The Perimeter Zone Chamber (PZC) is a cubic box inside the Environmental Chamber (EC). It simulates an office room in the perimeter zones of large buildings. Five sides of the 'cube' are made of 3 inch rigid insulation (in SIP panels), while the reminding side is used to install wall samples. The interior has a floor of about 10 m^2, and a height of 3.15 m.

The 'cube' forms by joining two halves, which are separable and each is moveable on its wheels.

The floors in the two halves are installed with radiant heating / cooling concrete slabs by embedded hydronic PEX water pipes. A hydronic heating and cooling system with a water storage tank is located in another insulated chamber in EC.

The Twin houses are a pair of identical all-electric cottages (2-storey detached homes) located at Hydro-Quebec’s research laboratory site (LTE), designed for detailed building physics research and as a demand management testing tool.

Two identical houses were built side by side so as to have one house as the test house while the other as the reference; it allows to determine precisely the impact of a technology or a strategy in reference to a base case subjected to the same environmental conditions.

The homes are of typical construction for the year of construction (2011) according to relevant building codes. The space heating system consists of electric baseboards located in every room and individually controlled by an electronic thermostat. In addition, the kitchen and second storey bathroom are equipped with a radiant floor (electric cable). There are approximately 500 data points per house, sampled at 15 minute intervals.

Visit https://meeb.ca/ for more information and monitoring data.

The Regulvar Head Office Building is located in Laval, QC. The building includes geothermal system, thermal storage tanks, a solar wall (UTC—unglazed transpired collector), radiant floor heating, ceiling-mounted heating and cooling convectors, a wireless automation and control system with energy dashboards. One south facing office is used as living "cell" for studies and applications of MPC and other control strategies.

Daylighting is provided in the offices by controlling the motorized blinds and dimmable ceiling lights. Each office is equipped with lighting, temperature and motion sensors. All these components can be used in predictive control strategies to reduce and shift the peak power demand, while maintaining comfortable conditions for the occupants.

The thermal mass of the building and its thermal coupling with a zone, as an important parameter for MPC, are investigated to optimize the thermal energy storage and release. In addition, the effects of the carpet on peak power and energy consumption are studied.

A test chamber, 2.5 m by 2.5 m by 1.5 m deep, is used for study of charging and discharging of PCM panels and for night-setback and peak shaving.

The 2 m by 2 m window resides on the front side of the hut. It can be shaded with an exterior shutter blind, an interior roller shade with a 80% transparent fabric.

The PCM residing in the Environmental Chamber, the test hut can be subject to simulated exterior temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation.