Aportes del Turismo Rural Comunitario al ambiente

Though ASHRAE-14 provides a technical framework for the measurement of energy savings, putting it into practice is left to the practitioner. Energy engineers and M&V professionals may have a preference (or may have clients who have a preference) for one set of assumptions over another—for example, whether to use average temperature or degree days for weather correction, CV(RMSE) or R2 _{for statistical evaluation, whether or not to vary in the}

model the heating and cooling balance point temperatures of the home, and discretion over which points to remove as outliers, are all subject to the preferences of the professional evaluator. Although NREL’s Uniform Methods Project usefully updates and complements ASHRAE-14, the Uniform Methods Project is provided as an option to those seeking generally accepted practices but is not intended to standardize practices across the industry as the only manner in which savings can be reliably determined.

For value to accrue to parties other than the homeowner, the techniques employed for measuring energy savings need to comply as a minimum standard with those imposed by the provider of the value. In the case of a regulated utility buying ESCs, the means of determining the energy savings must comply with regulatory statute regarding the determination of energy savings under the state’s existing M&V statutes—ASHRAE-14 and/or the Uniform Methods Project are certainly acceptable under these standards, as they generally provide sufficiently rigorous savings determination when properly followed. However, other parties may require more stringent, specific, and—most importantly—standardized savings measurement techniques.

To unlock broader capital markets to home energy efficiency as an investable asset class, a standard method for energy savings measurement may be required. Otherwise, the owners of the energy efficiency investments will not have sufficient confidence in the valuation of their investments to be able to treat them as investment grade assets. Further, if energy savings measurement is taken out of the hands of industry professionals and put into the hands of those serving independent investors, whoever is measuring the energy savings has an incentive to overestimate the quantity of energy

savings through questionable statistical techniques. Such behavior, if it were to emerge, would result in a black mark on the home energy efficiency industry. An increase in reliance on energy savings measurement may require a corresponding increase in the standardization of energy savings measurement techniques. As energy savings is a computed rather than metered quantity, increasing standardization of measurement techniques should in theory lead to more trust in the realization of actual energy savings and therefore lead to more investment in home improvements.

One possible improvement would be a common standard for energy efficiency measurement. In March 2015, BPI announced a proposal to develop a new standard to be called “Protocol for Quantifying Energy Efficiency Savings in Residential Buildings,” a standard to be cosponsored by the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, with the purpose of creating a unified methodology to commoditize and consistently value residential energy savings at the portfolio level. Taking the idea of standardizing energy savings measurement one step further, a group called Open Energy Efficiency Meter is developing open standard source code, called the EE Meter, for the calculation of energy savings (Open EE Meter, 2015). The group aspires to standardize the metric used to account for energy savings through a publicly available algorithm.

Another possible future scenario for energy savings measurement involves high-resolution retrofit isolation. As the number of communicating devices in our homes proliferates, computers will increasingly have the intelligence to know our homes’ operating conditions. Low-cost sensors, two-way communicating devices, and cloud computing together empower a home that is self-aware in terms of its ability to efficiently consume energy. Whirlpool, GE, and Samsung today market communicating appliances; likewise, smart thermostats from companies such as Nest, Honeywell, and Trane already have the capability to improve the operation of homes’ climate control systems.

One day we will not only have smart thermostats, but likely also smart HVAC systems, plumbing systems, and natural gas systems—and maybe even smart windows and walls through embedded sensors or through computer modeling of their condition via data such as indoor and outdoor climate monitors in what would in essence be a perpetually (or periodically) updated calibrated simulation. One day there might be home monitoring services that monitor energy efficiency as well as livability indicators such as allergens, pathogens, and pollutants in a similar manner as how security companies

monitor our homes’ alarm systems. Such a home monitoring company would be keenly aware in real time of our home’s energy efficiency. This company would be ideally suited to provide homeowners with custom advice on improving their homes and also to quantify for homeowners the value of improvements.

The near-term future of energy savings measurement will most likely involve the slow but steady increase in the use of utility meter data to calibrate energy savings estimates. M&V professionals can use utility bills to recalibrate estimates of home energy savings after the fact, but this practice is not

universal and is not typically performed outside of the context of utility-driven programs. As it becomes easier to digitally access utility billing data, to import the parameters determined from building models generated by contractors into energy analysis software, and to access high-resolution weather data, we will likely see an increase in whole-building energy use modeling of homes beyond the utility-driven context, even without further standardization of techniques for energy savings measurement.

Who will be the early adopters of new practices for per-home energy savings measurement over time? The most likely groups are those who currently measure energy savings and seek to expand doing so through simpler and cheaper means. One such group includes research institutions in the field of building science contracted by utilities, government agencies (such institutions themselves may be parts of government agencies), and private companies to examine the impact of different building materials or methods on home energy use. Their work often includes the placement of additional data collection devices, such as thermometers and hygrometers, in various places throughout the tested homes, as well as the detailed analysis of all available relevant data. Though these processes return high-quality results, they are prohibitively costly and excessive for non-test homes. Through quantifying energy savings across many more homes, an expansion of simple home energy savings methodology would increase our understanding of building science as it applies to energy use in modern homes across climate zones, demographics, architectural elements, and other interacting domains.

In addition to building science researchers, another early adopter group is likely to be university-driven home energy efficiency programs (or other home energy programs with informational objectives). Such programs are funded through public or other research grants to improve home energy efficiency. They usually serve the dual purpose of making participating

homes more comfortable and energy efficient while also providing insights on energy economics, building science, program management best practices, and other aspects of home improvement with relevance beyond the programs themselves. These programs have a strong impetus to quantify energy savings over time, including for example accurately reporting program impacts to grantors and other stakeholders, improving program outcomes through continuous homeowner engagement and contractor evaluation, and increasing the value and richness of lessons learned. Some of these programs already measure energy savings in participating homes, and it is likely that as best practices for doing so are shared, similar programs will follow their lead. Two such programs are the E-Conservation Program and the Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative, which use ResiSpeak for utility bill collection and whole-building energy use modeling to determine energy saved for each participating home.