1:20 pm - 2:30 pm | Room: Pretium Room | Session Chair: Negar Pakzadian

Building Performance Modelling

Passive House And EnerPHit Multi-Unit Simulation Tool Comparison

Multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) house over a third of Canadians and represent the fastest growing source of housing in Canada, therefore reducing energy consumption in this sector has the potential to significantly contribute to meeting our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. One path to reducing energy consumption in this sector is by adopting high-performance building standards such as Passive House for new construction and EnerPHit for retrofits. To achieve Passive House or EnerPHit certification, one must employ the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) which evaluates annual building energy consumption using monthly temperature data. However, this modelling approach may not be endorsed by funding programs that require an hourly modeling approach.

The goal of this research is to conduct a comparative analysis of PHPP and an hourly modelling tool compliant with ASHRAE Standard 140 such as CanQuest. The modelling inputs, assumptions, modelling algorithms, as well as the key energy performance characteristics (i.e., TEUI, TEDI, and energy consumption of key end-uses) will be compared across the PHPP and CanQuest software packages by using the in-situ data from a new MURB complying to Passive House Standard. This study will compare and contrast the inputs and outputs of the two tools and highlight important deviations and identify the driving factors for these deviations.

Kirtan Brar Singh, University of Toronto

Kirtan Singh received her Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) in Industrial engineering from the University of Toronto in 2020. After completing her BASc, she decided to pursue Masters in Applied Science (MASc) in Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Marianne F. Touchie. Her research is focused on understanding the performance of high building enclosures by investigating recently retrofitted and newly built multi-unit residential buildings achieving Passive House certification; and understand the differences in energy modelling tools used to analyse performance of Passive House buildings. Overall, Kirtan is passionate about solving challenging problems to design and build sustainable buildings.