North Carolina Field Test. Experimental plan

摘要

The North Carolina Field Test will test the effectiveness of two weatherization approaches: the current North Carolina Low-Income Weatherization Assistance Program and the North Carolina Field Test Audit. The Field Test Audit will differ from North Carolina's current weatherization program in that it will incorporate new weatherization measures and techniques, a procedure for basing measure selection of the characteristics of the individual house and the cost-effectiveness of the measure, and also emphasize cooling energy savings. The field test will determine the differences of the two weatherization approaches from the viewpoints of energy savings, cost effectiveness, and implementation ease. This Experimental Plan details the steps in performing the field test. The field test will be a group effort by several participating organizations. Pre- and post-weatherization data will be collected over a two-year period (November 1989 through August 1991). The 120 houses included in the test will be divided into a control group and two treatment groups (one for each weatherization procedure) of 40 houses each. Weekly energy use data will be collected for each house representing whole-house electric, space heating and cooling, and water heating energy uses. Corresponding outdoor weather and house indoor temperature data will also be collected. The energy savings of each house will be determined using linear-regression based models. To account for variations between the pre- and post-weatherization periods, house energy savings will be normalized for differences in outdoor weather conditions and indoor temperatures. Differences between the average energy savings of treatment groups will be identified using an analysis of variance approach. Differences between energy savings will be quantified using multiple comparison techniques. 9 refs., 8 figs., 5 tabs.