National Energy Audit Tool for Multifamily Buildings: Development Plan.

摘要

This development plan is presented as part of the initial planning that is directing the development of a new multifamily building energy audit tool for the U.S. Department of Energys (DOEs) Weatherization Assistance Program. The Weatherization Assistant is a DOE-sponsored energy audit approved for performing energy audits in site-built single-family homes (using the National Energy Audit Tool, NEAT) and mobile homes (using the Manufactured Home Energy Audit, MHEA), but there is no DOE sponsored audit tool for multifamily housing types. The development of an energy audit tool for multifamily housing types for the Weatherization Assistant would expand the scope of its use and allow weatherization agencies to use an integrated approach to manage their weatherization projects. An assessment of needs was conducted to examine existing multifamily audit tools and obtain input from multifamily audit methods experts and practitioners regarding audit methods, issues, potential improvements, and desired capabilities. The assessment of needs is translated into capability and performance descriptions for the proposed new multifamily energy audit. Two national Web-based meetings were held with two groups of participants: (1) multifamily energy audit method experts on November 4, 2010, and (2) multifamily audit users on November 10, 2010. The national input was an important part of the needs assessment, and the agendas, full transcripts, and attendee lists for the two national Web meetings are presented in the appendices to this report.