EnerZam Consultants - Energy Modelling Feasibility Study

Quebec

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Using the VE, EnerZam’s team brings its expertise to help its clients meet their energy reduction goals and earn a significant number of grants from Incentive Providers in Quebec.

Key Facts

  • 22-storey multiunit residential building in Quebec
  • Feasibility study on application of VRF system versus hydronic loop
  • Energy efficiency optimised for eligibility of significant incentives
  • Makeup air system upgraded from 80% efficiency to 90% efficiency

EnerZam Consultants is composed of architects, engineers and technicians specialized in building energy efficiency.

EnerZam Consultants used the IESVE to conduct a feasibility study on the number of energy conservation measures for a 22 storey multi-unit residential building in downtown Montreal.  Having diverse expertise within the company, the team used IESVE to choose the most cost effective measures including VRF system versus hydronic loop, high efficiency make up air system, and hydronic loop improvements. Their aim is to reduce operating costs and to gain as many eligible incentives as possible for their client.

Quebec has a number of incentive providers that reward building designers for the energy efficiency of their buildings. For the design phase of this particular building, EnerZam helped to optimise the energy consumption to ensure its client received as many eligible incentives as possible. The incentives program is set up in different stages, from design through construction and onto commissioning.

EnerZam plans to use the same VE model throughout the whole process, updating it throughout each stage and submitting to the incentive providers to for auditing. So far, they have submitted for the design stage and are on their way to receive a significant number of incentives. EnerZam Consultants are the first company to use the VE to gain these incentives in Quebec.

Using the VE, EnerZam was able to make many recommendations to their client based on the analysis results. They recommended optimisations to specific equipment and building services in order to improve efficiency and ensure eligibility for the incentives. These included upgrading the efficiency of the makeup air system from 80% efficiency to 90% efficiency and hydronic loop improvements.

They also used the VE to test a VRF system on the building. The team was impressed with the level of detail and accuracy they could model within the software. They found the HVAC modules particularly beneficial due to the level of detail and the fact they could model any type of HVAC system.  SunCast and MacroFlo were also key to attaining eligibility for the energy saving incentives.

The main challenge they came across was modeling the VRF system as this was quite a new system. EnerZam had to calculate some parts manually using the results produced from the VE and were able to get accurate results in the end.

“Once we worked out the algorithm we realised that we can technically model any system in the VE which isn’t something you can do with other software”

Ali Sehizadeh, Building Simulation Specialist, EnerZam Consultants www.EnerZam.com

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