This document summarizes Sighten’s EverBright’s energy efficiency modeling, which calculates the usage and cost savings of various types of energy efficiency projects.
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Overview
A homeowner’s typical usage is pulled based on the address. For each energy efficiency product added to the project, a percent reduction is calculated based on the percent better than the standard. The percent reduction is pulled directly from EnergyStar data on a per appliance basis. The percent reduction is applied directly to the end use consumption for the usage category directly connected to the EE product. Applying the reduction gives the post installation usage, and impact is directly shown in the usage/production charts.
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The post installation usage = 1950 kWh
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Usage Modeling
To calculate the usage impact of retrofits, we model hourly usage categorized into heating, cooling, lighting, water heater, appliance, EV, and pool usage. We model typical usage based on zipcode using baseline data. This can be edited based on monthly or annual inputs for usage or bills (or from a CSV of interval data). This usage can be altered with projected usage to model changes from current usage due to the addition of a pool, EV, etc, or other significant changes to usage (e.g. change in occupancy). Usage personas can also be applied to adjust the daily usage profile by hour using template personas (e.g. 9-5 workers, daytime user) or custom 24 hour inputs.
With hourly usage modeled, we separate the usage into the categories mentioned above using TMY datasets which estimate the percentage of usage in each category by hour. This allows us to capture the interdependence of the timing of usage and what category. For example, if you adjusted usage to be primarily during the day, you would see cooling usage as a percentage of total usage increase. Appliance usage is also broken down into subcategories (washer, dryer, cooking, dishwasher, and refrigerator based on regional usage patterns.
Efficiency Equipment
We have a catalog of efficiency retrofits of many categories including furnaces, water pumps, boilers, air conditioning, fans, roofing, windows, insulation, thermostat, air sealing, duct sealing, light, water heating, solar thermal, washers, dryers, cooking, dishwashers, refrigerators, and smart home monitoring. Many of these upgrades have default reduction percentages based on the percent better than the standard according to Energy Star data. Sighten EverBright also allows the creation of your own energy efficiency equipment with custom default reduction percentages.
Reduction Modeling
The usage savings are modeled by applying the percentage reduction to the retrofit’s corresponding usage category(ies) hourly usage or to the total hourly usage depending on the user’s input. This calculation is applied before any solar or storage modeling because they will not influence the customers consumption.
Savings Analysis
Bill savings are calculated using a third party integration with Genability, our utility rate provider. Using their integration we calculate pre and post project bills from a user’s inputs for pre, and post project utility rates, and utility bill escalation as well as the hourly usage before and after the energy efficiency retrofit.
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