Portland General Electric has proposed coupling one or more water tanks with two heat pumps in order to perform load-shifting in residential customer heating and cooling applications. By using the water tanks as a thermal storage unit, this project attempts to partially decouple energy consumption from generation to provide peak demand reduction and to better facilitate the integration of variable renewable energy resources. A scoping study was performed to evaluate the potential impact of this project if implemented in single family homes in Portland, Oregon. This study revealed that the system could provide meaningful savings in the cost of electricity to both the customer and utility. Additionally, an optimization algorithm was developed to dictate system operation and to maximize gains to the utility. Evolutionary algorithms were explored in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of the algorithm's search in limited computation time. Ultimately, an evolution strategy was selected as the most suitable based on tests run in winter and spring months. A genetic algorithm was then developed to handle fixed-speed heat pump operation for compatibility with an alpha-system prototype that has been developed by the research team.

In the 1980s, very large houses began to replace smaller homes in older single-family zones in Canada's major cities. Protests by residents resulted in more restrictive single - family zoning schedules. In Vancouver, however, houses built as large as zoning permitted had appeared in the late 1960s. This case study traces Vancouver's single- family land use from 1900 to 1990. The intent of Vancouver's original single- family zoning (1930) was to create a suburban landscape. To appeal to European immigrants of the 1950sand Asian immigrants of the 1970s, Vancouver's east-side builders developed a distinctive large house easily converted to include one or more illegal suites. By encouraging this design, zoning amendments in 1974 destroyed the sub-urban pattern intended by the original zoning. In response to affluent Asian immigrants of the 1980s, westside builders constructed larger, more elaborate homes. The city reacted to complaints about the size and design of these houses by amending its schedule in the 1980s to legalize suites, to reduce the bulkiness of new construction and to re-establish the suburban pattern. Local residents do not like the new homes, and many neither need nor can afford them. The research indicates that Asian buyers are outbidding locals for these homes, and locals are dispersing to peripheral areas where homes are more affordable and styles support their cultural traditions. The research suggests that the more compact land use pattern of the 1900s may be more appropriate than land use patterns that have resulted from the city’s original and amended single-family schedule. The research concludes that Vancouver addressed symptoms of the problem but not its cause: a zoning practice that continues to exclude the less affluent from single-family zones. Vancouver needs to espouse a more inclusionary zoning schedule that adopts the compact land use and mixed tenures typical before zoning and preserves the traditions of local residents. Other-wise, the zoning changes may preserve single- family areas for affluent immigrants as the Vancouver market aligns itself with the global market. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The single family neighbourhood is a favoured residential form, yet this low density residential option is unsustainable. With its high consumption of land and services, the continued development of the traditional single family neighbourhood results in urban sprawl and inefficient use of infrastructure. In addition, zoning regulations that prescribe large lot sizes, deep setbacks and singleuses, create disconnected, mono-functional residential enclaves. Residential intensification is increasingly touted by urban theorists and proponents of sustainable development as part of the solution. This involves focussing new development on underutilized land, which in turn necessitates the acceptance of new housing forms within existing neighbourhoods. However, people are often wary of higher densities and alternative housing options, believing that the qualities of livability that they identify with the single family neighbourhood are threatened. Focussing on ground-oriented residential alternatives, this project examines the key elements that comprise the residential environment and their connection to aspects of livability. A set of guidelines based on principles of sustainable development directs the design for a higher density, environmentally responsive, groundoriented residential development on an infill lot in an existing single family neighbourhood. The final design proposes the division of the single site into five developable lots, introduces four different dwelling types, and integrates into the landscape a stormwater management system. The plan is compared to other similar alternative developments. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

A real-world study was undertaken of the indoor air quality in a recently-built single family home in central Sweden, to establish whether demand controlled ventilation provided superior interior conditions, when compared with other air supply strategies, including the standard used by the Swedish buildings regulator. The property was highly airtight, with ventilation achieved using a forced exhaust system. Extraction was possible from all rooms of the house, and using a Renson Healthbox air handling unit, the rates of air flow from each room could be adjusted either according to a time schedule, or under demand control according to the unit’s sensing of the air quality in individual rooms. Five ventilation modes were evaluated, each for a period of 24 hours. Occupancy of the house was standardised, with test participants. Two separate air quality monitors were deployed to verify whether measurements made at the air handling unit were representative of the conditions that occupants experienced. Key measurements were the stable level of carbon dioxide overnight in an occupied double bedroom and the time taken for that room to refresh to background CO2 level the following day. The time taken for a kitchen/living room to similarly refresh was also examined. The study found that demand controlled ventilation achieved indoor air quality – assessed on carbon dioxide concentration – comparable with rates of fixed ventilation far greater than the regulated standard. In doing so, the air volume exchanged over a representative day was 33 % less than that standard, providing for significant energy savings. The parallel monitoring of air quality inside the room and via the air exhaust duct showed noticeable variation, but indicated the air handling unit under demand control would never ventilate insufficiently, based on its internal CO2 sensors.

Humans are increasingly influencing the climate and the temperature of the Earth by burning fossilfuels, destroying forests, and raising livestock. This adds massive amounts of greenhouse gases(GHG) to those already present in the atmosphere, amplifying the greenhouse effect andcontributing to global warming. The building sector accounts for a significant amount ofgreenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonizing the building industry can result in significant emissionreductions in the future years. Sweden's energy and climate goals have been updated, and some ofthem include reducing GHG emissions in the building sector, increasing energy efficiency, andmaking electricity production 100 percent renewable. In Sweden, energy renovations in singlefamily houses (SFHs) have the potential to reduce GHG emissions and improve energy efficiency,but the rate of energy renovations remains low because of financial, social, and behavioral barriers.This thesis aims to use LCA and LCC methodologies to assess energy renovations on SFH inVäxjö by combining various combinations of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) to reduce energyuse. The energy performance and eight different renovation scenarios using different EEMs havebeen evaluated for the selected single-family building. To evaluate building renovation measures,we developed a method based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) thatincorporates building information modeling (BIM). Five different renovation measures werecombined in eight scenarios in this research, including different thicknesses of thermal insulationfor walls and roofs, triple-glazed windows, and doors with different U-values, air-source heatpumps, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and solar photovoltaic. The present cost valuesof renovation measures over 50 years for LCC calculation were calculated. The global warmingpotential (GWP) of each renovation measure was estimated over 50 years using One-click LCA.According to the findings of this thesis project, scenarios 1 and 8 had the lowest and highestreductions in primary energy number, respectively. Scenarios 5, 6, 7, and 8 are the most costeffective in comparison to other scenarios. All scenarios resulted in a reduction in GWP impactfrom an LCA perspective in which scenario 7 resulted in the highest reduction in GWP impact.

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I takt med att hållbarhet blir allt viktigare i stadsplanering så blir småhusbebyggelse allt ovanligare i planeringen för nya bostäder i Stockholm. Trots det så visar undersökningar på boendepreferenser att de flesta föredrar att bo i småhus, vilket skapar en intressant klyfta som är värd att undersöka. Eftersom bostadsplaneringen i regel sker på kommunal nivå i Sverige är det viktigt att undersöka just kommunala uppfattningar om den nuvarande situationen. Detta examensarbete undersöker kommunala uppfattningar om småhus i planeringen av nya bostäder, både generellt och specifikt i relation till hållbarhet. Hållbarhet i bostäder definieras här genom en litteraturstudie, och består av fem aspekter: Bostadstäthet (1), Hållbara byggnader (2), Ekonomiskt överkomliga bostäder (3), Social sammanhållning (4), och Bostadskultur och preferenser (5). Genom en dokumentanalys och en enkät undersöks uppfattningar om småhus och hållbarhet i Stockholms kommuner.  Resultaten visar att bostadsplanerare i Stockholms kommuner överlag ser på småhus som en viktigt del av bostadsförsörjningen, men att det är svårt att planera för småhus. Svårigheter att hitta lämplig mark, behovet av att utnyttja marken effektivt för att nå bostadsmål och ekonomiska svårigheter begränsar planeringen för småhus. Småhus är vidare ofta mindre lämpade för kunna uppnå kommunala riktlinjer och mål. Många planerare ser också småhus som ett mindre hållbart alternativ, eftersom det ofta innebär lägre bostadstäthet vilket försvårar annan planering, det försvårar planeringen för kollektivtrafik, och eftersom det är ofta ett sämre val om kommunen vill säkerställa hållbara byggnader eller billiga bostäder. Slutligen så presenterar också examensarbetet ett par rekommendationer för att förbättra hållbarheten i planeringen för nya småhus. Ökad bostadstäthet för småhus, anpassningar i kollektivtrafiken och ändringar av upplåtelseformer för att passa in i kommunala bostadsbolag är viktiga förändringar för att säkerställa hållbarhet. Sammantaget så ger detta examensarbete nya insikter till ett ämne som har hittills har fått lite uppmärksamhet. / With a rapidly increasing awareness of the need for sustainability in urban planning, single-family housing (småhus) is holding a steadily decreasing share of new housing developments in Stockholm, Sweden. However, with residential housing preferences generally leaning towards single-family housing, it creates a notable gap that is worth investigating further. As housing planning is carried out on a municipal level in Sweden, investigating municipal perceptions is key to understanding the current situation. This thesis investigates perceptions of single-family housing both generally and specifically in relation to sustainability. Sustainability in housing has no universal definition, but housing sustainability is defined here through a literature review and consists here of five aspects: Housing density (1), Sustainable buildings (2), Affordability (3), Social cohesion (4), and Culture and preferences (5). Through document analysis and a survey, the perceptions of single-family housing and sustainability in the urban planning scene of Stockholm, Sweden is investigated.  The results show that housing planners in Stockholm generally perceive single-family housing as a necessary part of housing provisioning in large, and often that more single-family housing is desired, but that it is a troublesome housing form to plan for. Difficulties in finding appropriate land, the need for efficient housing to reach building quotas, and economic strains limit planners in this regard. Single-family housing is often a worse choice for municipalities in trying to align with their guidelines and goals. Most planners also view single-family housing as a less sustainable option, as it often means lower residential densities which complicates other planning, entails difficulties in ensuring public transportation usage and coverage, as well as single-family housing often being a suboptimal choice if municipalities want to ensure sustainable buildings or affordability. Finally, the thesis also provides a few key aspects that are crucial to showcase how sustainability in single-family housing can be improved. Finding a way to increase housing density while retaining the attractive attributes is key to making single-family housing more sustainable. Additionally, increases in transport efficiency and adaptation of public transportation, as well as changes to municipal public housing in relation to tenure forms are important to ensuring housing sustainability. Overall, this thesis provides important insights and findings to a topic that has received little attention as of yet.

As energy prices keep increasing, energy efficiency measures have come to the spotlight, especially in the residential sector. In this context, energy audits appear as powerful tools in order to assess the energy use and cost of energy of a dwelling, and identify possible energy saving measures that increase the energy efficiency and reduce costs. This work performs an energy audit of a single-family house (SFH) built in the 1970s which uses district heating, located in Gävle, Sweden. An empirical and quantitavive approach is followed, where energy data from the bills of 2022 together with on-site ventilation measurements is combined as a way to determine the energy inflows and outflows of the dwelling. Results concluded that the ventilation needs to be improved as a way to meet the Swedish building regulations. In addition, the energetic situation could be improved by means of the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to cover part of the electricity demand and solar thermal collectors to cover part of the domestic hot water demand. These measures would decrease the costs of the energy bills 4689 SEK/year at the time they would provide a source of renewable energy. The replacement of windows was also studied, concluding the payoff time to be excessively long to be accepted.

Klimatet är i en ständig förändring och den globala uppvärmningen är bland det störstamiljöhoten i världen. Människans utsläpp av växthusgaser är den främsta orsaken till denklimatförändring vi ser idag. En betydande del av samhällets miljöpåverkan kommer frånbygg- och fastighetssektorn. Byggmaterial står idag för betydande utsläpp. Gipsskivoranvänds flitigt inom byggprojekt. I denna studie undersöks och jämförs olika skivmaterial som används som ytskikt tillinnerväggar i småhus. Studien går in på funktionskrav och miljöaspekter med fokus påkoldioxidutsläpp. Syftet med studien har varit att ta reda på om det finns något rimligtersättande skivmaterial för gips i innerväggar i småhus. Med hjälp av en kvantitativ studie harflera olika skivmaterial analyserats och jämförts, först för att se om de har en godkändbrandklass för småhus och därefter har skivmaterialen jämförts med hänsyn påkoldioxidutsläppet. Skivans pris, vikt, återbruk och återvinning har tagits i beaktande menfokuset har varit på koldioxidutsläppet. Resultatet av arbetet visade en bred spridning av mängden koldioxidutsläpp mellan dematerial som undersöktes. För att besvara frågeställningen analyserades även vikt och pris pådiverse produkter som även de visade på en bred spridning. Slutsatsen i detta arbete blev attde träbaserade skivmaterialen var rimliga ersättare till gipsskivor i torrum ur en miljömässigsynvinkel med koldioxidutsläppet i fokus. / The climate is constantly changing and global warming is among the largest environmentalthreats in the world. Human emission of greenhouse gases is the main cause of climatechange we see today. A significant part of society's environmental impact comes from theconstruction and real estate sector. Building materials today stand for significant emissions.In this study different sheet materials used as surface layers in single family houses areexamined and compared. The study addresses functional requirements and environmentalaspects with the focus on carbon dioxide emissions.The purpose of this study is to find out if there are any reasonable replacement sheetmaterials for plaster in interior walls of single family houses. Via a quantitative study severaldifferent sheet materials have been analyzed and compared, first to see if they have anapproved fire class for single family houses and thereafter the sheet materials have beencompared regarding carbon dioxide emissions. Price, weight and recycling have been takeninto account but the focus has been carbon dioxide emissions.The result of this report showed a wide spread of the amount of carbon dioxide emissionsbetween the different materials that has been analyzed. To answer the issue, price and weightwere also analyzed, which also showed a wide spread. The conclusion of this report was thatthe wood based sheet materials were a reasonable replacement for plasterboards indoors froman environmental point of view with carbon dioxide emissions as the focus.

Sweden has ca. 2 million single family houses (SFH) housing 52% of the population and representing 44.6% of the overall heated floor area. SFHs account for 39.5% of the total heating demand in Sweden. Energy consumption in older SFHs is much higher than in new ones. SFHs built in the 1960s consume ca. 170% of the annual heating energy demand of SFH built in the 2010s. This study aims to explore the energy savings potential in existing SFHs built between 1960 and 1975 in Sweden through refurbishment of elements of the building envelope and analyze their energy and costefficiency of these measures. Furthermore, it aims to study the effects of variations in climate in Sweden on the energy and cost efficiency of these measures. A hypothetical un-refurbished SFH was modeled and defined using energy simulation tool IDA-ICE based on statistical data and relevant literature reviews. Variations in climate between regions of Sweden were analyzed and 4 suitable locations were suggested to place the hypothetical model in. Suitable building envelope refurbishmentmeasures were selected for the elements of the building envelope. These measures were (a) adding extra insulation to the outer side of external wall (b) replacing and insulating the slab on ground (c) insulating the cold attic on top the existing horizontal slab, and (d) replacing the exiting external doors and windows. Suggested U-values for renovated SFHs from Boverket were used as a goal for the suggested refurbishment measures to reach. Energy performance simulations were performed to estimate savings potential in energy used for heating purposes for the un-refurbished building and each of the suggested measures. Life cycle cost (LCC) study using UPV* method was performed over a lifespan of 30 years. The results of the energy performance simulation showed energy savings potential in all the suggested measures, ranging from ca. 6% to ca. 20% with the measure of replacing the external doors and windows had the most savings potential. The study highlighted rate of improvement in U-values, surface area within which heat losses are occurring, status of thermal bridges, and differences in temperature between air and soil as factors effecting the energy savings potential. The results showed no significant effects of changing locations on the savings potential. LCC analysis showed that the measure of adding extra insulation in the cold attic is the most cost-efficient. It also showed that higher heating demands in colder climate led to more significant role for the energy savings potential in determining the cost efficiency, while the initial costs played a bigger role in warmer climate. The study also showed that choosing materials and products with longer lifespan in addition to having a good energy savings potential may lead to a change in results on the cost-efficiency analysis. The study concludes with highlighting the energy savings potential in building envelope refurbishment and the importance of including both and energy and cost efficiency perspectives when choosing refurbishment measures for existing SFH.