SCIENCE

Study to compare heating efficiency of bulk fuels vs. natural gas in low-income houses

Onset (http://www.onsetcomp.com) has announced that several hundred of the company’s HOBO data loggers are being used in a key national weatherization study funded by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Called the National Weatherization Assistance Program Evaluation, the effort marks the first time in two decades the federal government will gather technical data on energy consumption and other factors in homes treated under the federal weatherization program.

More than 200 Onset HOBO temperature and time-of-use data loggers are being installed in low-income homes throughout the Midwest, Northeast and South, where they will monitor primary heating system run times, as well as secondary heating systems such as space heaters and wood stoves.

Data loggers are crucial to the study because it is often difficult to measure heating energy use in homes that use bulk fuels.  These homes do not receive monthly utility bills showing consumption patterns as do homes that use metered natural gas.

“We’re interested in knowing when fuel is being consumed, which is not the same as monitoring heating calls or fan operation,” said Dan Cautley, senior project manager with The Energy Center of Wisconsin, a Madison-based research and education firm.  “To get burner on-time data, we’re watching the power wire to the gas valve in propane systems, and in oil systems we are monitoring either the oil solenoid valve power, or when there is no solenoid valve, the burner power.” 

The data logging equipment will be retrieved in the spring of 2011, at which point the data will be analyzed to establish heating energy savings in the homes.

To learn more about the study, please visit http://www.ecw.org/weatherization.  For more information about Onset HOBO data loggers, please visit http://www.onsetcomp.com.