Publication Date
Spring 2020
School
School of Engineering and Computational Sciences
Major
Engineering: Electrical
Keywords
Energy efficiency, renewable energy, index
Disciplines
Power and Energy
Recommended Citation
Suplee, Dylan, "Net Energy Index: A New Way To Measure Energy Efficient Buildings" (2020). Senior Honors Theses. 980.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/980
Abstract
Energy efficiency indexes are useful for providing tangible measurements of energy efficiency in buildings. Buildings use approximately 70% of all electricity in the USA. Using that energy efficiently has two primary benefits: limiting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing grid strain. Utilizing local renewable energy sources contributes to the same benefits. Currently, there is no index that considers renewable energy sources when measuring energy efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes the Net Energy Index, which compares the net power usage of a building to the floor area of the building in order to determine energy efficiency. If renewable energy supplies power to a building, this index is not only useful and justified, but it is also practical through advances in energy meters.
