Project Overview

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) partners with experts to provide resources that help Northwest building professionals adopt energy efficiency best practices. In 2015, NEEA introduced the high-efficiency DOAS concept from Europe, identifying it as a key energy-saving HVAC strategy. NEEA’s VHE DOAS guidelines, developed through years of research and market work, support manufacturers, designers, and specifiers in improving energy use, indoor air quality, and occupant comfort.

Our Role

The staff of A2 Efficiency has provided NEEA with ongoing support for their VHE-DOAS HVAC project over the past five years, with energy analysis and building design, and system integration. The team leveraged knowledge and expertise on how DOAS systems are often designed, built, and operated to provide:

• Guidance on the NEEA VHE-DOAS specification language.

• Manufacturer support on test procedure criteria.

• Energy analysis of system configurations in typical buildings for energy savings quantification and market analysis.

• Cost estimation, including incremental costs for systems and components for VHE-DOAS systems, to determine region-by-region cost-benefits in the Pacific Northwest.

Project Highlights and Reports

1. Economic Analysis of Heat Recovery Equipment in Commercial DOAS

2. Energy Efficiency Analysis of Commercial DX-DOAS and ERV/HRV-DOAS

3. Analysis of Expanded Efficiency Parameters for VHE DOAS

4. COVID-19 Risk Reduction Strategies and HVAC System Energy Impact

5. Calibrated Energy Savings for VHE DOAS in Multi-Family Housing

6. Energy Modeling Guide for VHE DOAS

7. HE DOAS Latent Recovery Investigation