Presenter: Sharon Alitema
Co-Presenters: Maryam Alnemer, Yue Gu
Faculty Mentor: Alison Kwok, Jenni Hyunh
Presentation Type: Poster 1
Major: Architecture
Infiltration, a common source of heat loss, especially in old houses, is the unintentional introduction of outside air into a building. Air escapes through cracks of the building’s envelope, windows, and through use of doors. This
case study focuses on an old duplex apartment in Eugene where infiltration is most pronounced in the winter due to indoor-outdoor temperature differences. The hypothesis was that by sealing the large leaks/cracks in the apartment, it would result in a 50% reduction in infiltration, allowing the apartment to maintain a room temperature of 68 °F. A powerful fan, blower door, that enables one to identify major air leaks by lowering the air pressure inside the house and letting air flow through all unsealed cracks, was used to test these hypotheses. Temperature values were recorded before and after possible solutions were implemented. While the hypothesis predicted a 50% reduction in infiltration, the 41.1% reduction achieved proved infiltration was the greatest contributor of heat loss. Further analysis revealed that the reduction of infiltration, led to energy saving costs of about up to $50 during the winter months.