Thermal Loads

Thermal loads are the amount of energy needed to be added or removed from
a space by the HVAC system to keep occupants comfortable. Right-sizing the
HVAC system the HVAC system requires understanding the heating and
cooling loads within the space.
High performance buildings seek to reduce these loads as much as possible,
and meet these loads as efficiently as possible.

The building program determines whether internal or external loads dominate.

By understanding the buildings thermal loads and its intended use, you can more effectively use
energy from the sun and wind to passively heat, cool and ventilate your building, light your
building, and design efficient HVAC systems. You can even generate energy on-site using
resources that would otherwise be thermal loads that would demand energy.

External thermal loads

External thermal loads come from heat transfer through the building envelope from the sun, the
earth, and the outside environment (and weather). The building envelope includes walls, roofs,
floors, windows, and any other surfaces that separate inside and outside. They are sometimes
also called envelope loads, fabric loads, skin loads, or external gains/losses.
These loads include the energy embedded in the moisture of the air (see sensible vs. latent heat).
Some common ways that heat flows into or out of a building are:

Heat conduction entering or leaving the building envelope to outside air or ground
Sunlight (radiant energy) entering through windows to heat interiors or store energy in thermal
mass (direct solar gains)
Sunlight warming up exterior building surfaces ("indirect solar gains")
Losing inside air to the outside, or vice-versa, through leaks and infiltration
Air being intentionally introduced to the building to provide fresh air/ventilation or being
exhausted from point sources.

Material choices, envelope design, and envelope sealing dramatically affect the amount of solar
conducted and convected energy that enters and leaves the building envelope. The degree to
which each of these impact the buildings loads and the occupants comfort also depend on the
temperature and humidity differences between indoors and outdoors, which are all constantly
changing by season and time of day.
Understanding where heat energy is gained and lost in your design is an important first step
towards successful passive design strategies. When its hot and sunny, it can be very important to
reduce loads from solar radiation by using properly designed shades and windows with low solar
heat gain. On the other hand, in a cold climate or in the winter, its often desirable to capture this
free solar energy in some way.

Internal Thermal Loads

Internal thermal loads come from heat
generated by people, lighting, and equipment.
These are also sometimes called core loads or
internal gains. Lighting and most equipment
loads are sensible heat, while the metabolic
heat generated by people bodies are a
combination of sensible and latent loads. Some
buildings or spaces are dominated by less
common internal sources of sensible and latent
internal loads such as large kitchens, swimming
pools and locker rooms and health clubs or
industrial processes.
The internal gains from lighting and equipment
are generally equal to their energy use: when a
light fixture converts a watt-hour of electricity
into photons, those photons bounce around the
room until they get absorbed, turning their light
energy into heat energy.
All lighting energy becomes heat
eventually

Likewise, all the electrical energy that the lighting fixture did not turn into photons turns directly
into heat energy, due to inefficiency.
The same is true of equipment: electrical energy used to move mechanical parts is transformed
into heat via friction, energy used to power electronics turns into heat via electrical resistance,
etc.
The thermal load of people depends on the number of people and their activity level. It can be as
little as 70-80 watts for an adult sleeping to over 1,000 watts for an athlete engaging in intense
exercise.

Thermal loads from people doing different activities

Activity

Watts

Sitting

100

Standing at ease / Conversation

130

Eating meal

130

Strolling

160

Housekeeping

175

Heavy work (e.g. carpentry)

270

Fast walking / Hiking

400

Long distance running

1,000

Sprinting

1,600

Table values from Starner, T. and Paradiso, J.A.,

"Human Generated Power for Mobile Electronics,"
in Piguet, C. (ed), Low-Power Electronics, CRC
Press, Chapter 45, 2004.

Internal vs. External Loads

Densely populated buildings with high activity
and/or energy-intensive equipment (e.g. office
buildings, movie theaters) are generally dominated
by internal loads, while sparsely populated
buildings with little activity or equipment (e.g.
single family residences, warehouses) are
generally dominated by external loads.
The building program and massing also help
determine how important internal heat loads are
compared to external loads from sun, wind, and

ambient temperatures.
Heating and Cooling Loads
Internal and external thermal loads translate to heating and cooling loads. This is how much heat
energy you need to heat and cool the building, and control moisture within the building.
Loads are usually calculated as the amount of energy that needs to be moved into or out of the
building to keep the temperature at a specified point (setpoint).

If heat gains are greater than envelope and ventilation losses, the building or space has a
net cooling load (the building is too hot).

If heat losses are greater than the internal gains, the building or space has a net heating load (the
building is too cold).

The heating thermostat setpoint is often different than the cooling thermostat setpoint both to
save energy and because of human preference. The distribution of heating and cooling loads is
climate dependent.
Building performance analysis software can provide charts for heating and cooling loads that
provide a break-down for what drives the heating and cooling energy demand.
Monthly heating and cooling
load charts tell you where heat
energy is being gained and
lost.
In Autodesk Revit, the heating
and cooling loads are shown in
separate bar charts. It lists
heat conduction through
windows separately from solar
radiation heat gain through
windows, as well as separating
heat transfer through roofs,
walls, and floors or
underground areas.

An explanation for how to interpret heating and cooling load charts.

Example charts from Autodesk Revit 2013