Emmanuel Iddio

Background

About Emmanuel Iddio

I hold a BSc. in Mechanical Engineering and am about to complete a doctorate in Civil (Architectural) Engineering. I am proficient in EnergyPlus, and Revit MEP with a knowledge of HVAC systems design. My current experience is as a research assistant working on occupant thermal comfort, building energy modeling, simulation, and data analysis relating to indoor living walls. As a research assistant, I have gained experience working with HVAC systems in our HVAC lab. We have a fully functional Variable Air Volume system with an air-cooled chiller and heating hot water provided by a centralized plant for research and educational purposes. Through my coursework on HVAC system design and analysis, I learned the design of such systems using Revit MEP. Before that, I had my first exposure to Revit MEP as a teaching assistant in a Building Plumbing and Electrical Design class where I graded students’ design work on plumbing and fire protection systems for residential buildings. I gained experience with building energy modeling using EnergyPlus by creating energy simulation models for our HVAC lab and an indoor farm in Jackson Hole, WY, where we explored possible energy efficiency measures. We predicted a 48% reduction in annual natural gas use by combining energy efficiency measures. I was the measured contest officer of our student decathlon team on a net zero home in Lander, WY as part of the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Competition. We won first place in 3 out of 4 measured categories, third place in the embodied carbon category, and fourth place overall. The home was net positive by 6 MWh and had an air infiltration of 0.25 ACH50. This competition provided me with some experience in measuring and evaluating net zero homes, the design and selection of mechanical systems, energy modeling, creating an appropriate engineering narrative, and performing market analysis and financial feasibility studies. Recently, I took charge of a thermal comfort study where we had participants help us evaluate the impact of indoor living walls on occupant thermal comfort. We found occupants to feel more comfortable with the living wall present, even at higher room temperatures. This could have significant implications on building energy use, allowing for a wider range of room temperature setpoints. In addition to gaining experience in occupant thermal comfort, I also improved my verbal communication skills as it was important to communicate with participants as regards scheduling, the requirements, and the objectives of the study.