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| published Friday, July 30, 2010 |
463 Views :: 0 Comments
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or it may be old and inefficient. Either way, the electricity used in the building will likely be produced with inherent inefficiencies. The efficiency of fossil fuel based electricity production averages 34% (although new combined cycle plants can exceed 50% efficiency). The ultimate efficiency of any building pulling electricity from the grid is limited by that number.
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| published Friday, June 04, 2010 |
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is a heating and cooling system that transfers heat to or from the ground, using the ground as a heat sink in the summer and heat source in the winter. It can be significantly more energy efficient than an air source heat pump.
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| published Monday, May 03, 2010 |
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While the performance of a building is frequently reflected in informal comments like this or, sometimes, complaints from building occupants, more formal methods of evaluating building performance can be extremely beneficial. Although the term is not universally embraced, the process of evaluating a building’s performance is generally known as Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE).
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| published Wednesday, March 31, 2010 |
2403 Views :: 2 Comments
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by forcing hot dry air over a wetted pad. The water in the pad evaporates, removing heat from the air while adding moisture. Although the concept has been used in residential “swamp” coolers in the Southwest for decades, technology advances have made evaporative cooling a viable alternative to conventional cooling in commercial buildings and in other areas of the country.
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| published Friday, February 26, 2010 |
2059 Views :: 0 Comments
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are finding the resources to renovate their
existing schools and build new ones while improving environmental
conditions at the same time. Green design practices not only
minimize operating costs, but they can protect the health of students and
teachers. Green schools engage students in a learning environment where
air is healthy, conditions are conducive to learning, and children can thrive.
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| published Tuesday, February 02, 2010 |
3763 Views :: 1 Comments
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Chilled beams are among the recent energy-saving innovations making
their way to the U.S. market. Chilled beam technology, which involves
locating a low-temperature radiator at ceiling level to cool the rising
warm air, has been utilized in Europe and Australia for more than a
decade. Once cooled, the air slowly descends into the occupied zone,
providing adequate cooling with minimal air movement and fan power,
while providing an unobstructed radiant heat sink above the occupied
zone.
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| published Monday, January 11, 2010 |
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was San Francisco’s first hotel to implement a cardkey system to control lights and HVAC systems in guestrooms. Monitored data from four rooms in the hotel showed a reduction in heating and cooling energy of 45% during the peak cooling season. Computer simulations based on monitored occupancy levels in the hotel estimate a savings of 32% of annual heating and cooling costs. Modeled across five different climate zones, the average savings were 26%.
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| published Friday, October 09, 2009 |
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during the hottest summer days, mostly due to air conditioning loads, which account for almost 28% of California’s peak electrical demand. A cool storage thermal energy storage system (TES) provides a means for shifting all or part of a facility’s cooling energy use to off-peak hours, when energy costs are lower and cooling systems can potentially run more efficiently. A TES system uses cooling equipment at night to remove heat from a thermal reservoir of chilled water or ice, which can then be used for space cooling throughout the day.
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| published Friday, August 14, 2009 |
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according to the U.S. Green Building Council, primarily due to
the use of fossil fuels to provide energy for the heating, cooling, and
operation of buildings. In addition to releasing CO2, fossil fuel
combustion emits other greenhouse gases (GHG) such as nitrogen oxides
(NOx) and methane (CH4). This issue of e-News focuses on the
relationship between building energy efficiency and CO2 emission
reductions, methods for GHG accounting, and strategies for designing a
net-zero carbon building.
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| published Friday, June 26, 2009 |
3446 Views :: 2 Comments
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Ongoing construction and major retrofitting of hospitals in
California, driven by aging facilities and the demand for new medical
technologies, offers an unprecedented opportunity to dramatically
improve the energy performance of healthcare facilities for decades to
come.
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| published Tuesday, April 21, 2009 |
4044 Views :: 0 Comments
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is a
completely passive way of reducing annual heating and cooling energy
use and shifting the summer peak demand to later in the day. In architectural terms, thermal mass refers to the incorporation of
solid or liquid materials into the building design to absorb heat or
cold and then release it later to moderate building temperature swings.
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| published Tuesday, February 24, 2009 |
3122 Views :: 0 Comments
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of new commercial
construction in California to explore ways to create very low-energy
buildings. Meeting the energy use goals defined by Title 24 or groups
such as Architecture 2030 will require bold steps from building owners
and revolutionary thinking from design teams.
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| published Friday, January 30, 2009 |
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to slow down global warming before it’s too late,” said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September 2006, when he signed Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. This landmark legislation, also known as the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop regulations and market mechanisms that will reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
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| published Thursday, December 11, 2008 |
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on the upswing, building designers are taking a closer look at natural ventilation opportunities in California’s commercial new construction. To help designers evaluate whether natural ventilation makes sense for their projects, this issue of e-News reviews natural ventilation basics.
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| published Thursday, March 01, 2007 |
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owners and designers of commercial buildings in California have turned to two programs—Energy Design Resources and Savings By Design—for information, design assistance and incentives to help them save money, reduce energy use and related carbon dioxide emissions, and improve the quality of their buildings
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| published Thursday, February 01, 2007 |
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the actual number of people within the
building at any given time is frequently lower than the designed peak
occupancy. If the building has a conventional HVAC system that delivers
a fixed rate of outside air pegged to the peak occupancy, the result
can be overventilation and a waste of energy and money.
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| published Monday, January 01, 2007 |
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electric lighting controls were usually nothing more complicated than manual switches that turned an individual light or a group of lights on and off. In certain situations today, such as small-scale buildings, warehouses supervised by a single building manager, and some private offices, this basic strategy may still be appropriate.
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| published Friday, December 01, 2006 |
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of new office buildings in California know,
designing a building to meet the state’s Energy Efficiency Building
Standards isn’t a goal—it’s the law.
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| published Wednesday, November 01, 2006 |
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is one of the largest energy-consuming end uses of a commercial food
service facility. In a typical restaurant, the HVAC (heating,
ventilation and air conditioning) system represents 20 to 30 percent of
total energy consumption. The kitchen ventilation system can account
for up to 50 percent of that HVAC load.
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| published Sunday, October 01, 2006 |
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of learning activities that take place in a
K–12
classroom. Now picture a lighting scenario designed to enhance the
comfort and performance of students and teachers during each of those
activities: Dimmed lighting while projectors or televisions are in use. Glare free
lighting for white boards and computer monitors. Uniform up lighting
for general illumination. Down lighting for reading tasks. Lighting
controls that are a breeze for the teacher to use.
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| published Wednesday, March 01, 2006 |
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building designers can choose from an exciting array of high-performance glazing products. But with so many options available, selecting the right glazing for any given application is more complicated than ever.
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| published Wednesday, February 01, 2006 |
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for building owners is whether and how much capital
to invest in energy-saving equipment or systems in order to reap
long-term savings.
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| published Thursday, December 01, 2005 |
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to design a high-performance laboratory building that uses very little energy while meeting comfort, health, safety and programmatic requirements. Laboratory buildings typically have very energyintensive heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that operate 24 hours per day and use 100 percent outside air.
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| published Tuesday, November 01, 2005 |
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outstanding opportunities for energy savings and improved quality of light inside many types of new and existing commercial buildings. This issue of e-News provides an overview of the benefits of toplighting, and describes brand-new requirements in California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards for Non-Residential Buildings (Title 24) related to skylights and automatic controls.
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| published Saturday, October 01, 2005 |
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or built-up HVAC systems installed in large commer-cial buildings are not designed with a systems’ perspective. Equipment is frequently selected based on the features of individual components rather than on system-wide impacts. As a result, many large HVAC systems use significantly more energy than necessary.
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| published Thursday, September 01, 2005 |
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systems are gaining ground in commercial new construction across North America. Compared to conventional overhead air distribution systems, underfloor systems have the potential to provide better indoor air quality, improved thermal comfort, and reduced energy use.
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| published Monday, August 01, 2005 |
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and existing commercial buildings is increasingly common, yet it's still not standard practice. A new study by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory on the cost effectiveness of building commissioning may go a long way toward convincing skeptical decision makers that commissioning is key to significant ongoing savings.
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| published Wednesday, June 01, 2005 |
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advances in the performance of the information technology equipment housed in data centers. But are the facilities themselves, and the mechanical systems that serve them, demonstrating similar leaps in performance?
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| published Friday, April 08, 2005 |
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Not so fast. The technology for 4-ft F32T8
lamps with instant-start ballasts has been evolving rapidly, with six
generations of systems now available.
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| published Tuesday, February 01, 2005 |
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and cooling system that’s widely applicable to
many building types and California climates, uses less energy than
conventional systems, and provides excellent indoor air quality. Sound
appealing? Perhaps the time has come to give thermal displacement
ventilation a closer look. Simon Turner of Healthy Buildings
International, an environmental consulting and engineering firm that
designs innovative ventilation systems, thinks so.
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| published Wednesday, December 01, 2004 |
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nonresidential buildings in California, you
probably know that California periodically updates its Building Energy
Efficiency Standards. The new version of the Standards is expected to
take effect in October 2005 and will supersede the 2001 Standards. Read
on to learn how the 2005 Nonresidential Standards will affect your
projects.
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| published Thursday, April 01, 2004 |
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the basketball as the crowd roars its approval.
A volleyball player follows the high, arching ball and hurries into
position to spike it over the net. Middle school students exchange
nervous glances when the lights dim and the emcee announces, “Slow
dance.” Parents and students thumb through the latest in the Harry
Potter series, one of hundreds of books on display at their school’s
annual book fair.
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| published Sunday, February 01, 2004 |
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owner’s best intentions can be a little like
“telephone,” a favorite childhood game. The first person in the chain
starts with a key message, such as “I want an energyefficient
building.”
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| published Monday, December 01, 2003 |
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facility can be as complicated and take as many plot twists as an episode of “ER.”
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| published Saturday, September 21, 2002 |
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Building green is building smart. Builders and
developers, as well as architechts and designers, are catching on that
building green makes good economic sense as well as good environmental
sense.
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| published Friday, August 30, 2002 |
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community make a more far-reaching impact than by
designing energy-efficient facilities for higher education. Not only do
these buildings save energy, but they also provide enhanced learning
environments while serving as living laboratories and sustainability
demonstration centers.
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| published Friday, June 07, 2002 |
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explosion in big box retail buildings: In 1970,
there were an estimated five square feet of retail space for each
person in the U.S. By 2000,that figure had risen to 20 square feet per
capita. Since the large retail (greater than 10,000 square feet)
segment is the second greatest energy user of all commercial segments,
the implications of this growth trend are significant.
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| published Friday, December 07, 2001 |
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more than $450 million a year on energy—more
than their budget for books and supplies. Increasing the efficiency of
the building design could save some 20 to 40 percent of that expense.
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| published Friday, July 06, 2001 |
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of four outstanding, energy-efficient California
buildings were honored on June 29 at a blacktie gala at the Los Angeles
Millennium Biltmore Hotel.
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| published Friday, June 22, 2001 |
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of e-News, we reported on the causes and extent of
duct leakage and thermal losses in small commercial buildings. We
continue our look at ductwork by examining research on large commercial
ventilation systems and offering suggestions to inform your thermal
distribution design process.
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| published Friday, June 08, 2001 |
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buildings use roughly 35 percent of the
electricity and 16 percent of the gas consumed in the state. Space
conditioning in these buildings accounts for about 18 percent of their
electricity consumption and 34 percent of their natural gas consumption.
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| published Sunday, May 27, 2001 |
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leading-edge commercial building design, acoustical
ceiling tile hasn’t exactly been an exciting topic. It’s been doing its
job, reducing noise levels within a space while allowing access to the
plenum.
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| published Friday, May 11, 2001 |
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promises to be a long, hot California summer, most
people are putting their thick outerwear into storage. But it’s
important to remember that for commercial buildings, an airtight
covering of insulation saves on energy costs by fending off heat
transfer from the hot outdoors and by keeping conditioned air from
leaking out.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, April 27, 2001 |
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design engineers: If you want to ensure
that your project meets the latest indoor air quality standards, uses
energy efficiently, and lowers peak energy demand, consider installing
energy recovery ventilators that reclaim waste energy from the exhaust
air stream.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, April 13, 2001 |
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building stock, elevators can consume five to fifteen
percent of a building’s total energy usage, depending on the other
services running in the building.
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| published Friday, March 30, 2001 |
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represent an important segment of the
building stock, especially when considered in terms of energy intensity
and overall energy consumption. According to researchers at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL), there are more than 50 million
square feet of laboratory-
type space in California alone. Energy intensities are often five times higher than
those found in other building types such as offices.
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| published Friday, March 16, 2001 |
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for greater energy efficiency in their
projects? Your building design can deliver it with the energy savings
of outside air intakes that are automatically controlled according to
the carbon dioxide (CO²) concentrations in indoor air. This technology
cuts back on the energy costs of overventilation and helps maintain
sufficient ventilation levels to safeguard indoor air quality (IAQ).
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| published Friday, March 02, 2001 |
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about energy usage, resources, and efficiency
occupy center stage in California. Architects and design engineers can
contribute directly to reducing demands on the state’s energy
infrastructure by designing energy-efficient strategies into buildings.
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| published Friday, February 16, 2001 |
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in short supply and electricity rates likely
tostay high, it’s more important than ever in California buildings to
squeeze all the lighting energy
out of every kilowatt. Today’s lamp innovations and electronic ballasts
help achieve this, but lighting specifiers should ensure that the
fixtures these lamps go into also maximize the building’s energy
investment in the longrun.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, February 02, 2001 |
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in building technology and tighter
building standards, the Department of Energy estimates that buildings
still consume one third of all U.S. energy, at a cost of $200 billion
per year, with $85 billion used in commercial buildings. A large
portion of this energy is probably wasted, and with the current
situation in Califo rnia where a few megawatts of demand can push the
electricity grid into rolling blackouts, our commercial building stock
can’t afford to waste any electricity.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, January 19, 2001 |
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Mediterranean have used them for many centuries
. . . and in modern times building researchers are quantifying their
benefits. Now California’s new Title 24 standards offer credit for
them—It’s time to take another look at cool, reflective roofs that can
improve our communities and the environment in the future.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, January 05, 2001 |
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may contain hundreds of motors, whirring and
chugging away unseen. Most of them are used in heating, ventilating,
and air conditioning applications as drivers for fans, pumps, and air
conditioning compressors.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, December 22, 2000 |
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our first year of publication, EDR E-News is proud to
have brought you the latest developments in energy efficient building
design.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, December 08, 2000 |
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professionals are very busy people, Energy
Design Resources will soon present Virtual Workshops as a convenient
way for architects, designers, engineers, and energy consultants to
continue their education.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, November 24, 2000 |
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reminding you about the advantages of using an
integrated approach to building design rather than the traditional
"Pony Express" method. That’s where the architect puts the design
together and hands it off to the engineers, who order up the mechanical
and electrical systems and pass the project off to the contractor
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| published Saturday, November 11, 2000 |
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increase the value of a commercial building by
making it more comfortable, productive, and energy efficient.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, October 27, 2000 |
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of running air ducts through the ceiling may be,
well, upside-down. Putting air systems under raised flooring can reduce
building operating costs and improve HVAC equipment efficiency and
occupant comfort.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, October 13, 2000 |
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of meeting a tight deadline while securing public consensus, the California Energy Commission will release new Title 24 standards on Jan. 4, 2001.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, September 29, 2000 |
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for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) held its
eleventh biennial Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings last
month in Pacific Grove, California. This conference is devoted to
technology, policy, and implementation issues related to energy use in
buildings.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, September 15, 2000 |
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ensure that building systems operate
efficiently, meet the needs of the end user, function as designed, and
maintain occupant comfort. The initial costs of commissioning are
recovered many times over through increased operating savings, improved
staff performance, and avoidance of costly construction problems.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, September 01, 2000 |
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Rating Council (NFRC) now offers more value
and support to architects and building designers than ever before. New
window ratings and an online, searchable version of their useful
Certified Products Directory are among the newest features announced
this year.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, August 18, 2000 |
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in national focus on high-performance building
design: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has established the
Commercial High Performance Buildings project.
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| published Friday, August 04, 2000 |
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fall from the sky—Energy in abundance, surrounding
California buildings nearly every day of the year in the form of
sunshine. By designing solar energy technologies and design elements
into your project, you can harness that natural glow and make it
provide lighting (see EDR E-News Issue 1 for a discussion on daylighting), ventilation, space heating, and hot water.
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| published Friday, July 21, 2000 |
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—It’s a California Energy Commission
program that offers specific services to help school districts become
more energy wise, such as identifying cost-effective energy-efficient
systems to meet their needs and providing design and implementation
assistance -- at little or no cost.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, July 07, 2000 |
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the Newport Coast Elementary School won a
special jury citation in the recent Energy Efficiency Integration
Design Awards sponsored by Savings By Design. The jury was particularly
impressed with this project and noted that everything had been taken
into consideration in its overall design and approach to energy
efficiency.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, June 23, 2000 |
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of the Queen Mary was the perfect setting for the
formal gala celebrating the Annual AIACC Awards on June 15. This event
recognizes and honors outstanding architectural design as well as those
individuals who have made significant contributions on behalf of the
profession, their communities, and the profession of architecture.
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| published Friday, June 09, 2000 |
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in the U.S. can save $130 billion by 2010 if
they take advantage of currently available, low-cost, energy-efficiency
opportunities. Most businesses use energy inefficiently, which results
in higher energy bills than necessary. By becoming more energy
efficient, these organizations can save energy and thus reduce their
energy costs while preventing pollution.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, May 26, 2000 |
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and sustainability into one building at a
time is a great idea, but cities across the country are recognizing the
collective benefits of populating their communities with sustainable
buildings. Cities such as Austin, Denver, Tucson, Seattle, and New York
City have raised the bar, community-wide, above basic minimums on
sustainability issues.
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| read more.. |
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| published Friday, May 12, 2000 |
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about advanced energy-efficient technologies,
one low-tech building component continues to provide visual relief and
beauty, and can contribute significantly to a building’s energy
efficiency.
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| read more.. |
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| published Saturday, April 29, 2000 |
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can now stamp their projects with a
green building "seal of approval" available through the Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design building rating system (known as
LEEDTM). This voluntary, consensus-based rating system for commercial
buildings was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
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| published Saturday, April 15, 2000 |
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of the National Lighting Product Information
Program at the Lighting Research Center (LRC), which is part of the
School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate
New York.
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| read more.. |
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| published Wednesday, March 01, 2000 |
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Library in Ventura, Calif., integrates
state-of-the-art energy-conserving design into a new joint-use public
and high school library. The project demonstrates how to create
buildings that are comfortable, environmentally responsible, and
economical to operate.
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| read more.. |
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| published Tuesday, February 01, 2000 |
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that
automatically controls the amount of light it lets through—Glazing
options have made some huge strides since people first tried to bring
light into interior spaces.
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| read more.. |
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About e-News
Don’t miss future issues—to sign up for a free email subscription, please visit our subscription management page. Send letters to the editor, suggestions on topics for future issues, or other comments via our comments & feedback form. e-News is published by Energy Design Resources, an online resource center for information on energy efficiency design practices in California. Savings By Design offers design assistance and incentives to design teams and building owners in California to encourage high-performance nonresidential building design and construction. Energy Design Resources and Savings By Design are funded by California utility customers and administered by Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and Southern California Gas Company, under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.
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