Design Briefs: Options & Opportunities
Not all energy-efficiency measures are appropriate for all building types, but some are especially useful for particular buildings. This Design Brief reminds designers and builders of opportunities they should consider in each of their projects. Summary: When focus is placed on the largest energy uses in a particular type of building, incorporating pertinent enhancements in a standard design can readily improve energy efficiency...

Design Briefs: Integrated Building Design
Using the integrated energy design approach, designers can cost-effectively lower building operating costs while improving workers’ comfort and boosting productivity. Summary: The integrated energy design process helps building owners and designers to economically reduce building operating expenses, while improving comfort and productivity for the building's occupants...

Design Briefs: Building Simulation
A few building simulation runs early in a project can lead to design solutions that, though they appear simple, significantly improve building energy performance. Summary: Computerized building energy performance simulation is a powerful implement for the virtual toolboxes of architects, engineers, and developers...

Case Studies: Building Case Study - A Biotech Lab and Office
The Pharmaceutical Research Institute in La Jolla, California, is a 123,000-square-foot laboratory and office building completed in 1999. Among the energy efficiency measures included in the building are systems for limiting energy waste associated with its 92 fume hoods and its air handling, space conditioning, and lighting systems...

Software: eQUEST
eQUEST® is a sophisticated, yet easy to use building energy use analysis tool which provides professional-level results with an affordable level of effort. This freeware tool was designed to allow you to perform detailed analysis of today's state-of-the-art building design technologies using today's most sophisticated building energy use simulation techniques but without requiring extensive experience in the "art" of building performance modeling...

e-News for Designers: e-News #52: Low-Energy Lab Design
It’s no easy undertaking 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...

The Newsletter: Let the sun shine!
The new Arcadia Methodist Hospital Patient Tower was designed with two important operating goals: to enhance the thermal comfort of the space, and simultaneously to reduce the overall energy consumption of the new facility. In a 24-hour facility, energy consumption can be a significant overhead expense if not properly controlled...

e-News for Designers: e-News #29: Investigating the Energy Savings Potential in Laboratory Design.
Laboratory-type facilities 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...

The Newsletter: One way to get it all in...
According to the American Society of Healthcare Engineering, new construction and major renovation projects represent one of the greatest capital expenditures that healthcare systems will ever make for their business. Healthcare administrators and design teams often face conflicting issues when designing facilities to meet both patient and staff needs, balance short-term and long-term cost considerations, and provide aesthetic as well as functional value...

The Newsletter: Natural ROI
Using 63 design teams, one for each department, Valley Children's Hospital (VCH) has designed and built a world-class pediatric facility in Madera that integrates 30 specialty clinics and incorporates numerous high-efficiency design features. When you are building a new building and have an opportunity to design a state-of-the-art hospital, then all aspects should be state-of-the-art, commented Pat Brietigam, Vice President of Support Services for the hospital...