efficient buildings may require more time and money up
front than designing structures that merely meet Title 24 energy
requirements, but the resulting energy efficient structures
generally cost much less over their lifetimes. Unfortunately,
conventional fee structures paid to designers and contractors tend
to provide economic incentives to minimize building costs, without
regard for strategies that reduce lifetime operational and energy
costs. This raises an interesting hypothesis: If fees were adjusted
to reward design professionals for the amount an energy efficient
facility would save the owners in the future-instead of the amount
they spend today-the economic interests of the design team and the
owner would be more closely aligned, and the result should be more
efficient buildings.
Toward testing this concept, several buildings have been
constructed with the intention to reward the design team if
measured energy use after project completion falls below an
agreed-upon target, and to penalize designers if it is above a
certain threshold. Initial experiments demonstrate that all parties
need to reach agreement as quickly as possible about two key
issues: specifying performance thresholds and measuring the actual
energy use of the finished building. Additionally, designers
emphasize the importance of collaboration within the project team,
the members of which should be united in their enthusiasm for
achieving a high-quality product.
