NBI News March 2009

In This Issue

Efficiency Begins at Home
NBI Wins PIER Award
ALG to Preview at Lightfair
Office of the Future Launches
NBI helps with Efficiency Plans
Core Performance Proposed for Stretch Code
NBI Releases Controls White Paper

Efficiency Begins at Home

NBI’s Vancouver location, an historic brick building used to house draft horses in the late 1800’s, has turned out to be very energy efficient. Converted to office space in the 1970’s, the “Barn” has been NBI’s second home since the fall of 2007. Brick walls with no insulation, single-glazed windows, T-12 and CFL lighting – these were just a few of the building’s features. One year and a high-efficiency HVAC upgrade later, much has been learned about how we work in the space, and how the space works for us. To understand the Barn’s performance, the first year of utility bills were put in an energy signature format.

Utility bills, normalized to building size, were plotted against monthly temperature and appear in the chart above as black points. The energy signature (black line) is trued up to the observed energy use by finding a set of physical assumptions that achieves a reasonable match. This view quickly shows the building’s baseload (low point of the curve) and heating and cooling efficiencies (steepness of the left and right sides of the curve). We also compare to a general reference model (dotted green line) of typical, well-managed performance from standard, good efficiency equipment.

This comparison shows the Barn using less energy on a per-square-foot basis than the reference building, and surprisingly less than most of the LEED buildings analyzed under a recent NBI project for the U.S. Green Building Council.

“It turns out that the high efficiency heat pumps and the thermal mass of the uninsulated brick help a lot in keeping the building energy use low. The mass helps to suppress the need for cooling and surprisingly, helps to limit the heating as well.” explained Howdy Reichmuth, NBI Senior Engineer. "We’re currently trying to examine the interior of the thick wall to look for air gaps or antique sawdust insulation.”

NBI is also creating energy signatures for a number of buildings around the country as part of its work on performance measurement protocols for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the LEED Performance Lessons study due out later this spring for USGBC. Findings from those projects will be highlighted in future newsletters. For more information on the Barn, read Dave Hewitt’s Case Study.

 NBI Wins PIER Award

NBI is among the recipients of recent awards from the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program. NBI’s proposal, a $2 million, three-year effort called "Evidence-Based Design and Operations," was ranked first among 13 successful submissions. The largest piece of work is a whole buildings measured performance project, related to our work with USGBC and the National Measured Performance Steering Committee, that examines the reasons for variable performance through an evidence-based assessment of high performance buildings. This assessment will be followed by a series of project elements focused on identifying key feedback loops and tools that can better inform designers, operators and tenants regarding their role in optimizing building performance. Specific projects include:

• High Performance Building Measured Performance which documents the performance of a set of energy-efficient buildings and identifies critical performance indicators.
• Plug Load Savings Assessment will conduct an in-depth assessment in two buildings of the extent to which plug load energy use can be reduced through relatively simple, cost-effective measures.
• Enhanced Skylighting Modeling and Validation will develop and feed more accurate information about the performance of skylighting products and specialty daylighting devices to lighting and daylighting designers, energy consultants, and building engineers.
• RTU Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) will develop a consensus FDD standard backed by a comprehensive FDD product/market/benefit-cost assessment and stakeholder outreach to establish commercial and Title 24 viability.

Advanced Lighting Guidelines To Preview At Lightfair

Lightfair returns to New York May 5-7 and NBI will be there to preview the latest version of its Advanced Lighting Guidelines (ALG). With contributions from the country’s top experts in lighting design, this new edition, due out later this year, will include technical advances and enhanced application guides, as well as integration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Lighting Solutions. In addition to the revised content, the ALG will move to an online format allowing subscribers easy access and regular updates. Visit ALG Booth No. 3088 for an introduction to the next generation of Advanced Lighting Guidelines.

Office Of The Future For Existing Buildings Launches

Office of the Future is a consortium of some of the nation’s largest and most progressive energy utilities working together to find new ways to address energy efficiency in existing commercial buildings. As public policies to address global warming and rising energy costs are strengthened, new ways to deliver energy efficiency programs are needed that include comprehensive measures, use of integrated design strategies, changes in operational patterns, and upstream work with product manufacturers to create deeper, more robust energy and demand savings from the office market.

Southern California Edison initiated Office of the Future as a multi-utility effort to develop additional savings opportunities in the office buildings market. NBI will manage the initiative and develop program support, marketing elements and lead the research effort for the next level of energy saving solutions. Current sponsors and steering committee members include:

Southern California Edison                           Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Pacific Gas and Electric                               Sempra Utilities
National Grid                                             B.C. Hydro
NSTAR                                                      Consolidated Edison

A “25% Solution” has been developed that documents a 25% energy use reduction compared to code levels of Title 24 for California and ASHRAE 90.1-2004 for the rest of the country. The “25% Solution” is comprised of a package of measures and design strategies that provide an integrated solution to reduce energy in office spaces. Elements include lighting, HVAC, plug loads, metering and demand response metering.

NBI helps with Big Bold Efficiency Plans

In October 2007, the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) mandated California investor-owned utilities to prepare a statewide energy efficiency strategic plan with special attention to its Big Bold Initiatives in Residential and Commercial New Construction, HVAC and Low Income. New Buildings Institute has been selected as lead contractor on the commercial sector work (both new construction and retrofits), to create the next level of detail and work with the utilities on energy efficiency plans that align with the CPUC program. “We’re building the next steps, tightening the vision of the CPUC to achieve maximum energy efficiency,” said NBI Executive Director Dave Hewitt. NBI is also part of the team on the HVAC portion of the effort, focusing on small residential and unitary systems.

Core Performance® Proposed for Massachusetts Stretch Code

Massachusetts authorities have included Core Performance as one of the standards for the state’s proposed stretch energy code. The proposal is now out for public comment and a hearing on the new rules was held March 10. If adopted by the state, local municipalities could vote to use the more energy-efficient stretch code, which would make new commercial buildings, under 100,000 square feet, up to 30% more energy-efficient than current standards. Core Performance is a direct path to energy efficiency that describes a set of integrated design strategies and building features and is the cornerstone of Advanced Buildings, NBI’s suite of advanced design guidance for high performance building.

The code, which covers both new and existing residential and commercial structures, is intended to “provide a more energy efficient alternative to the base energy code . . .” according to information provided by the state. NBI is also working with other states and local jurisdictions considering Core Performance as a standard for advanced energy codes. For more information about Advanced Buildings Core Performance, visit www.advancedbuildings.net. Information on the code adoption process in Massachusetts can be found at their website.

 NBI Controls Paper Released: My Car Is Smarter Than Your Building

My Car is Smarter than your Building: Building Controls in an Era of High-performance Buildings is the title of a white paper prepared by NBI Senior Consultant Terry Egnor. Assessing current design, technology and process barriers to high performance given the current state of building controls, this document has already shaped NBI’s thinking and informed proposals on critical work to be done to improve the efficiency of the next generation of buildings. Through research and interviews with individuals having first-hand knowledge of the problems buildings face, Egnor succinctly defines the challenges and strategic approaches to meet them. Citing the rise of “controls-savvy” cars designed in response to the oil crisis of the 1970’s, the paper illustrates how high performance standards and enlightened controls technology are needed to pave the way for enhanced efficiency.

NBI Welcomes New Staff

NBI has hired Mark Lyles as a project analyst. Mark earned his Master of Architecture degree, with a focus on Sustainability, in 2008. Prior to joining NBI he worked as a project manager with a design firm specializing in the restoration, preservation and adaptive re-use of historic architecture. Mark’s diverse experience includes energy analysis and extensive building and energy codes research. As Project Analyst at NBI he conducts research and analysis in support of a variety of project areas, including our continuing work studying the performance of LEED buildings. Mark also provides Advanced Buildings sponsor support and performs carbon calculations in support of our codes and standards efforts.