E-Newsletter   

Spring News from NBI

Projects

Advanced Buildings™
At its March meeting in Washington D.C., the NBI Board of directors discussed several significant enhancements to the Advanced Buildings (AB) program. Early implementation experience indicates that the AB product fills a critical gap in the new commercial construction market. Builders, architects and engineers have responded positively to the technical guidance provided by AB, and the US Green Building Council has recognized the value of prescriptive pathways for their projects. However, more flexibility is needed if the AB technical approach is to fully engage the market. AB sponsors are interested in a program package of tools, training, strategies and technical assistance that will enable them to implement a high-quality commercial construction program as rapidly as possible.

Key elements for the next round of development include:

• A complete update of the prescriptive path to recognize improving code levels and technology advancements. To provide more implementation flexibility, the proposed technical approach will be modified to focus on “Core Performance,” energy performance levels that fit with most building types, combined with a series of Advanced Buildings Pathways that provide additional energy efficiency options for specific building types or by climate.
• Development of an AB Implementation Plan designed to support local implementation of AB by utilities, program administrators and local governments.
• Development of an Overview of Advanced Buildings that can serve as an introduction to the technical tools and support program marketing.
• Revisions to the current training package, including technical updates.

In addition to the above elements, NBI intends to develop a series of AB Technical Guidelines, covering such topics as controls, daylighting and advanced mechanical systems. These publications will be available to AB Sponsors, but fundraising for these technical publications will proceed separately. Core Performance will serve as a strong initial base for action, and the Guideline series will enable more sophisticated design teams to incorporate even more efficiency features.

Getting to Fifty™
March 2006 saw the debut of www.advancedbuildings.net, the new home of Getting to Fifty. This exciting new resource helps building professionals achieve the tax benefits provided by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. On the Buildings page you’ll find a searchable database of information and links to case studies on projects whose energy performance reaches or exceeds 50 percent beyond ASHRAE 90.1-2001. These are some of the most efficient new buildings in the country, where daylighting, advanced control strategies and advanced cooling and ventilation strategies are routinely included. There are currently 74 buildings in the database, demonstrating that extremely high levels of energy performance are obtainable in an array of building types around the country.

The new Lighting page provides detailed examples of how the efficiency of lighting can be increased in a variety of building types. EPAct 2005 specifically allows lighting to be considered as a separate system, offering a deduction of up to $0.60 per square foot. NBI has produced a series of design guidelines to show how lighting energy savings can be achieved while maintaining lighting quality.

The website will continue to expand and evolve in the coming months. Check back often for updates.

Evaporative Cooling Survey
We are nearing completion of a survey of evaporative cooling technologies applicable in Southern California Edison’s service territory. This survey has brought us into contact with the most active elements of the evaporative cooling industry and has revealed several newer technologies that can lead to significant peak demand reductions in the drier portions of the western United States. New updates to this old technology will make evaporative cooling strategies more competitive in the market, while offering energy and demand savings,

Hybrid Evaporative Cooler Demonstration
As an example of the new evaporative cooling technologies, NBI is managing a multi-state demonstration of a prototype hybrid evaporative cooler for replacement of 5-ton rooftop units. This hybrid evaporative cooler uses a Maitsosenko cycle to indirectly cool building inlet air; if necessary it then uses a compressor to supplement the cooling. The compressor portion is enhanced by using the relatively cooler air output from the evaporative portion. The demonstration involves 12 units placed in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California. Each demonstration unit is instrumented and capable of displaying operating data online. The project is continuing through 2007.

Building Performance Review
One of the barriers to improved building performance is the lack of simple, useable feedback to building owners on how they are doing. Our previous newsletter described initial research and development work on a tool for market-friendly building performance reviews. This spring, our R&D efforts are moving forward with pilot testing on four elementary schools in the Lake Washington School District near Seattle. We’ll be looking at two new schools and two similar, older facilities. The District hopes to use the results in guiding future modernization and new construction efforts. The variety of buildings within the context of one school district also provides a good test of our prototype combination of summaries for energy intensity, water use, occupant feedback and facility manager observations.

Personnel

Cathy Turner has joined NBI as a Senior Analyst. After working as an actuary for many years, Cathy recently earned her Masters in Environmental Management. With a strong background in quantitative analysis, she has solid research and project management skills and abundant experience in writing and speaking on technical topics. Prior to joining our organization, she completed a series of building post-occupancy studies for Cascadia Region Green Building Council and assisted NBI in evaluating the feasibility of a fee-based building performance protocol. Cathy will initially be working on a School Building Performance Review development project and assisting with the market assessment of evaporative cooling equipment.

A native Oregonian currently living in Portland, Cathy enjoys hiking in the beautiful Pacific Northwest in her spare time.

To catch up on earlier news, check out our previous newsletters - November 2005 and January 2006.