BuildingGreen.com: LEED Energy Efficiency (and a brief discourse on definitions)

Nadav Malin, editor of Environmental Building News provides a nice summary of Henry Gifford’s thought piece about better ways to improve energy efficiency. The comments are excellent and include well-explained digressions from both Henry’s article and USGBC positions.

From Malin:

1) First, the LEED buildings are compared to the CBECS data set of all existing buildings, regardless of year of construction. Gifford argues that they should have been compared only to new buildings. The 2006 CBECS summary shows that buildings built between 2000 and 2003 use, on average, about 10% less energy than the complete data set for all existing buildings.

NBI’s Mark Frankel disagrees, noting that some of the LEED buildings are actually renovations of older buildings… [and] CBECS generally groups its buildings by decade, and those three years don’t represent enough of a trend to rely on.

2) Gifford’s second adjustment is to use the mean of the LEED data set instead of the median used by NBI. (The LEED mean was not published, but NBI provided it to Gifford upon his request.)

Based on repeated reads, I had many of the same problems with the Leonardo Academy’s “Economics of LEED-EB” paper. I found the data set too small and diverse to make any useful conclusions. I also felt the casual relationships unproven at best. As an example, LEED-EB reductions of security costs was suggested but so far beyond tenuous it was never described.

Returning to the Henry Gifford paper, I am also reminded about a recent posting at Green Building Law Update “Green Building Attorneys Warn of Carnage.” That posting highlights several recent discussions in legal circles about the enforceability and design of contracts that address specific performance standards. Reading through the comments at BuildingGreen, however, I kept running across questions that gave pause:

“When “building scientists” look at buildings from afar, we are virtually ignorant of what goes on inside them. We tend to treat them literally as shells, connected to power sources, that operate, more or less independently from the “activity” that they house.

We then are prone to missing the fact that energy-use “variance” might be the result of the very essence of the “activity” going on inside!”

So even if everyone agrees on a ‘sustainability’ program, if the design is faithfully built, if the MEP is commissioned and maintained, changing the user mix might prevent the realization of the “agreed upon” savings.

BuildingGreen.com LIVE: Lies, Damn Lies, and… (Another Look at LEED Energy Efficiency) by Nadav Malin on 09/02/2008: “”

BuildingGreen.com Case Studies

Here’s a link to the previously praised BuildingGreen.com case studies. Some have more information than others, most are heavier on the initial development and construction than ongoing operations, but there are many good ideas to be found.

BuildingGreen.com – HPB Case Study: Project Matrix: “”

(Via Real Life Leed.)

Resource: National Housing and Rehabilitation Association analytical tools

Just discovered the multitude of articles available at National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (www.housingonline.com). The items in their News & Features section tend to be discussion of industry news, location analysis, and lots of info on tax credits. More development and asset management, less property management.

These are some of the more interesting recent links:

Rural Market Studies

Renewable Energy Incentives

Targeted Population deals for New Market Tax Credits

More can be found in the News & Features section.

http://www.housingonline.com/NewsAndFeatures.aspx

State level treatment of renewable energy

EERE produced a document about 18 months ago summarizing the state-level incentives for renewable energy. It’s a little far afield for me, but makes an essential point that the policies are varied, conflicting, and frequently internally inconsistent.

Key sentence from the executive summary: “At a minimum, definitional clarity should be sought.”

Good policy requires good science. Understand what you want to achieve, understand the science required, then write the statute. I’m looking at you, DC Green Building Code (and here).

http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/reports/62574.pdf

Energy modeling (BOMA article)

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), which focuses on non-residential properties, places an article at FacilitiesNet that nicely summarizes CBRE’s work in sustainability during 2007.

“Energy efficiency makes the difference” highlights CB’s use of energy modeling and BIM, which is becoming a useful addition to CAD.

“A key part of the company’s plan to improve energy efficiency in its space involves using the ENERGY STAR benchmarking tool. To begin, all office buildings larger than 100,000 square feet will be benchmarked; a second round for smaller buildings will follow.”

At a recent internal sustainability committee meeting I made the argument that the industry is headed this way: it’s time to crack the books and then get our hands dirty with the details.

http://www.buildingoperatingmanagement.com/article.asp?id=7363

There’s a much longer discussion of energy modeling in the April 2008 issue of GreenSource. I haven’t waded through it yet, but their continuing ed articles for the AIA usually provide a few new tidbits to those who aren’t otherwise paying attention.

As an owner/former developer, I’m very much of the ‘make it work’ school of thought. Nevertheless, I will concede that whole building integration of HVAC, lighting, LEED, and other requirements is still tricky business. Trying to find someone who understood my desires in the Memphis project took forever.

Here are two DOE-backed modeling efforts:

Oak Ridge Benchmarking Building Energy Performance (http://eber.ed.ornl.gov/benchmark). This website allows you to quickly benchmark energy performance on 16 different building types and approximate energy use and cost savings from energy upgrades.

Energy IQ (http://energybenchmarking.lbl.gov). Currently under way, the pilot version of this tool is being called the next generation of nonresidential energy benchmarking. This “action-oriented” tool provides opportunity assessments based on benchmarking results. The tool supports comparison of the user’s building to peers and the tracking of an individual building or portfolio over time.

Rehab Advisor

Very good resource for evaluating the scope and benefit of various improvements to multi-family and single family structures. Sponsored by the folks behind HUDUser, HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (OPDR), it includes research and recommendations from the Department of Energy and the EPA.

I met some folks from OPDR in 2007 at the National Building Museum’s “Sustainable Design: New Directions for Affordable Housing Symposium”, and found them to be well-informed about building materials and multi-family operations. They presented a welcome focus on what can be achieved through existing structures and the financing to many rather than the more demonstrative projects that due to participants, locations, or costs, are ultimately not easily repeatable. I think Jonathan Rose is an effective advocate for sustainable development, clearly a successful and devoted developer, but many of the examples cited had the feel of one-off efforts that held few useful lessons for those of us who finance and own affordable housing. Maverick Landing is an ambitious, $75 million project, but if you look at its financing structure, very few developers would undertake a similar process.

Symposia materials (Scroll about 3/5 down for lectures, materials, and background papers)

See also “Big & Green” for occasional lectures and materials on sustainable technologies.

The Rehab advisor serves largely as the front end to a database full of ideas about energy efficiency. Each page contains a summary of the proposed action, a rough cost estimate (per unit and/or psf) and an estimate of energy savings. Much of the data was last updated in 2005, so the numbers may need to be re-examined. Nevertheless, as a place to start planning a rehab or operational improvements, this is one of the best resources available.

Quantifying your savings

I’m evaluating a proposal right now to replace non-functioning garage exhaust fans with a variable speed fan that claims to reduce my power load. It sounds great and with Minnesota efficiency rebates, I may be only be responsible for 50% of the cost.

But I’m not certain the savings will be there. The existing system is broken and runs constantly. Replacing CO monitors and fans will immediately reduce my energy consumption anyway for $17,000. Just how much savings can I expect from these variable speed fans for an additional $9,000?

What I will probably do is authorize replacement in 2-3 buildings and compare energy use for the remaining buildings. The structures are identical and if I establish the baseline energy consumption off the house meter, I should be able to see what type of reduction I’m earning.

All that leads to the largest problem for those of us who are or deal with owners of physical assets: can you prove your savings?

The Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships is a non-profit supported by a variety of foundations, federal agencies, and regional utilities. In 2006 they produced a report entitled “The Need for and Approaches to Developing Common Protocols to Measure, Verify and Report Energy Efficiency Savings in the Northeast”. Although their focus was regional and industrial in nature, they identified questions faced at the micro-level:

1. Are these investments reasonable with sufficient credibility and certainty;

2. Are the savings transparent and verifiable from readily available sources;

3. Are the savings consistent or trackable across a variety of locations?

“The Need for and Approaches to Developing Common Protocols to Measure, Verify and Report Energy Efficiency Savings in the Northeast”

More Resources

Green Building in Alameda County provides several helpful guidebooks:
Multifamily Green Building Guidelines (6MB PDF)
Getting Started (5MB PDF)
Multifamily Greenpoint Checklist
Energy and Affordable Housing in California
From Global Green: Making Affordable Housing Truly Affordable: Advancing Tax Credit Incentives for Green Building and Healthier Communities
The Materials Handbook Summary of materials used in low income housing projects in San Francisco.
DOE — Energy Efficiency for Multi-Family Basic discussion of energy efficiency and the development process. Renovation and Operations.

Sustainable Multi-family systems

Long past timely, the Eastern Village Cohousing Condominium won the EDC 2005 Excellence in Design for Multi-family, LEED Silver, and the NAHB Green Project of the Year: Luxury Multi-family. Previously a mid-century office building, the developers retained nearly 75 percent of the shell and reduced impervious materials by 30 percent.

This is an impresive project deserving of its notice. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that the EDC honorable mentions were mostly abroad.

“Notable sustainable materials, products and systems include:

- All appliances throughout the building were ENERGY STAR qualified including clothes washers and dishwashers

- All exterior wood is treated with non-CCA preservatives

- All native and/or adaptive plants

- American Hydrotech Extensive Garden Roof

- Cardinal Low-E coated glass provides added insulation and reduces solar heat gain, and energy-efficient interior fluorescent lighting with electronic ballasts

- Cyclone XHE Water Heaters (98 percent thermal efficiency) manufactured by A.O. Smith Water Products Co. Each unit has its own FHP Manufacturing Simple Comfort Model #3801 programmable thermostat

- Duron Genesis Oder-free latex paints (local source and zero-VOC paint used on all interiors)

- Existing concrete ceiling was painted

- Flooring includes Hawa bamboo flooring, Patcraft Net Lingo carpet, Mohawk Alladin Westin Hill carpet, Forbo Linoleum, Armstrong linoleum

- Geothermal Heat Pumps from Florida Heat Pumps that utilize a ground source heat exchanger to reject the heat from the heat pumps ion cooling mode

- Green Lee Lighting VBS Bollard exterior lighting

- Homecrest cabinets and all interior doors were from local sources

- Niagara Earth Massage Shower Head (1.75 GPM), bathroom lavatory features 1.5 GPM aerators

- U.S. Gypsum drywall contains 5 percent post-consumer recycled content and 14 percent post-industrial recycled content, Dietrich metal studs contain 64 percent post-industrial recycled content

- Walls feature Fiberglass R11 5-inch batt insulation manufactured by Knauf and the roof has 3-inch thick extruded polystyrene manufactured by Dow.”

Eastern Village Cohousing Condominium

Eco-Calculator

New green construction is not a typical focus here because its use for affordable housing is rarely feasible. Nevertheless, you may find yourself working on a greenfield construction project. In that case, take a look at the Eco-Calculator from the Athena Institute.

Eco-calculator

http://www.athenasmi.ca/tools/ecoCalculator/

Lighting efficiency

“After more than eight months of intense deliberations between Congress and bulb manufacturers, environmental groups and other parties, a law that requires light bulbs to become more energy efficient became part of the energy bill that President Bush signed into law on Dec. 19.

Over a three-year period beginning in 2012, all new bulbs will have to use 25 percent to 30 percent less energy for the same light output as today’s typical incandescent bulbs. Given that the vast majority of bulbs now on the market that meet those standards are compact fluorescents, which use 70 percent less energy and last 6 to 10 times longer than incandescents, Americans may have little choice but to accept them as part of the future.”

Any Other Bright Ideas? (NYT 10 Jan 2008)

I’m using CFL at all of my properties for a variety of reasons. The lower energy cost is obviously attractive and I can provide more light with less energy. On interior hallways I’m replacing 60w sconces with two 15w CFL and adding motion detectors for those wee hours of the night when not a creature is stirring. The most important benefit is that service teams do not spend one afternoon per week replacing light bulbs. A full afternoon for ‘make work’ more than offsets the expense of the initial light purchase.

Useful Green Resources

Updating my library of mostly free documents:

“Green Buildings and the Bottom Line”
http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/CA6390371.html

“Building Analysis for Energy Efficient Investments”

http://concessions.nps.gov/document/BusinessAnalysis.pdf

The complete Energy Star Building Manual
has excellent recommendations and provides very full information on all aspects of building and operating sustainably.
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=business.bus_upgrade_manual

LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance
How to score your LEED points with LEED-EB.
www.usgbc.org/DocumentDownload.aspx?DocumentID=3353

Utility Incentives for Windows
A good discussion of windows, including glossary of terms, suppliers, and of course, a list of incentives for window upgrades.
http://www.efficientwindows.org/toolkits/tk_designer1_4.cfm