Continuous Improvement Building Design Marissa Caldwell – HVAC Engineer

Goals  Goal: achieve cost effective, zero fossil fuel use building designs.  Building industry has not displayed as much progress as the manufacturing and transportation industries in improved energy efficiency.  Plan: Establish firm’s leadership in the design of highly efficient commercial buildings and outline the path to the goal of zero fossil fuel utilization in the operation of a commercial building.  Expectation: Design and predict a building’s energy utilization to within 5-10% for the building as a whole and for each major energy using subsystem (including lighting and HVAC).  Continuously report to the owner on any changes and results with the owner so they can continuously improve the operation of the building.  The firm can continuously identify technologies needed to arrive at zero fossil fuel commercial building operation.

Change is in Order  The transportation and manufacturing sectors of the industry are both improving their energy consumption while performing efficiently.  In order to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, all subsystems must be integrated. Graphic courtesy of Jim Freihaut

Traditional Modeling  Traditional Modeling is based on prescriptive standards as identified by codes, however, does not take into account past performance  The process is putting the building parameters such as weather data and thermal resistance into a model  Using the energy model to generate energy results and designing the building based off those results.  Results in the graph to the right: Measured v. Proposed Savings Percentages  The outcome is traditional prescriptive modeling does not accurately predict building performance Measured v. Proposed Savings Percentages – M. Frankel “Energy Performance for LEED for New Construction Buildings”

Inverse Modeling  Based on existing buildings performance  Thinking in reverse  Must make improvements based on past performance of buildings  Problem: Results are based off monthly averages.  Outdoor air temperature is the independent variable

Building Operations  Choose an existing building complete with the proper data entry equipment  Metering  Communication System  Actual Monthly weather data from local weather station  User friendly program

The Process for the Inverse Model HVAC Controls & Energy Metering User Friendly HVAC Interface Accurate Inverse Model Predicted Electric Use compared to Electric Bill Actual Energy Consumption Operation Conditions Inform the Owners & Developers Inform the Engineers Implement New Ideas

Zero Fossil Fuel Building Operation Everyone’s Happy!!!