Sustainable Facility - December 2008 - (Page 8)

Industry Watch DOE REACHES 50 PERCENT MILESTONE TOWARD COMMERCIAL ZERO-ENERGY BUILDINGS Washin Washington, D.C. — The U.S. D Department of Energy (D (DOE) and the National Renewable EnerLa gy Laboratory (NREL) have released the ﬁrst tech technical support docume uments to show 50 perc percent energy saving ings in commercial ret retail buildings. The tw two reports provide re recommendations on how to achieve 50 percent energy savings over the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1-2004 in grocery stores and medium-sized retail buildings. Conducted by NREL’s Commercial Buildings team, under the direction of DOE’s Building Technologies Program, the studies support DOE’s goal of producing market-ready, net-zero energy commercial buildings by 2025. They follow the August 2008 launch of DOE’s NetZero Energy Commercial Building Initiative (the umbrella initiative of the net-zero energy goal) and the National Laboratory Collaborative on Building Technologies, which focuses scientific expertise and resources of five national laboratories toward reaching the goal. NREL is one of the laboratories in the collaborative. The reports found that achieving 50 percent energy savings is possible for mediumsized retail buildings with plug load levels no greater than 1.76 W/sq. ft. (18.9 W/sq. m.) and for grocery stores in each climate zone in the United States. According to the reports, reaching 50 percent is a positive return on investment at today’s energy prices and can be met without photovoltaic electricity generation. DOE commissions technical support documents to describe the assumptions, methodologies, and analyses used to achieve certain levels of energy performance. In many cases, the documents are the basis for Advanced Energy Design Guides (AEDGs) — “how to” guides that show how to achieve above-code 8 S U S TA I N A B L E F A C I L I T Y DECEM BER 2008 exemplary energy performance for buildings. AEDGs target architects, engineers, and other design practitioners and demonstrate that a pathway to energy savings exists today with available technology. The ASHRAE AEDGs are developed by ASHRAE, DOE, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). To date, four AEDGs have been published and all have targeted 30 percent energy savings: • The ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Ofﬁce Buildings—Ofﬁce Buildings up to 20,000 square feet • The ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Retail Buildings—Retail Spaces up to 20,000 square feet • The ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings—Elementary, Middle, and High School Buildings • The ASHRAE 30 percent Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Warehouses and Self-Storage Buildings—Warehouses up to 50,000 square feet and self-storage buildings that use unitary heating and air-conditioning. In addition to the ASHRAE design guides, the results of these studies will be shared with DOE’s Retailer Energy Alliance, an alliance of leading retailers dedicated to reducing the energy use and environmental footprint of retail buildings. For more information, visit www.nrel.gov and http://eere.energy.gov. Despite the high level of importance companies place on sustainability, however, only 42 percent of CRE executives are now willing to pay a premium (usually 1 to 5 percent) to lease green space, and 53 percent said they would pay a premium to retroﬁt property they own to gain sustainability beneﬁts. In the 2007 CoreNet-JLL survey, 77 percent said they were willing to pay some level of premium for green space. The focus on cost-effective strategies is evident in responses to a question on how broadly companies have implemented various green initiatives. Recycling, a strategy that requires little upfront cost and engenders goodwill from employees has been embraced by most companies, with broad implementation at about three-quarters of ﬁrms and limited implementation at another 20 percent. Energy management, the strategy with the greatest potential for cost savings, has been broadly implemented at nearly 60 percent of ﬁrms and implemented on a limited basis at another 30 percent. Strategies such as purchasing green power and investing in renewable power sources—which may help the environment but offer companies less-promising cost/beneﬁt equations—are broadly implemented at less than 20 percent of companies. For more information, visit www.corenetglobal.com and www.joneslanglasalle.com. COMPANIES INCREASE FOCUS ON ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY TO REDUCE COSTS Atlanta — Corporate real estate (CRE) executives are less likely to be willing to pay a premium for green office space than they were a year ago, even though more of them see energy and sustainability as a business priority, according to a new survey conducted by CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle. Of more than 400 CRE executives surveyed, 69 percent said sustainability is a critical business issue for their real estate departments. When CoreNet and Jones Lang LaSalle asked the same question in 2007, 47 percent said it was a critical issue. Furthermore, 40 percent this year rated energy and sustainability as a “major factor” in their companies’ location decisions, with an additional 36 percent calling it a “tiebreaker” between locations that are otherwise competitive. BOMA INTERNATIONAL HONORED WITH GREEN LEADERSHIP AWARD Washington, D.C. — Bisnow on Business, a Washington, D.C.-based electronic news publisher, awarded the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International the 2008 Green Leadership Award in recognition of BOMA’s commitment to promoting sustainability and energy efﬁciency to its members. The ﬁrst annual award was given to 20 organizations in ﬁve categories—real estate, legal, tech, medical and trade association—that have implemented impressive green initiatives and are leading the way on sustainability. BOMA International is the leader in energy efﬁciency and sustainable initiatives that have http://www.corenetglobal.com http://www.joneslanglasalle.com http://www.nrel.gov http://eere.energy.gov

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Sustainable Facility - December 2008 Contents Editorial Industry Watch 2008 Top Products Living Lab Suppliers Products Trade Names Resources Initiatives Marketplace %2B Classifieds Advertiser’s Index

Sustainable Facility - December 2008

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