Introduction | Impact of Decisions | Key Concepts & Best Practices | Commercial Buildings | Residential Buildings | Industrial Buildings | Acknowledgements
COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
Creating a net-zero energy commercial building can be accomplished with new buildings or through retrofitting existing buildings. In either case, a key to success is in the whole systems planning and design process.
As employees head back to the office after Covid-19 risks subside, the workplace will look different. RMI predicts that by 2035, 75% of U.S. floor space will be new or renovated. This offers significant potential for business owners to implement a variety of practices that can vastly diminish GHG emissions. Whether your business is remodeling, purchasing a new building, or just identifying simple practices to save energy, we have listed some recommendations below.
Install electric heat pumps or Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) systems instead of gas heating equipment. Air source heat pump and VRF systems use electricity to harness energy from the surrounding air and pump that energy indoors in the form of heat—much like an air conditioner in reverse. Both heat pump and VRF systems are incredibly energy efficient heating and cooling options for large spaces. These systems can achieve efficiencies three to four times higher than conventional heating technologies.
Want to learn more about electric heat pumps and how they reduce GHG emissions in your building? click here.
Ensure buildings have proper insulation and that each room is sealed against air leaks. Aging buildings tend to have older insulation and windows. When rooms are properly sealed and ventilated and windows are updated, the risk of air/heat in the cooling/heating process escaping and being wasted is reduced.
Install sensors and/or timers for appliances and lights. Technologies like light timers or sensors lower unnecessary electricity use. This allows buildings to be more efficient, lowers pollution levels, and saves money for property owners.
Upgrade to smart technology when available. Smart technology refers to any system that enables a building owner to monitor building characteristics, analyze the data, and generate insights around usage patterns and trends that can be used to optimize the building’s environment and operations. These technologies include Nest thermostats, submeters that monitor energy consumption, and grid interactive water heaters. This technology allows building owners to better monitor and control emitting sources in order to make the building more efficient.
Commercial Building Economics:
Smart buildings help to manage demand charges, which are fees applied to electric bills based upon the highest amount of power drawn during a billing cycle. Those charges can total up to 60% of annual energy costs. Demand charges apply almost exclusively to commercial buildings and are rarely used for residential customers.
Commercial Building Case Studies
The case studies below offer examples of how newly built commercial space can be net zero buildings. As you are thinking about your next new building, here are some ideas to consider:
>> Small Office:
The RMI Innovation Center, located in Basalt, Colorado, is a 15,610 square-foot office building and state-of-the-art convening center that demonstrates how carbon-free buildings should be designed, contracted, constructed, and operated. The building, located in a cold climate zone at ~6600 Ft. elevation, is exceeding performance expectations. It produces more energy than it uses by leveraging the following key strategies: all electric systems, low embodied carbon construction, battery storage to provide demand flexibility, highly passive design to minimize active heating systems, no mechanical cooling system, and an Integrated Project Delivery contracting methodology. The excess energy is used to power six on-site electric vehicles.
The RMI building is 74% more efficient than the average office in the same climate while costing less to operate, emitting less carbon, and increasing reliability. The building is fully insulated, and the windows are all airtight. RMI encourages individual heating and cooling by supplying employees with fans/heaters and chairs that can be heated or cooled to individual preference which requires less energy than the associated energy consumption of heating and cooling entire rooms. Finally, the building utilizes natural light and relies on efficient LED light bulbs as the primary lighting tools. These design choices equip the building to last 100 years and demonstrate how offices can vastly diminish carbon emissions.
Learn more about this project HERE.
“Our goal was an RMI building that supports our mission, including a fiscally responsible solution. The Innovation Center was built at a cost similar to other local examples, and it costs much less to operate each year than a typical building. Plus, RMI’s staff are proud, comfortable, and productive working in the daylit, well-ventilated space, which provides much bigger returns than utility bill savings for any company. Much of the success of the project was due to a clear alignment around goals from the beginning, a strong design/construction team and an integrative design process. It’s easy for owners to set these expectations up front, and costs much less than ‘greening’ a building as an afterthought.”
Medium Office:
The Boulder Commons, located in the heart of downtown Boulder, Colorado, consists of two commercial properties totaling over 100,000 square feet of professional office and commercial space. The Boulder Commons met the challenge of creating a net-zero building that is leased to tenants, who may have varying degrees of motivation to reduce energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions. This model integrated net-zero practices into the construction and design of the building. The interior of the building is not affected by the heat of summer nor the cold of winter. Triple-element windows were installed to create a shield of protection from the weather, thereby allowing for a downsizing of mechanical system elements and decreasing the operating costs of heating and cooling the building. To maximize Boulder’s sun conditions, Boulder Commons installed solar panels on the roof and also on the southeast wall of the exterior. As a result, the side panels ultimately cost less per unit of energy produced than the roof panels. The Boulder Commons office demonstrates how setting clear, clean energy goals that are maintained throughout the design process can create longstanding change and reduce carbon emissions.
Learn more about this project HERE.
“We have seen the future... and it is today. All electric buildings. They are the best long term investment in real estate. The most resilient and the lowest long term risk as it relates to climate change. As an institutional investor, what would you prefer to own ten or twenty years from now? An all electric building or a fossil fuel powered building? You should be building your portfolio today based on that observation. Our returns today are equal to our fossil fuel based competitors. Imagine how much better our returns will be a decade from now.”
Large Office:
Opened in 2018, 1144 Fifteenth (also known as the Optiv Building) is a 40-story Class A tower that is not only the tallest office building to be constructed in Denver in nearly three decades, but it also sets new standards as one of the most efficient buildings in the market. The fully electric building consumes less energy and produces less pollution than its rival structures. Operating costs are therefore reduced, and the savings can be passed on to 1144’s tenants.
What makes 1144 different from most buildings in its market is its newer equipment features and system technologies such as lighting controls and scheduled HVAC systems with temperature controls. For example, 1144’s HVAC systems temper all outside air coming into building with the exhaust air leaving the building. This is done through a heat recovery wheel which allows 1144 to precool hot summer outside air and preheat cold winter air—all by utilizing exhaust air that would otherwise just leave the building. Another way in which 1144 is unique are its solar sensors installed in strategic areas of the structure. They change temperature set points around the building in real time depending on the solar intensity. These automated systems are not only more environmentally friendly, but they also improve the user experience for 1144’s tenants and their employees.
Learn more about this project HERE.