November 10, 2008—The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have released the first technical support documents to show 50% energy savings in commercial retail buildings.
The two reports provide recommendations on how to achieve 50% energy savings over the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1-2004 in grocery stores (.pdf file) and medium-sized retail buildings (.pdf file).
The reports found that achieving 50% energy savings is possible for medium-sized 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 US. According to the reports, reaching 50% is a positive return on investment at today’s energy prices and can be met without photovoltaic electricity generation.
ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guides were previously published for small office buildings, small retail buildings, K-12 school buildings, and small warehouses and self-storage buildings. They are available for free download from the ASHRAE Web site.
