November 3, 2003—As the green buildings market continues to grow at a greater rate than any other segment of the commercial building market, Energy Benchmark for High Performance Buildings (E-Benchmark), Version 1.0, makes it easier to use off-the-shelf technologies to ensure energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality in high performance buildings.
Published by the New Buildings Institute, Inc., E-Benchmark provides more than 30 criteria, from equipment efficiencies to outdoor lighting design, tailored to the specific needs of 15 different weather regions.
A national committee consisting of manufacturers, contractors, building owners, designers, property managers, government representatives, efficiency experts and the public was involved in E-Benchmark’s rigorous, year-long development and review process. “If you follow the criteria, you will be building a better building,” said Merle McBride, who reviewed the criteria on behalf of the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association.
The E-Benchmark effort has been widely supported by utilities and public benefit organizations across the nation. “The E-Benchmark criteria themselves provide an excellent resource for program administrators,” states Michael McAteer, manager of commercial and industrial efficiency services for National Grid, a utility that serves four northeastern states. McAteer plans to use E-Benchmark to assist architects and developers of mid-sized buildings, which make up the largest inventory of new construction and use the largest portion of energy resources. Such buildings also tend to have the smallest design budgets, so it may be a challenge for their developers to incorporate high performance features. But McAteer says E-Benchmark offers a “very cost effective” way to do so.
Analysis shows that investments in high performance buildings pay for themselves, usually within a couple of years, and sometimes sooner, according to Alan Whitson, a facilities manager and national lecturer. On a 355,000-square-foot building in a northern community like Minneapolis, for example, installing high performance windows, though more costly, can reduce the need for heating and air conditioning by 150 tons.
Many new buildings don’t perform up to expectations, even though they meet relevant energy codes. “Energy costs can vary as much as 35 to 40 percent for supposedly similar buildings within blocks of each other,” Whitson noted. “A large percentage of these inefficiencies are designed into the buildings, based solely upon up-front costs rather than life cycle costs. In other cases, operational inefficiencies raise costs.”
Using representative buildings including an office, a school, a supermarket and a “big-box” retail store, E-Benchmark criteria will yield energy savings of 10 to 25 percent beyond the levels specified by ASHRAE minimum energy standards. And with additional first costs of only $0.80 to $1.50 per square foot, building operation can pay back the cost of high performance features within a year and a half to four years.
For more information, contact the New Buildings Institute.
