Architects: Energy Efficiency Strategies
for Commercial Building Design
Designing Commercial Buildings to Use Less Energy
By 2035,75 percent of the buildings in the United States will be either new or renovated. As an architect, you have a unique
opportunity to change the way buildings use energy and contribute to carbon emissions. How can you design buildings that use
less energy, reduce the need to burn fossil fuels, and have a smaller carbon footprint? How can you prove your goals for reduced
energy use? ENERGY STAR® resources, such as the online Target Finder tool, provide the metrics you need to showthatyour
projects are designed to use less energy. These resources help you enhance the performance, value, and comfort of the buildings
where we work, shop, play, worship, and educate our children. They help you position your firm as a leader in sustainable
architecture and environmental responsibility.
Architects Making a Difference:
RB+B Architects, Inc., CO, designed Kinard Junior
High School, and the design achieved Designed
to Earn the ENERGY STAR in 2005 with a rating of
91 in Target Finder. Once the school was built and
occupied, its actual energy use was
benchmarked in a separate ENERGY STAR tool
called Portfolio Manager, and the school
outperformed its energy use target with a rating
of 95. The combination of a superior building
envelope, high-performance windows, lighting
improvements, and high-efficiency heat pumps
helped Kinard become the most energy-efficient
school in Colorado's Poudre School District.
Energy Efficiency Opportunities in Building Design
Use ENERGY STAR Building Design Guidance, a strategic management approach, to help
reduce energy use—and carbon emissions—in the buildings your firm designs:
Plan
> Conduct a charette with the design team, key stakeholders, and building owners.
> Set an energy performance goal by using Target Finder.
> Use an integrated design approach, and educate the projectteam on the goals, cost
savings, and other benefits of energy efficiency to reduce carbon emissions.
> Include energy efficiency goals in your project's scope of work.
Design
> Document your energy performance estimates by including a Statement of Energy Design
Intent from Target Finder in your firm's final construction documents and bid package.
Build
> Select a qualified construction team that can execute the specified energy efficiency strategies to meetyour design target.
> Include an approval process for change orders to methods and materials, or require design team supervision during construction.
> Communicate your energy performance and operational goals during commissioning to ensure the finished building meets the
energy design target.
How to Talk to Clients about the Benefits of Energy Efficiency
By using ENERGY STAR resources, you can show your clients measurable savings. You can compare your design's
estimated energy use and costs to the average actual energy use and costs for comparable, operating buildings in your area.
Your clients can seethe financial benefits—reduced energy costs over the life of the building—of energy-efficient buildings.
For commercial real estate, the savings can be impressive: A 30 percent reduction in energy use is equivalent to an increase
in net operating income and building asset value of 5 percent. ENERGY STAR can also help you and your clients fulfill
requirements for the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) rating. While
LEED helps you identify strategies for meeting superior energy performance, ENERGY STAR provides the metrics.
ENERGY STAR® is a government-backed program helping businesses
and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency.
LEARN MORE AT
energystar.gov
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Architects: Energy Efficiency Strategies
for Commercial Building Design
ENERGY STAR Resources
Target Finder: This easy-to-use, no-cost online tool helps you set realistic energy goals
and receive an EPA rating for your design's estimated energy use. It also shows the
difference in energy costs and carbon emissions associated with varying energy
performance levels. The Energy Use Intensity generated by Target Finder reflects the
distribution of energy performance in commercial buildings derived from data in the U.S.
Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration's Commercial Buildings Energy
Consumption Survey (CBECS).
Building Design Guidance: These suggested best practices help you and your clients set and
achieve energy goals by incorporating energy design strategies in the building design process.
Training Sessions: EPA offers no-cost online training to help you set and achieve energy
performance goals using ENERGY STAR resources. These sessions can also enhance your
professional development: You can earn Continuing Education Credits from the American
Institute of Architects (AIA).
Portfolio Manager: Once your project is built, ask your clients to use this no-cost online tool
to benchmark the building's actual energy use to see if the building is performing as
intended. Top-performing buildings can earn the prestigious ENERGY STAR.
Recognition for Achievements
Become a Partner: As an ENERGY STAR partner, your firm will be associated with a powerful
brand that is recognized by more than 70 percent of Americans. You can use ENERGY STAR
to help your clients understand the value of improved energy performance. Visit
www.energystar.gov/join to join more than 14,000 organizations, including many of the
nation's leading architecture firms, that are ENERGY STAR partners.
Achieve Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR: EPA's ongoing ENERGY STAR Challenge is a
national call-to-action to reduce the nation's carbon footprint by improving the energy
efficiency of our commercial and industrial buildings. By taking the ENERGY STAR Challenge,
you can achieve "Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR" foryour project if it rates 75 or higher
in Target Finder. You can display "Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR" on your plans and
marketing materials, such as display boards. In addition, award-winning projects have been
featured at the AIA National Convention, in trade publications, and in a public service
announcement published by "The Architect's Newspaper."
ENERGY STAR Offers
- Energy efficiency guidance
- Training
- Technical support
- Emissions calculations
- Recognition
Other Resources for Architects:
The American Institute of Architects
(www.aia.org): EPA and AIA share common
goals for reducing carbon emissions from
the nation's building inventory.
Architecture 2030
(www.architecture2030.org): Architecture
2030 encourages new buildings and
renovations to be designed to use 50
percent less fossil fuel energy than the
national average.
Accomplishments
Since 2004,94 projects from 49 firms have
achieved Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR.
They represent a total of more than 13 million
square feet of space. Collectively, these
projects were designed to achieve the
following results:
Estimated average C02 reduction 42%
Estimated C02 prevented 178 million Ibs./year
Estimated energy saved 1.5 billion kBtu/year
Estimated cost savings $6 million/year
Figures are based on averages for comparable
existing buildings.
For more information on ENERGY STAR tools, resources, and recognition for architecture
firms, visitwww.energystar.gov/commercialbuildingdesign
ENERGY STAR® is a government-backed program helping businesses
and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency.
LEARN MO RE AT
energystar.gov
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