| ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN AMERICA |
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The 2014 American Center for Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) “International Energy Efficiency Scorecard” ranked the country 13 out of 16, behind China, Canada, and India. Last year, the United States moved up to eighth place, but there is room to improve, especially when it comes to energy productivity. The current edition of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, produced for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, shows the ratio of gross domestic product (GDP) to energy consumed continues to grow, improving by 2.3 percent from 2014 to 2015, following a 1.1 percent increase the previous year. The U.S. economy has now grown by 10 percent since 2007, while primary energy consumption has fallen by 2.4 percent. Estimates put forward by ACEEE indicate as much as 60 percent of the energy intensity improvements seen since 1980 are due to efficiency gains. The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) calls for all new federal commercial buildings to be net-zero energy by 2030. Section 433 is a key component to federal buildings entering the planning process in 2020 or beyond to be designed to achieve zero-net-energy. |
Benchmarking, disclosure, and performance-based codes
DOE defines benchmarking as the practice of comparing the measured performance of a device, process, facility, or organization to itself, its peers, or established norms—the goal involves informing and motivating performance improvement. Thirty cities and states and 21 organizations from across the country are committing to take new actions to make it easier to identify ways to cut energy waste by making energy data available to building owners. This provides benchmarking information to determine what are the most cost-effective energy efficiency improvements for buildings.
Fifteen cities now have benchmarking and disclosure laws, which require building owners to report their buildings’ annual energy use to the local government. Several cities also adopted ‘stretch’ building energy codes, mandating new buildings to achieve higher energy efficiency goals going beyond base code. Benchmarking and disclosure is a basis for understanding where the best return on investment (ROI) is possible for energy efficiency improvements.
Performance-based codes also reduce energy intensity and related GHGs. In 2014, participants at the Performance Outcome Summit in Seattle examined the opportunities, barriers, and next steps that will transition the commercial building industry from estimating energy use (based on models in the design phase) to measuring real performance outcomes (based on actual energy use in an occupied building).
The 2015 International Green Construction Code (IgCC) includes measures to improve energy efficiency of buildings. One of these, the Zero Energy Performance Index (zEPI), provides a scale for measuring commercial building energy performance. Critical to this effort is predictive (projected) energy modeling that requires an “experienced” practitioner. The modeling demands continuous updating with quality control, utilizing Appendix G of American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-rise Residential Buildings, including model calibration and use of energy models for measurement and verification. The predictive (projected) energy modeling is compared to one year of actual performance benchmarking/disclosure for making adjustments to deliver the clients energy productivity goals.
