[OKC] FW: Pilot Building Energy Labeling Program Launched by ASHRAE

[Shauna Struby]

FYI . 

 


Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 11:17 AM
Subject: [SEJ-MAIL:] Pilot Building Energy Labeling Program Launched by
ASHRAE

 

 

For Release:

Dec. 8, 2009

 

Contact: Jodi Dunlop

Public Relations

678-539-1140

jdunlop at ashrae.org
<https://webmail.ashrae.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=17866e2e9bd647f6b72dc617f9aff5c
8&URL=mailto%3ajdunlop%40ashrae.org> 

 

Program to provide information aimed at reducing building energy use

Pilot Building Energy Labeling Program Launched by ASHRAE with Leading
Owners, Designers

 

ATLANTA - A new program to inform building owners and operators, tenants and
prospective buyers on the energy use of buildings, similar to miles per
gallon ratings on cars or a nutrition label on food, was launched Dec. 8 to
encourage the building industry to find ways to cut energy use and costs.

The Building Energy Quotient program, which will be known as Building EQ,
will include both As Designed (asset) and In Operation (as operated) ratings
for all building types, except residential. It also will provide a detailed
certificate with data on actual energy use, energy demand profiles, indoor
air quality and other information that will enable building owners to
evaluate and reduce their building's energy use. The program is administered
by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers (ASHRAE).

Buildings constitute 40 percent of the nation's primary energy use and are
the single largest area of energy consumption in the United States.
Buildings also account for almost one third of U.S. greenhouse gas
emissions, while the carbon emissions associated with U.S. buildings equal
the combined total emissions from the United Kingdom, France and Japan.

"Information on a building's energy use is the critical first step in making
the necessary changes and choices to reduce energy use and costs," Gordon
Holness, ASHRAE president, said. "The Building EQ program provides an easily
understood scale to convey a building's energy use in comparison to similar
buildings, occupancy types and climate zone, while also providing building
owners with building-specific information that can be used to improve
building energy performance."

Holness noted that building energy use disclosure is already mandatory in
California; Washington, D.C.; Austin, Texas; Washington State; the European
Union; and Australia.

Those participating in the pilot program are leading building owners and
designers, real estate developers and government agencies, including:

*	The Durst Organization, the owner, manager and builder of 9 million
square feet of mid-town Manhattan office and residential properties, will
include 4 Times Square, 1155 Avenue of the Americas and  One Bryant Park in
New York City in the pilot
*	 The U.S. General Services Administration, the primary agency
responsible for the acquisition and management of federal buildings owns or
leases 8,600 properties and maintains an inventory of more than 354 million
square feet of workspace for 1.1 million federal employees
*	Wright Runstad and Co. develops, acquires, manages and leases
high-quality commercial office buildings located primarily in the Pacific
Northwest, headquartered in Seattle, Wash.
*	Ashforth Pacific, Portland, Ore., a diversified real estate firm
that owns, develops and invests in assets and provides third-party services,
including assets and property management, general contracting and
construction management
*	BNIM Architects, a leader of a new generation of design firms
headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., will include The Omega Center for
Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, N.Y.; the Internal Revenue Service, Kansas
City Campus, Kansas City, Mo.; and the Fayez S. Sarofin Research Building,
home of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the
Prevention of Human Diseases, the University of Texas Health Science Center,
Houston, in the pilot
*	Hines, a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate
investment, development and property management worldwide headquartered in
London and Houston, Texas, will place high-profile properties from five
major U.S. market  in the pilot
*	The Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority will include the Coleman
A. Young Municipal Center, which is home of six branches of city and county
government including Circuit and Probate Courts, City and County Clerks and
the Executive and Legislative branches of the City of Detroit, in the pilot
*	The Michigan Department of Management and Budget, which acquires and
manages properties for many of the state's agencies
*	Russell Development Co., which has produced significant commercial
buildings in downtown Portland, Ore., will include 200 Market Building in
the pilot.

"The Durst Organization is proud to assist ASHRAE with this pilot program,"
Don Winston, P.E., vice president technical services, The Durst
Organization, said. "To continue advancing the state-of-the-art of
high-performing buildings, it is essential that the gap between predicted
and actual performance be identified and understood. By including both As
Designed and In Operation ratings, this system will help us better
understand what works and what doesn't, and allow us to make better informed
design choices in future projects."

Through the pilot program, the Building EQ program will allow fine-tuning
and final development of the program. In parallel with this effort, ASHRAE
has developed a certification program for building energy modelers.
Following completion of the pilot program in mid-June, the program is
expected to be fully functional by the end of 2010.

Under the program, new buildings will be eligible to receive an As Designed,
or asset, rating, which provides an assessment of the building based on the
components specified in the design and is based on the results of building
energy modeling and simulation. An In Operation rating will be available
once the building has at least one year of data on the actual energy use and
is based on a combination of the structure of the building and how it is
operated. Existing buildings would be eligible to receive both an As
Designed and In Operation rating.

            "With procedures for both an As Designed and In Operation
rating, building owners can make side-by-side comparisons that could further
reconcile differences between designed and measured energy use on an ongoing
basis," Holness said.

For more information, visit www.buildingEQ.com <http://www.buildingEQ.com/>
.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000
persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air
conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable
world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing
education.

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