UNL Climate Change Presentation

Keeping “Green” Buildings From Turning

“Brown”

Marcel Harmon, Ph.D., P.E., LEED-AP

M.E. Group, Inc.M.E. Group, Inc.Building Systems Design DivisionBuilding Systems Design Division Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing/Lighting Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing/Lighting

DesignDesign High-Performance Building DesignHigh-Performance Building Design CommissioningCommissioning Feasibility StudiesFeasibility Studies

Green Services DivisionGreen Services Division LEED Documentation & ConsultingLEED Documentation & Consulting Green Building PlanningGreen Building Planning Existing Building Evaluations/Retro-Existing Building Evaluations/Retro-

CommissioningCommissioning CommissioningCommissioning Energy AuditsEnergy Audits Energy ModelingEnergy Modeling

Built Environment’s Impact

Source: US Green Building Council (USGBC)

U.S. Energy Consumption By Sector


Source: US Green Building Council (USGBC)

Buildings in the U.S.,• Consume 71% of the electricity

produced.• Consume 12% of the total water used.• Produce 65% of the waste generated.Buildings worldwide,• Consume 40% of the total materials &

energy used.• Consume 17% of the total water used.• Consume 25% of the total wood

harvested.


Source: US Energy Information Administration statistics and www.architecture2030.org

U.S. CO2 Emissions by

Sector

The Potential Repercussions

Honolulu, HI: 1.75-meter sea level rise

Source: www.architecture2030.org

LEED Building Performance

Source: Turner, C. and M. Frankel 2008. Energy Performance of LEED for New Construction Buildings. New Buildings Institute.

National Average Comparison• On average, LEED facilities are

performing 25-30% better than non-LEED facilities.

• But individual facility performances were widely scattered.

• Some even using more energy than the predicted code baseline modeling.

• Why?

Green to Brown

“Buildings have a poor track record for performing as predicted during design.”

“A National Green Building Research Agenda” (revised February 2008), USGBC Research Committee.

inaccurate or improperly used analysis tools;

lack of integration of complex inter-connected systems;

value engineering after design; poor construction practices; no building commissioning; and incomplete or improper understanding of

operations and maintenance practices.

Sustainability

Sustainable Solution•Systematic•Contextual

Human Factors

Technology Environment

Human Factors

Physiological Factors - Factors that deal with the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functioning of the body itself.

Psychological Factors - The mental or behavioral characteristics of individuals or groups, centered on the structure of the mind.

Cultural Factors - Factors derived from a shared set of organized ideas, information habits, patterned behavior, and conditioned emotional responses, consisting of knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, and custom.

Mental Mapping: East vs. West

Image by Trey Hedden, McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

Cultural Scripts

By providing a lens through which to view and interpret the world, it helps generate the specific experience.

Its what help me tell the difference between being comfortable and uncomfortable.

Thermal Comfort In Interior Environments

Baca/Dlo'ay azhi Community School

N

• Entrance facing east (Mt. Taylor)

• Layout on the four cardinal directions.

• Placing the media center (and the story pit) at the very center – emphasizes the importance of knowledge.

• Navajo color schemes.• Cultural Conflict w/

LEED

Various Navajo cultural elements incorporated:

Baca/Dlo'ay azhi Community School

We are designing 21st century facilities for our stone-age minds and bodies, with physiologies and psychologies adapted to operating within a much different physical environment, and in a socio/cultural environment of low variability.

Stone-Age Minds & Bodies

Sustainability

Sustainable Solution

• Systematic• Contextual• Three levels of

human factors• Human factors

evolved under different conditions

Human Factors

Technology Environment

National/Regional Average

Local Average (Peer Group)

Local Average (Peer Group)

A

B

C

D

+ ∆

- ∆

Model Baselines

School KWH by Square Footage. (Edward Gonzales = 262).

3000040000

5000060000

7000080000

90000

100000

110000

Total Square Footage

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000T

otal

Kilo

wat

t Hou

rs

373

267

207

297

332

240

303

282

204

214279

291

262

275

285

234

250

317

350

356339

206

252

295

219

333

255273

365

231

321

315

203

222

265

236

385

230

363

351

288

228

309

260

210370

221

388

216

276

312

258

345

225

379

305

360

357

328

270307

329

300

310

213336241

244

330

215

324229

Edward Gonzales Elementary School -

Electrical

Therms by Square Footage. (Edward Gonzales = 262).

Edward Gonzales Elementary School - Gas

3000040000

5000060000

7000080000

90000

100000

110000

Total Square Footage

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

The

rms

373

267

207

297

332

240 303

282

204

214

279

291

262

275285234

250317350

356

339

206

252

295

333

255273

365231

321

315

203

222

265

236385

230363

351

288

228

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260

210370

221

388

216

276

312

345

258

225305

360

357

328

270

307

329

300

310

213

336

241

244330

215

324

229

58.2 kBtu/sq. ft./yr; Peer Group Baseline

14% Reduction

- ∆

Comparison to Energy Star

88.8 kBtu/sq. ft./yr; Energy Star Baseline

76.4 kBtu/sq. ft./yr; Actual 2004-2005 Energy Usage

62.7 kBtu/sq. ft./yr; Energy Star 30% Savings

44.4 kBtu/sq. ft./yr; Energy Star 50% Savings

Edward Gonzales Elementary School

Classroom Daylighting

Light Sweep


Edward Gonzales Light Sweep Rating

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

Excellent Good Fair Poor NA ?

Rating

Per

cen

t o

f R

esp

on

ses

Light Sweep


Permanent building teacher/staff/administrator rating scores of their perception of their students’ thermal comfort level conditions. Values range from 0 to 3, with the larger values indicating a greater degree of that particular condition present.

Edward

Gonzales Seven Bar ChelwoodAll School Average

Comfortable Average 1.13 2.07 2.20 1.80

Too Cold Average 1.15 0.27 0.20 0.54

Too Hot Average 1.42 0.62 0.30 0.78

Stale Average 1.27 0.20 0.00 0.49

Stuffy Average 1.58 0.32 0.10 0.67


Portable vs. Permanent Building

Edward Gonzales

Portable

Edward Gonzales

Permanent

Comfortable Average 1.87 1.13

Too Cold Average 0.24 1.15

Too Hot Average 0.43 1.42

Stale Average 0.22 1.27

Stuffy Average 0.10 1.58


Rest Room:

Water Use Issues, Performance, & Self Image

KEEPING GREEN BUILDINGS GREEN

How?

More affectively account for human factors

Build better energy models that more accurately reflect local conditions

EVALUATE, EVALUATE, EVALUATE

Evidence Based Design

Built Environments are Experiments


Built Environments are experiments in: the performance of materials and

systems


Built Environments are experiments in: the organization of space


Built Environments are experiments in: facilitation of specific human

behaviors/tasks


Built Environments are experiments in: the process of design


Built Environments are experiments in: construction methodologies, etc.


If we do not evaluate the experiments, we do not learn what works, what doesn’t work, and why.

We repeat mistakes, waste resources and money, and minimize the quality of the human experience within the built environment.


We must “… better relate design strategies to actual performance and benefit ... [and build] a more thorough dataset as well as more robust metrics ...”

- “A National Green Building Research Agenda” (revised February 2008), USGBC Research Committee.

But when conducting these evaluations, we also need an human inquiry of the reciprocal relationships between people and the built environment.


Goal: Correlate behavior, productivity/ performance metrics, health metrics, etc., with specific building elements (technologies, layouts, materials, etc.), for a specific social/cultural and physical environmental context.

Results: Informative knowledge for a specific project/facility; Knowledge added to a continually expanding database of information.

Human Inquiry Process

Human Inquiry Process

Hand offImplementationInvestigationPlanning

Further assurance for clients and the design/build team that the green/sustainable design goals will be successfully implemented.

Verification for clients that they are getting what they paid for, as well as assistance in keeping their “green” facility from turning brown.

Increase in productivity, performance, and health.

Decrease in employee turnover. Decrease in tenant turnover & increased

occupancy rates.

Evaluation/Human Inquiry Benefits

Performance/Productivity

IAQ Improvements: save up to $58 billion in lost sick

time save additional $200 billion in

worker performance.

- Fisk, W. G. 2000, Health and Productivity Gains from Better Indoor Environments and Their Relationship with Building Energy Efficiency. Annual Review of Energy and Environment 25(1):537-566. Later updated for 2002 dollars.


Increased tenant environmental control have been found to provide average measured workforce productivity gains of:

7.1% with lighting control, 1.8% with ventilation control, and 1.2% with thermal control.

- Kats, G., L. Alevantis, A. Berman, E. Mills, and J. Perlman, 2003. The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Building: A Report to California’s Sustainable Building Task Force.


Compared to little or no daylighting, classrooms with large amounts of daylighting, have been found to increase the rate of student learning by:

20% in math 26% in reading- Heschong Mahone Group. 1999.

Daylighting in Schools: An Investigation into the Relationship Between Daylight and Human Performance. Report submitted to Pacific Gas and Electric. http://www.h-m-g.com. Reanalysis of report conducted in 2001 – www.newbuildings.org/pier.

Over 20 – 25 years, for a typical service business:Ratio of amortized construction cost to building operating costs to staff salaries/business operating costs =1:1.5:15- Commission for Architecture and the

Built Environment and the British Council for Offices, London, UK, 2005.

0

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Construction BldgOperations

BusinessOperations

Relative Cost

Evaluation/Human Inquiry Benefits

Brown facilities can result when human factors, technology, and/or the environment are not adequately accounted for initially, or change after the fact.

Green buildings (and all buildings in general) are experiments that require evaluation to verify they’re performing as designed.

Brown facilities will negatively impact the spread and success of green design, with negative global consequences.

Concluding Thoughts

"We have not inherited the world from our forefathers -- we have borrowed it from our children."

- Kashmiri proverb

UNL Climate Change Presentation

Design

Transcript of UNL Climate Change Presentation