flexiblefullpage

HORIZONTV FEATURING BD+C: WATCH EPISODES ON DEMAND AT HORIZONTV

Menu View Full Menu
Subscribe Here
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Calculating the ROI of building enclosure commissioning

Calculating the ROI of building enclosure commissioning

A researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory calls building enclosure commissioning “the single-most cost-effective strategy for reducing energy, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions in buildings today.”

By C.C. Sullivan | June 28, 2013
Continue Reading
According to Evan Mills, PhD, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, building enclosure commissioning, or BECx, should be viewed as “the single-most cost-effective strategy for reducing energy, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions in buildings today.”
 
(This article excerpted from BD+C's June 2013 AIA/CES course on cladding and exterior insulation. Take this free course at BD+C University.)
 
Mills studied the benefits of BECx, noting that commissioning only costs about $1.16/sf for new construction and $0.30/sf for existing buildings on average, with a payback period of as little as 14 months. Savings associated with using BECx from both maintenance and energy savings average about 16% for existing buildings and 13% for new construction. The main benefit is that whole-building energy savings are guaranteed, thanks to the pivotal role of the enclosure in determining efficiency performance.
 
“Further enhancing the value of commissioning, its non-energy benefits surpass those of most other energy-management practices,” including major first-cost savings through right-sizing of HVAC equipment, Mills has testified. “When accounting for these benefits, the net median commissioning project cost was reduced by 49% on average, while in many cases they exceeded the direct value of the energy savings.”
 
The National Institute of Building Sciences published its NIBS Guideline 3-2012 on enclosure commissioning last year. The U.S. Green Building Council has allowed the application of BECx to earn an innovation credit in the LEED rating system, and BECx was even considered as a prerequisite, but that proposal lost momentum, says Rob Kistler, AIA, NCARB, Committee Chair for NIBS Guideline 3 and Principal, The Facade Group.
 
It appears that LEED v4 will not explicitly encourage the detail review, onsite testing, and observation that some enclosure experts say is what makes BECx effective, notes Tristan Roberts, with BuildingGreen’s LEEDUser service. Instead, the new LEED draft language directly quotes NIBS Guideline 3, which describes the following techniques as part of proper BECx for enhanced building commissioning:
•  Devise a plan early in the project cycle that describes testing requirements, acceptance criteria, and documentation.
•  Review details in the construction documentation to check for overall performance, continuity of weather barriers and insulation, and constructability.
•  Conduct observations on the job site as required for critical milestones in enclosure installation, from field mockups to trades startup to field testing.
•  Use mockups to benchmark workmanship requirements and ensure compliance with specifications and manufacturer’s installation requirements.
 
The NIBS committee for BECx, which Altenhofen serves on, recommends including a consulting enclosure expert for the building project, especially in the construction administration phase. The expert will help ensure proposed cladding materials and systems are integrated properly into the design process, followed by visual observations of a statistical sampling of installation of work. Toward the end of the CA phase and before acceptance, a blower-door test will check whether the air infiltration levels are equal to or better than standard.
 
As noted in the summary of NIBS Guideline 3, BECx helps reduce the chances that inadequate cladding work will be discovered during the punch list phase: “The performance of the enclosure cannot be verified until the entire building is completely enclosed. At this time it is not possible to tune or dial in the performance. To access a nonperforming subsystem or assembly might be very expensive.”
 
(This article excerpted from BD+C's June 2013 AIA/CES course on cladding and exterior insulation. Take this free course at BD+C University.)

Tags

Related Stories

White paper on office-to-residential conversions released by IAPMO
Adaptive Reuse | Sep 12, 2024

White paper on office-to-residential conversions released by IAPMO

IAPMO has published a new white paper titled “Adaptive Reuse: Converting Offices to Multi-Residential Family,” a comprehensive analysis of addressing housing shortages through the conversion of office spaces into residential units.

Courtesy Centennial Yards Company
Mixed-Use | Sep 10, 2024

Centennial Yards, a $5 billion mixed-use development in downtown Atlanta, tops out its first residential tower

Centennial Yards Company has topped out The Mitchell, the first residential tower of Centennial Yards, a $5 billion mixed-use development in downtown Atlanta. Construction of the apartment building is expected to be complete by the middle of next year, with first move-ins slated for summer 2025.

HealthPartners Neuroscience Center exterior
Healthcare Facilities | Sep 9, 2024

Exploring the cutting edge of neuroscience facility design

BWBR Communications Specialist Amanda Fisher shares the unique considerations and challenges of designing neuroscience facilities.

Fact sheet outlines benefits, challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings Photo: Pixabay
Office Buildings | Sep 6, 2024

Fact sheet outlines benefits, challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings

A U.S. Dept. of Energy document discusses the benefits and challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings. The document explains how the various types of thermal energy storage technologies work, where their installation is most beneficial, and some practical considerations around installations.

Office space downsizing trend appears to be past peak Image by Pexels from Pixabay
Office Buildings | Sep 5, 2024

Office space downsizing trend appears to be past peak

The office downsizing trend may be past its peak, according to a CBRE survey of 225 companies with offices in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. Just 37% of companies plan to shrink their office space this year compared to 57% last year, the survey found.

UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences Photo courtesy Flad Architects
University Buildings | Sep 4, 2024

UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences

The University of California San Diego has approved plans for a new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building, with construction starting this fall. The 200,000-sf, six-level facility will be the first building on the UC San Diego campus to bridge health science research with biological science research and teaching. 

Atlanta aims to crack down on blighted properties with new tax, Image by Eric Stokley from Pixabay
Codes and Standards | Sep 3, 2024

Atlanta aims to crack down on blighted properties with new tax

A new Atlanta law is intended to crack down on absentee landlords including commercial property owners and clean up neglected properties. The “Blight Tax” allows city officials to put levies on blighted property owners up to 25 times higher than current millage rates.

Phius introduces retrofit standard for more resilient buildings Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Resiliency | Sep 3, 2024

Phius introduces retrofit standard for more resilient buildings

Phius recently released, REVIVE 2024, a retrofit standard for more resilient buildings. The standard focuses on resilience against grid outages by ensuring structures remain habitable for at least a week during extreme weather events.

Image by RENE RAUSCHENBERGER from Pixabay
Construction Costs | Sep 2, 2024

Construction material decreases level out, but some increases are expected to continue for the balance Q3 2024

The Q3 2024 Quarterly Construction Insights Report from Gordian examines the numerous variables that influence material pricing, including geography, global events and commodity volatility. Gordian and subject matter experts examine fluctuations in costs, their likely causes, and offer predictions about where pricing is likely to go from here. Here is a sampling of the report’s contents.

More than 1.2 billion sf of office space have strong potential for residential conversion Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
Adaptive Reuse | Aug 29, 2024

More than 1.2 billion sf of office space have strong potential for residential conversion

More than 1.2 billion sf of U.S. office space—14.8% of the nation’s total—have strong potential for conversion to residential use, according to real estate software and services firm Yardi. Yardi’s new Conversion Feasibility Index scores office buildings on their suitability for multifamily conversion.

boombox1
boombox2

Top Articles

native1

More In Category

Urban Planning

Bridging the gap: How early architect involvement can revolutionize a city’s capital improvement plans

Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) typically span three to five years and outline future city projects and their costs. While they set the stage, the design and construction of these projects often extend beyond the CIP window, leading to a disconnect between the initial budget and evolving project scope. This can result in financial shortfalls, forcing cities to cut back on critical project features.

Libraries

Reasons to reinvent the Midcentury academic library

DLR Group's Interior Design Leader Gretchen Holy, Assoc. IIDA, shares the idea that a designer's responsibility to embrace a library’s history, respect its past, and create an environment that will serve student populations for the next 100 years.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021