GreenClips.208 01.29.03 MINNESOTA'S B3 PROJECT TO BENCHMARK ENERGY USE AND MORE Last year, the Minnesota State Legislature initiated the Buildings, Benchmarks and Beyond (B3) Project, which stipulates that all building projects funded by the state must exceed Minnesota energy codes by at least 30 percent and meet B3's Sustainable Building Design Guidelines. B3 differs from the Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide that was issued in 1996 and from LEED because B3 includes a system for benchmarking the success of sustainable-design strategies, as well as a client-feedback review cycle. "B3 gives us an opportunity to create a system that's accountable and thus will benefit Minnesota's environment and economy," says David Eijadi of The Weidt Group, a member of the B3 development team. "The benchmarking was conceived as a tool to measure energy consumption," says Richard Carter with LHB Engineers and Architects, also on the B3 team. "But in the future, B3 will also provide benchmarking in areas like human productivity and water conservation, which haven't really been measured before." John Carmody of the University of Minnesota's Center for Sustainable Building Research says, "The benchmarking built into B3 is about recognizing that we have to track what's going on in buildings through post-occupancy evaluations and through client and architect feedback on the design guidelines. This knowledge will also tell us what is happening in architectural firms practicing sustainable design and in the sustainable buildings they create." Architecture Minnesota, Jan-Feb 2003, p 21, by Amy Nash. [More: http://www.csbr.umn.edu:16080/B3/ ] GUIDELINES FOR ENERGY-EFFICIENT VENTILATION SYSTEMS Air handling represents one of the largest uses of energy in air conditioned/ventilated buildings. Substantial savings in long-term energy use can be realized by carefully designing ductwork systems to minimize pressure losses, and by carefully selecting the air handling unit components. The following are some guidelines for ducts, fans, and motors and drives. DUCTS: Keep the number of bends to a minimum. Size ducts in accordance with recommended guidelines. Avoid using reduced duct sizes. Keep duct lengths to a minimum. Use fittings with a low resistance to airflow. Provide good fan inlet and outlet conditions to minimize resistance loss. And ensure that there is minimal air leakage from ductwork. FANS: In general, centrifugal fans are more efficient, controllable and quieter than the axial or mixed flow fan types and so are widely used. Typical efficiencies for centrifugal fans are 45 to 70 percent for the forward-curved blade type, 65 to 85 percent for backward curved, and 80 to 90 percent for the aerofoil blade type. MOTORS AND DRIVES: Avoid oversizing electric motors (efficiency is significantly reduced when motors run at 25 percent or less of full load). Use higher efficiency motors. And use direct drives rather than belt drives. Building Services Journal, Jan 2003, p 18. [Full text: See Archives at http://www.bsjonline.co.uk (requires free registration).] ENSURING SUCCESS WHEN UPGRADING MULTI-TENANT OFFICE BUILDINGS Even the best energy-saving strategies for owner-occupied and multi-tenant office buildings will fail if they don't have well-conceived mechanisms to ensure their implementation. While there are many combinations of winning energy-efficiency strategies and mechanisms, here are two possible combinations. STRATEGY: KNOW YOUR PROPERTIES. Have your properties ranked according to Energy Star benchmarking score, utility rates, energy intensity, anticipated holding period, and availability of capital for improvement. Know which upgrade technologies and operating best practices have been implemented at each of your properties. Know which leases allow the owner to capture savings and/or exercise cost recovery for capital expenses (cap ex) that reduce operating expenses. MECHANISM: Screen each property, and create a property matrix to help ensure that highest-and-best-use-of-capital opportunities are pursued first. STRATEGY: CLAIM THE "FREE MONEY" YOU DESERVE. Capture all the rebates and other incentives you are entitled to when doing cap ex. Pursue rebates for tenant fit-out, remodeling, and other new construction, not just for energy/water retrofit projects. Screen your recent cap ex for retroactive rebates. MECHANISM: Make rebate screening a best practice. Any energy-, gas-, or water-related cap-ex proposal must have a rebate report attached to it. Outsource the rebate administration to an organization that does these filings on a full-time basis, and make sure they double-check and apply for any additional rebates that are relevant to your project. HPAC Engineering, Jan 2003, by Mark T. Jewell. [Full text: http://www.hpac.com/member/feature/2003/0301/0301jewell.htm ] SOLAR SYSTEMS QUIETLY INSTALLED AT WHITE HOUSE COMPLEX Solar energy has returned to the White House complex, with three solar installations completed last summer. An 8.75 peak-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system was installed on a National Park Service maintenance building on the White House grounds. The system feeds electricity into the White House electricity grid. On the same building, a residential-scale solar water heating system provides hot water for landscape maintenance personnel. The third installation is a five-panel, building-integrated solar hot water system on a cabana roof next to the presidential pool and spa. This system heats water for a hot tub and shower, with any extra energy going into the outdoor pool. When asked why a bigger splash hasn't been made about these installations, James Doherty, an architect with the National Park Service White House Liaison Office, said that the Park Service doesn't like to advertise what it does at the White House. "We call it 'silent stewardship,'" he said. Environmental Building News, Jan 2003, p 3, by Alex Wilson. [Full text: http://www.buildinggreen.com/news/white_house.html ] RESPONDING TO GLOBAL WARMING, RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS CUT ENERGY USE As evidence of global warming mounts, congregations across the United States are asking what their faith demands of them in response. With help from a new movement called interfaith power and light (IP&L), religious institutions are cutting back on energy consumption, investing in more efficient heating and lighting systems, buying renewable energy, and joining the effort to build green. IP&L movements are now active in about a dozen states. They aim to help congregations by providing ready access to technical services for efficiency upgrades; information on funding resources; and a means for purchasing solar, wind or landfill gas power. For example, St. Stephen's Cathedral, a historic landmark in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is undergoing a major renovation that could win it a gold rating from the US Green Building Council's LEED program. St. Stephen's benefited from $30,000 of planning and technical services from IP&L of Pennsylvania, which receives funding from the Heinz Endowments. The growing IP&L movement -- sparked in California by an interfaith discussion on how to respond to global warming -- began in the late '90s in the Episcopal church. But some in the pews remain unconvinced that global warming results from human activity, and see this as part of a liberal agenda. Others resist discussing the environment in a theological context. The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Jan 2003, by Jane Lampman. [California IP&L: http://www.interfaithpower.org ; IP&L of Pennsylvania: http://www.pennenergy.org/ipl ] [Full text: http://www.buildinggreen.com/products/preform.html ] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GreenClips is free of charge thanks to individual members and these sponsors: BALL STATE UNIVERSITY Call for papers! Abstracts for Greening of the Campus V: Connecting to Place are due February 14, 2003! This interdisciplinary conference allows people representing diverse areas in university communities to share information on environmental issues. The conference is September 18 - 20, 2003 at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. For more information and download an abstract submittal form, visit http://www.bsu.edu/greening/ or email Becky Amato: bamato@bsu.edu. BUILDINGGREEN, INC. 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