Green Building Blog

Use of the word sustainability, based on recorded mentions, skyrocketed starting in the early 1980s and has grown exponentially over the past 3 decades. In the past few weeks alone I have attended two exceptional programs on sustainability, and I see many more in the near and distant future as it becomes a hotter topic at the various green building and commercial real estate industry conferences to which I am invited.

Note: Since this was article was originally posted, a budget passed Congress that does not significantly reduce EPA funding. So we believe the Energy Star Program is safe - for now. It’s good to know, however, what else is out there from the private sector, for example, ASHRAE bEQ as is discussed below. Our industry needs to be well-versed in all the options, not on a just-in-case basis, but on a what’s-best-for-the-customer basis. (updated 5/10/2017)

Since its inception in 1992, the Energy Star label has gained tremendous popularity, and today thousands of products (mostly small and medium home appliances) sport the Energy Star logo. Use of this program, run by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE), had saved $362 billion on energy bills and prevented nearly 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere. If this program goes away, as is being proposed by the current administration, we risk losing many of the gains that have been made.

From their first meeting of less than 50 people just a couple of years ago to almost 500 this year, PACENation reflects the potential this groundbreaking policy has on the future of the built environment. PACENation is the national, non-profit advocacy organization for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing.

In 2016, PACE passed the $3 billion mark in cumulative financing (commercial and residential). “What we’re really seeing is the birth of an industry. It isn’t just about burning less hydrocarbons, it’s also about saving money,” John Hickenlooper, the Governor of Colorado told the crowd.

PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy), a new way to finance energy conservation measures in commercial buildings, came to Michigan just four short years ago. Like most new ventures, it took a while for it to gain traction among property owners and building managers.

In 2015, Wayne State University’s Academic Administration Building, Detroit, MI, was facing many of the same concerns as other office buildings of similar age. Tenants (in this case University employees) repeatedly complained to building maintenance staff that they were “too hot” or “too cold.” And the costs of running the building kept creeping up.

As part of a DTE Energy and Nexant Retro-commissioning (RCx) project for no-cost and low-cost energy conservation measures (ECMs) with short-term payback, Newman Consulting Group (NCG) conducted an ASHRAE Level 2 Energy Analysis and RCx Study on the building. We uncovered several opportunities that would not only make tenants more comfortable, but also save money. The DTE RCx program, however, dictated that any measures eligible for rebates from DTE under their Energy Optimization program could not be included in the ECMs implemented for this project, e.g., LED lighting, high-efficiency motors, or VFDs, to name a few. Still, we were able to make significant improvements.