Energy Efficiency: Think Big, Save Big

by Kristen Wright, associate editor

It takes time and money to save money via energy efficiency, and some consumers still question whether the effort is a gamble. For large-scale projects, savings can hit jackpot levels.

People can significantly reduce carbon emissions through energy-efficient buildings, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said during the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

“We use 40 percent of our energy in buildings,” Chu said, according to a July 7 Department of Energy (DOE) document. “I firmly believe that, with today’s technologies, we can build new homes and buildings that use 40 percent less energy than today’s new buildings and therefore save money on energy bills.

“By developing a system integration approach, I believe we could eventually build buildings that use 80 percent less energy with investments that pay for themselves in less than 15 years through reduced energy bills. Similarly, we could retrofit existing buildings to achieve 50 percent energy savings with investments that will pay for themselves.”

New York City’s Empire State Building serves as a private sector test case and model in energy efficiency. It will achieve 38 percent energy savings after spending $20 million on sustainability projects included in a $500 million, whole-building retrofit to be complete by 2013. Analysts expect a $4.4 million annual savings in energy costs, and payback based on incremental cost is 3.1 years, according to the initiative, Empire State Building Leadership in American Progress in Sustainability.

On the government side, Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) in Tennessee—the DOE’s largest science and energy lab—has invested $500 million to modernize its 500-acre campus. Upon completion, the improvements will reduce campus fossil fuel use by 85 percent, save 170 million gallons of water a year and supply 21 percent of ORNL’s power with on-site renewable energy, said Jimmy Stone, ORNL deputy director of facilities and operations.

On the residential side, consumers might be confused by the term “energy-efficient end-user equipment.” Its broad scope can apply as easily to reusable, ceramic coffee mugs and compact fluorescent light bulbs as it can apply to HVAC systems and semiconductors in appliances and electronics. And energy efficiency isn’t completely about equipment and new technologies; green habits make big differences, too.

An Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) study shows that the most significant U.S. energy savings could occur in the South, the census region that consumes the most energy. It makes sense, then, for energy-efficient equipment vendors to test their products there. When buildings and homes bet on energy efficiency, they win big.

“ËœThe World’s Most Famous Office Building’

That’s what the Empire State Building’s Web site calls the 102-floor skyscraper built in 1930 and “Ëœ31 during the Great Depression. The structure’s retrofit is a rebirth during another economic hard time. And when times are tough, people and companies look to save money.

New York City’s Empire State Building serves as a test case for energy efficiency. It will achieve 38 percent energy savings after spending $20 million on sustainability projects included in a $500 million, whole-building retrofit to be complete by 2013. © Rorem/dreamstime.com

More green in the pockets isn’t the only perk of the retrofit. Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and creating a competitive advantage motivated decision-makers, said Tim Clancy, Empire State Building director of operations. Prior to 2008, the building’s energy consumption mirrored that of most U.S. office buildings. Its annual utility costs were $11 million—$4 a square foot. It emitted 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Annual energy use was 88,000 Btu per square foot. And its peak electric demand was 9.5 MW—3.8 W per square foot, Clancy said.

“Right now we’re a seasonal building,” Clancy said. “We only provide cooling in the summer and heat in the winter.”

Giving tenants more temperature control should attract more large tenants. Right now, the building has many small ones, he said.

“Our business plan here is to bring in full-floor or multifloor tenants setting up their own dashboards,” Clancy said.

Probably the most recognizable new tenant is a three-story Starbucks, which has leased 8,400 square feet to become the largest Starbucks in New York City. Other big tenants include Taylor Global Communications, which has leased the entire 38th floor; Brennan Beer Gorman architects, which has leased the 25th floor; Lufthansa, which relocated its North American headquarters from Fifth Avenue to part of the 27th floor; and Block Holding Corp., which has leased 22,153 square feet on the 11th floor, according to leasing broker W&H Properties.

Consulting, design and construction partners Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls Inc., Jones Lang LaSalle and Rocky Mountain Institute performed an eight-month analysis to project the building’s post-retrofit energy and cost savings. The model can be replicated for retrofits of other buildings, but the steps must be performed in the right order: reduce loads, use efficient technology and provide controls. The team narrowed more than 60 energy efficiency ideas to eight that will reduce loads prior to purchasing expensive new equipment or controls retrofits:

 

1. Upgrade whole-building control system (9 percent energy savings)—This involves upgrading the building’s existing control system to optimize HVAC operation and provide more detailed submetering information.

    

2. Upgrade tenant lighting, daylighting, plugs (6 percent energy savings)—This involves reducing lighting power density in tenant spaces via ambient, direct or indirect and task lighting; installing dimmable ballasts and photosensors depending on daylight availability and providing tenants with plug load occupancy sensors for their workstations. The Empire State Building will provide tenants with examples, data and tools to understand savings over the terms of their leases. Tenant compliance will result in lower overall cooling demand and higher sustainability ratings for the building. Tenants will reduce their utility costs and get higher-quality, more productive spaces.

    

3. Air handler replacements (5 percent energy savings)—This involves replacing existing constant volume air handlers with identical units. The team recommends a new air-handling layout and variable air volume units vs. existing constant volume units. This will cost only a little more, but it will reduce maintenance costs plus reduce noise and increase temperature control and accuracy for tenants.

    

4. Retrofit chiller plant (5 percent energy savings)—This involves retrofitting four industrial electric chillers and upgrading controls, variable speed drives and primary loop bypasses. Existing pumps and steam chillers will remain.

    

5. Remanufacture windows (5 percent energy savings)—A three-person, 5,000-square-foot plant inside the building will remanufacture its 6,500 double-hung windows to include suspended coated film and a krypton-argon gas filling. The refurbished windows will cut summer heat load and winter heat loss.

    

6. Tenant energy management (3 percent energy savings)—This involves installing CO2 sensors to control outside air introduction to chiller water air handling and DX air handling units. The project will enable independent metering of more tenants, who will have access to their online energy information.

    

7. Radiator insulation (3 percent energy savings)—This involves installing more than 6,000 insulated reflective barriers behind radiators to reduce heat loss and more efficiently heat the building’s perimeter.

    

8. Upgrade ventilation control (2 percent energy savings)—This involves introducing demand control ventilation in occupied spaces to improve air quality and reduce energy required to condition outside air.

 

Almost all of the changes will go unnoticed by visitors inside and outside the building, Clancy said. The projected outcome includes: a 33 percent cooling load reduction; capital budget optimization resulting in $17 million in savings; 105,000 metric tons of GHG reduction in 15 years; an Energy Star 90 rating; and a Gold certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings, Clancy said.

A Million Square Feet of LEED-Certified Space

ORNL’s Stone hopes everyone who experiences the lab notices its energy efficiency changes. That would be 4,400 employees, 3,900 research guests each year and everyone who just visits for the tour.

The campus was established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project to find a way to produce and separate plutonium. For the next couple of decades, it became an international nuclear energy research center. In the “Ëœ70s the lab expanded its energy technologies, and now it supports the DOE through six missions: neutron science, energy, high-performance computing, systems biology, materials science at the nanoscale and national security.

Analysts expect China to build the equivalent of the entire U.S. building stock within 15 years. Globally, buildings use some 40 percent of energy and are responsible for nearly half of GHG emissions, according to the DOE.

The ORNL has incorporated energy efficiency into its new building designs. They include: using natural gas condensing boilers that are 98 percent efficient; installing daylighting, reflective roofing and solar lighting; and building management systems.

The lab also has introduced sustainable, native landscaping and energy-efficient measures, Stone said. The campus has a walking trail and a pond clean-up and wildlife management team. High-reflective albedo concrete reduces heat islands, and the visitor parking area is made of pervious pavement with a drain system. At night, downlighting limits sky illumination. The lab is moving solar power to its energy mix with a 51.25-kWp solar array installation, and Building 3147 is moving to net zero energy, Stone said.

Since the lab set energy efficiency goals, it has added 33 percent more area and increased its energy change by only 5 percent. It’s part of the DOE’s Transformational Energy Action Management (TEAM) Initiative commitments, Stone said.

Six new buildings totaling 750,000 square feet of office and state-of-the-art laboratory space occupy an area that a few years ago was a parking lot at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. © ORNL

TEAM is the DOE’s plan to transform the department’s energy, environmental and transportation management. There are eight main goals:

 

1. Reduce energy consumption by 30 percent and water consumption by 16 percent in all DOE facilities.
2. Acquire at least 7.5 percent of all energy from renewable sources.
3. Build alternative fueling stations at all sites by 2008, and replace all conventional fuel vehicles in the DOE fleet with alternative fuel vehicles by 2010.
4. Attain a LEED Gold standard on all new buildings and all majorly renovated buildings.
5. Attain a LEED Gold standard on 15 percent of all buildings by the end of fiscal year 2015.
6. Give preference to bio-based, environmentally friendly sources of energy and water while reducing the use of hazardous and toxic chemicals and managing waste.
7. Develop best-practice models for the use of third-party financing for energy-saving projects.
8. Improve by 10 percent the energy efficiency of all data centers by 2011.

    

   ORNL is on track to meet or exceed the TEAM commitments, Stone said.

 

Keep the Flat Screen and Computer; Semiconductors to the Rescue

Americans likely will not need to wean themselves from their favorite gadgets and electronics at home and work to save electricity, according to a study released by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

“Our national economy might have required the construction and operation of 184 large electric generating power plants “Ëœbut for’ the widespread use of semiconductor technologies,” states the study, “Semiconductor Technologies: The Potential to Revolutionize U.S. Energy Productivity.”

The U.S. economy could expand more than 70 percent through 2030 and use 11 percent less electricity than in 2008 because of energy efficiency advances associated with semiconductor technologies, the report says. It goes on to say that semiconductors are the leading factor behind energy efficiency gains, and electricity bill savings could be substantial.

“By our calculation here, the cumulative net electricity bill savings enabled by semiconductors might exceed $1.3 trillion through 2030,” the report states. “Perhaps not surprising, a more productive economy might also support some 935,000 more jobs while substantially reducing environmental impacts—notably a reduction in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions that would exceed 700 million metric tons, also by 2030.”

Be Cool

While Americans surf the Internet and watch shows on flat screens, they prefer to remain sweat-free. About half, however, unwittingly pay more than necessary to keep cool. Energy Star studies by the DOE and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show that half of U.S. residential central air conditioners may underperform and never reach full efficiency. Air conditioners installed correctly and maintained can cut air conditioner costs by 30 percent, according to the studies.

Switchgrass, studied at ORNL for its biofuel potential, is being harvested in October at a 50-acre field in Oak Ridge. © ORNL

Exelon Corp.’s Commonwealth Edison Co. (ComEd) in June began a two-year energy conservation partnership with Honeywell to ensure contractors correctly install and maintain residential air conditioners. The utility serves some 3.8 million customers in northern Illinois. ComEd expects the program to help it conserve more than 31,000 MWh of electricity.

The Smart Ideas Central Air Conditioning Efficiency Services provides licensed HVAC contractors serving ComEd residential customers free, hands-on technical training and advanced HVAC diagnostic tools on tune-up and installation practices; sales training for high-efficiency central air conditioner units; sales tools to market their energy efficiency expertise and program affiliation; and a reference to companies on the ComEd Web site. In addition, contractors must complete training and purchase a handheld tool—a Field Diagnostics Service Assistant—that helps measure and verify maintenance work. It calculates equipment energy use, capacity and cost-savings potential.

Participating tune-up technicians:

 

• Ensure indoor coil airflow is acceptable.
• Confirm systems meet or exceed the minimum efficiency index standard as measured by the Field Diagnostics Service Assistant.
• Confirm systems have proper refrigerant charge.
• Confirm all system controls and safeties operate as designed.
• Provide customers with before and after system performance reports.
• Provide customers with solutions if system deficiencies prevent performance optimization.

 

As part of quality installations, contractors:

 

• Perform building heat gain or loss load calculations based on Manual J or as approved by ComEd.
• Match equipment size to building loads.
• Advise customers of high Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) equipment benefits.
• Verify selected cooling systems are ARI-listed.
• Ensure indoor coil airflow is acceptable.
• Confirm systems have proper refrigerant charge.
• Verify electrical installation requirements are met.
• Confirm system controls operate as designed.
• Provide system documentation and maintenance schedules to purchasers.
• Provide customers with solutions if existing ductwork deficiencies prevent performance optimization of replacement units.

 

Southern Comfort

Summer temperatures in the South often top 100 F, and air conditioning becomes a health issue. People living there—Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee—consume the most energy in the United States, according to EPRI’s “Assessment of Achievable Potential From Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Programs in the U.S. (2010-2030).”

Florida Power & Light (FPL)—the nation’s leading utility in customer energy efficiency programs—teamed with the University of Miami Department of Industrial Engineering to evaluate the energy-savings capabilities of an electronic control system that collects temperature data vs. time when the compressor is on or off to calculate the optimal run time for each compressor.

The test involved installing the product on six rooftop air conditioner units at a freestanding, national drug store chain in Miami.

The Smartcool Energy Savings Module (ESM) reduced the kilowatt hour consumption 8.9 percent and peak demand 10.8 percent, according to the university’s “Field Monitoring of SmartCool ESM Final Report.” The report estimates annual energy savings for the FPL service territory to be 43,660 kWh with a demand reduction of 6.9 kW from 4 to 5 p.m. in August. Drug store occupants reported no change in comfort.

EE for Everyone

Obtaining energy-efficient buildings in the United States is the beginning for Chu. He met in July with the Chinese Ministry of Urban-Rural Development to jointly develop more efficient buildings and sustainable communities.

The agreement allows the United States and China to exchange ideas on high-performance HVAC, insulation, lighting, cold storage, geothermal heat pumps, building-integrated photovoltaics and solar thermal systems.

Analysts expect China to build the equivalent of the entire U.S. building stock within 15 years. Globally, buildings use some 40 percent of energy and are responsible for nearly half of GHG emissions, according to the DOE.

On the Net:
Empire State Building site: https://esbsustainability.com
Oak Ridge National Laboratories site: https://ornl.gov

American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy: https://aceee.org
ComEd site: https://comed.com/hvaccontractor

 

Energy–efficient Tips

At Home

 

• Buy recycled consumables.
• Increase electronic transactions to reduce paper.
• Recycle.
• Plug into power strips, turn off at night.
• Buy electronics and appliances with energy-efficient ratings.
• Cook with smallest pots, stovetop burners.
• Replace incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent light bulbs.
• Wash laundry in cold water, reduce detergent.
• Turn off water when brushing teeth.
• Drink municipal water or install a tap filter.

 

At Work

 

• Use a mug or reusable cup.
• Reduce e-mails printed, reuse paper.
• Share publications among co-workers, departments.
• Print double-sided.
• Buy energy-efficient equipment.
• Plug equipment into power strip, turn off after work.
• Learn how to recycle in community, hold scrap drive.
• Ensure quality to minimize waste, prolong lifespan.
• Recycle packing materials.
• Share green practices via bulletin board.

 

On the Way

 

• Walk, ride bike or take public transportation.
• Carpool.
• Join a car-sharing program.
• Rent smallest car available.
• Take hybrid taxis.
• Drive speed limit.
• Avoid idling.
• Take one trip for errands.
• Get regular tune-ups, including tire pressure check.
• Park in shade to minimize air conditioner use.

 

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