Four recommendations on how to improve the efficiency of America's largest building owner - the Federal Government. Comments on comments on Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Design Standards for New Federal Commercial and Multi-Family High-Rise Residential Buildings and Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Design Standards for New Federal Low-Rise Residential Buildings, EE–RM/STD–02–112 and RIN 1904–AC13

1. Comments on
Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Design Standards
for New Federal Buildings
For the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
By Elton Sherwin
Venture Capitalist and Author of
Addicted to Energy

2. Federal Buildings Are
Important
Buildings are the largest emitters of
CO2 on the planet*
The federal government is one of the
world’s largest owners of buildings
Federal programs will have broad
impact
Important that federal rules be effective
and cost effective
*Includes CO2 from power plants generating electricity for buildings

3. RFI Comments from Elton Sherwin
• Elton Sherwin is a venture capitalist
investing in cleantech companies.
• He is the author of Addicted to Energy
• Addicted to Energy outlines fifty ways
to reduce energy consumption and
protect the climate, many involving
building efficiency
• His first book, The Silicon Valley Way is used by
entrepreneurs and university programs around the world. He
is an occasional guest speaker at Stanford University on
energy policy and entrepreneurship.
• He holds eight patents and currently serves on the boards of
six companies including NRG Dynamix which designs hybrid
drive trains and energy storage systems for cars and trucks

4. Four Recommendations
Federal Building Construction and Remodels
Includes comments on:
Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Design Standards for New Federal
Commercial and Multi-Family High-Rise Residential Buildings and Energy
Efficiency and Sustainable Design Standards for New Federal Low-Rise
Residential Buildings, EE–RM/STD–02–112 and RIN 1904–AC13
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. DOE

5. Recommendation #1

6. Recommendation #1
Disclose the Energy Consumption
of All New Federal Buildings
And post the data on the Internet

7. Recommendation #1
Disclose Utility Bills
• Disclose the energy consumption of all new
federal buildings
– Monthly disclosure
– “Publish” utility bills on the Internet
• Single website for all federal buildings
• Disclose energy consumption of the previous
structures for
– Major remodels or
– New structures replacing an older building
• The energy consumption of the older building should be
disclosed to enable comparisons

8. Why Is Utility Bill Disclosure
Important?
• Enables accurate calculations of
lifecycle costs
• Enables comparisons
– Between buildings
– Between design techniques
• Identifies top performing buildings
• Encourages occupants to manage their
plug loads
• Identifies problems
• Maximizes reductions of CO2 and water

9. When Utility Bills are Hidden
When data is secret
– Harder to calculate true lifecycle
costs
– Less accountability
– Harder to identify problems
– Little motivation to improve in
future years
– Little or no motivation to manage
plug loads

10. Summary of Recommendation #1
Disclose the ongoing energy consumption
of all new federal buildings
Post the data on the web

11. Recommendation #2

12. Recommendation #2
Label and Grade All New and
Remodeled Federal Buildings

13. Federal Building Energy Labels
Recommended Format
Relative grade
– Graded versus peers
– Similar type buildings in
similar climates
National standard
– Compares all federal
buildings nationwide
– Absolute score based on
BTUs per square foot

14. Post-occupancy Verification
This label meets the follow
criteria from the RFI:
(2) Include a verification system for post-
occupancy assessment of the rated
buildings to periodically demonstrate
continued environmental benefits and
energy savings.

15. This Label Has Only Five Data Inputs
5 Input Data Items:
1) Electric bill
2) Gas or heating oil bill
3) Zip code
4) Size of building
5) Type of building

16. Proposed Label
Federal Construction
This is a simple system
for post-occupancy
verification
Automatically generate
monthly updates from
utility bills

17. Peer Rating
• Similar building types in
similar climates
– Office to office
– Barracks to barracks
– Hospital to hospital
• Per sq. foot comparison to
existing federal buildings
• Top 20% get As
A+ reserved for net zero
• Bottom 20% get Fs
• Include + and –

18. National Rating
• National standard
– Intuitive: scores above
80 are good, below 70
are poor
• 125 minus weighted EUI
• Source energy (per sq ft.)
– Combines natural gas,
oil and electricity
– All electricity weighted
at national average

19. How to Calculate
Source energy (per sq ft.)
• 125 - weighted EUI
For more information on this proposed building rating
methodology see the appendix of this presentation and also
see, Response to the National Energy Rating Program
for Homes RFI by Elton Sherwin available from the author
or at: http://www.slideshare.net/EltonSherwin
Or Google ‘Elton Sherwin comments DOE RFI home rating’

20. Recommendation #2
Summary
Post-occupancy Verification
• Post this label on the lobby doors
• And on the Internet

21. Recommendation #3

22. Recommendation #3
Require Certain Best
Practices Everywhere
The following items are frequently
overlooked in federal buildings

23. Three Items Condemn Federal
Buildings to Mediocrity:
Lighting
Windows
HVAC

24. We Should Build a New
Generation of Federal Buildings
With the Best:
Lighting,
Windows, and
HVAC systems

25. Lighting Systems
Good lighting systems have:
– T5s, T8s, LEDs, and digital ballasts
Great lighting systems also have:
– Dimmers with daylight sensors
– Occupancy sensors
– Users controls for individual work
areas
Great lighting systems
– Save twice as much electricity as
good systems
The author has no relationship with any of the pictured products.
Pictures are for illustration only

26. In New Federal Buildings
Require lighting systems to have:
– Dimmers with daylight sensors
– Occupancy sensors
– Users controls for individual work
areas
There is never a reason to omit
these features
They always pay for themselves
The author has no relationship with any of the pictured products.
Pictures are for illustration only

27. Windows
Good windows:
– R4
Great windows:
– R8 or above
– Extremely spectrally selective*
Great windows
– Cut air-conditioning and heating
demand by 30% to 50%
* Eliminate 90% of non-visible radiation and should be required on all windows that get direct
sun in buildings using air conditioning.

28. In New Federal Buildings
Require windows be:
– R8 or above
• An R20 wall with an R4 window
makes no sense.
How Spectrally Selective
– Highly spectrally selective Windows Work
• Require spectral selectivity on
sunny windows in buildings that
use air conditioning
The author has no relationship with any of the pictured products.
Pictures are for illustration only

29. HVAC Systems
Good HVAC Systems:
– Efficient
Great HVAC Systems also have:
– A thermostat and occupancy
sensor in every room
– Variable speed, variable output*
– Thermal storage**
Great HVAC Systems
– Reduce energy consumption
40% to 70%
* Boilers and furnaces are modulating
** Require thermal storage in buildings over 5,000 sq. ft. that use
air conditioning more than 100 days/year

30. In New Federal Buildings
Require great HVAC systems:
– Thermostat in every room
– Occupancy sensor in every room
– Variable speed, variable output
– Thermal storage
Save taxpayers money
Help the environment
Better air quality in building
The author has no relationship with any of the
pictured products. Pictures are for illustration only

31. Let’s Build a New Generation of
Great Federal Buildings
With great:
Lighting,
Windows, and
HVAC systems

32. Recommendation #3
Summary
These nine
Windows items pay for
1. R8 or above
themselves
2. Spectrally selective
Lighting systems
3. Dimmers with daylight sensors
4. Occupancy sensors
5. Enable users to control their work area
HVAC systems
6. Thermostat in every room
7. Occupancy sensor in every room
8. Variable speed, variable output
9. Thermal storage
Require them on all new federal buildings

33. Recommendation #4

34. Recommendation #4
Monitor Energy Consumption
at a Room Level
Best way to
Optimize Energy Performance
From the RFI: “The major sustainable design elements of the proposed rules are:
…Optimize Energy Performance.”

35. Building Control Systems Should
Organize and Report Data by Room
Case Study: Stanford University’s
environmental showcase Yang and
Yamazaki (Y2E2) building
• Used twice the predicted energy*
• Audit found hundreds of problems*
• Root cause was very difficult to identify
because the building control system did
not organize and report data at a room
level * Energy analysis of the first year of Y2E2 and its
relationship to the Sustainable Built Environment, John
Kunz and coauthors. Also, see CIFE Technical Report
#TR183. For a summary, see
http://stanfordreview.org/article/y2e2-fails-to-meet-
efficiency-expectations

36. Advantages of
Room-by-Room Reporting
for Electricity
• Speeds commissioning and
recommissioning
• Lowers plug loads
• Identifies malfunctioning
equipment
Best way to
Optimize Energy Performance

37. Advantages of
Room-by-Room Reporting
for Water
• Identifies malfunctioning toilets
and sprinkler control systems
• Separates indoor and outdoor
consumption
• Minimizes finger pointing between
kitchen and maintenance staff
Lowers Water Consumption

38. Advantages of
Room-by-Room Reporting*
for HVAC Systems
• Speeds recommissioning
• Helps identify many problems
– Rooms that alternatively request heat
and cooling
– Malfunctioning VAV boxes
* Monitoring temperature and requests for heat and cooling

39. Advantages of
Room-by-Room Reporting
of CO2 levels
Ensures indoor air quality
The author has no relationship with any of the pictured products.
Pictures are for illustration only

40. Recommendation #4
Summary
Monitor at a Room Level
• Electricity
• Water
This will create
• HVAC Better air quality
Use less water
• CO2 Save energy

41. Conclusion
Four Sets of Recommendations
Federal Building Construction and Remodels

42. Conclusion
Four Sets of Recommendations
Federal Building Construction and Remodels
1. Disclosure of utility bills
2. Label and grade new federal buildings based
on their actual energy consumption
3. Require certain key efficiency improvements
– Bellwether attributes that elevate a building from
adequate efficiency to extraordinary efficiency
– Universally cost effective
4. Measure energy consumption by room

43. Appendix
Some of this material was originally published in a:
Response to the National Energy Rating Program for
Homes RFI by Elton Sherwin available from the author or at:
http://www.slideshare.net/EltonSherwin
Or Google ‘Elton Sherwin comments DOE RFI home rating’

44. Analyzed Nine Different Energy Labels
and Their Associated Rating
Methodologies
Option #5
Option #9
(Recommended Option)
Option #3
Option #1

45. Recommended Label
Displays Both Site and Source Data
Electricity**
B+ Gas**
C-
74 *
*125 is highest score ** The energy grade is determined
1 is lowest comparing this building to other similar
Compared to all federal buildings in buildings in similar climates
America
(See Inverted Scale with Progressive Weighting)
Image from iStockphoto

46. Recommended Inverted Scale
Progressive weighting
Source
Formula:
BTU/sf/mo Score
• 0-25 BTU: 125-BTU
0 (net zero) 125
• 25 to 75 BTU: 100- ½ BTU over 25
25 100
• 75 to 125 BTU: 75-1/4 BTU over 75
45 90
• And so on.
50 88
• Objective is to have a single national
65 80 metric (per sq. ft.) with efficient
buildings over 80 and no negative
95 70 scores.
135 60 • All numbers are total source energy
175 50 including all plug loads, HVAC and
hot water.
255 40
335 30
375 25

47. Why Zero to 125?
Why not zero to 100?
• Multiple reasons, subtle,
but important
• Americans know scores
above 80 are good, below
70 are weak.
• Need a scoring system
that lets superior buildings
get above 80, yet also
rewards net zero
– Scale of 0 to100 fails to do
this

48. Green Building Certification
Systems
This label meets the follow criteria from the RFI:
"DOE is considering a requirement for a Federal agency to
demonstrate that the energy use, at a minimum, in the first year of a
building's green building certification is consistent with the energy
use identified as part of the certification process. If the building's
energy use exceeded the target energy use identified under the
green building rating system, DOE is considering the removal of the
green building certification."
“(2) Include a verification system for post-occupancy assessment of the
rated buildings to periodically demonstrate continued environmental
benefits and energy savings.”
These are all excellent ideas and
this label meets these criteria.

49. Why This Label
• Simple
• Easy to update monthly
• Data-driven approach
• Measures real
improvements
• Universal participation
– Does not require audits
• Fair: works for all sizes of
buildings
• Drive dramatic reductions
in energy consumption