project of the month
State of Indiana, Community Energy Assessments
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Schmidt Associates was selected by the Indiana Office of Energy Development (OED) to develop the Community Energy Plan (CEP). This program will be conducted in 17 communities throughout the state that met the OED's selection criteria.
The purpose of the Community Energy Plan is to provide eligible communities with an individualized energy plan that offers real energy savings. It is anticipated that Schmidt Associates (and their consultants) will:
- compile a comprehensive inventory of all community energy usage, including but not limited to, buildings, fleets, streetlights, and wastewater treatment facilities;
- provide a full energy audit, which will result in identifying potential energy savings measures;
- review utility bills to establish a baseline;
- offer suggestions to tweak the community's decision-making process to incorporate energy efficiency efforts;
- suggest changes to streamline purchasing policies while following the community's procurement process;
- raise awareness within the community about the ways to increase energy efficiency by having meetings with stakeholders to present the plan to the community;
- provide communities with suggestions for possible future funding.
This is a very exciting opportunity for Schmidt Associates and their consultants to positively affect many locations throughout the State, and demonstrate their commitment to reducing energy and working with communities. Work should begin within the next month. We will keep you updated on the progress of this project.
news
Stan Journal changes
You may have noticed that the Journal's format has changed slightly. The content area has been widened to allow readers to see more without having to scroll as often (and some of our recent articles have been a bit lengthy). Beware of some retro effects - past Journals may be a little out of whack since the format changes will also apply to them (if you should want to take a stroll down memory lane). Reformatting all of the past issues didn't seem like a good use of Stan's time, but if there are any past issues you would like to have modified, please let me know and we'll see what we can do.
Battle of the Buildings Update
In the last month, the weekly reporting has been modified to be more accurate. The monthly totals that are reviewed by EPA for the competition have been correct, but the weekly totals were slightly off in that they were not adjusted for days outside of the standard 4 weeks of a month.
The record-breaking string of 90 degree days in Indiana has made it tough to keep pace to reduce energy. However, the behavioral changes that have occurred at Schmidt Associates produced a 5.35% reduction in the month of July compared to 2010, even with the heat.
Some facility improvements were implemented last month as well: LED lighting in the Interiors Discipline's area (see photo below) and motion sensors for fans in the restrooms, which had been running continuously. (These fans will have set points to turn off after 30 minutes of non-activity, which means they will continue to run throughout the day when people are using the building, but they will be off at night.)
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| Schmidt Associates Interiors new LED lights |
UnderSTANding LEED:
LEED - Is it worth its weight in GOLD? Understanding how Life-cycle Cost Analysis is critical to achieving Certification
by Steve Schaecher, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CDT and Lisa Gomperts, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
When making decisions about a project's materials, life-cycle costs should be a primary focus to the analysis. Life-cycle costs are "the total discounted dollar cost of owning, operating, maintaining, and disposing of a building or building system" as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It simply means, how much will it cost an Owner over time to utilize one material or system over another?
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| VCT |
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| Terrazzo |
The life-cycle cost analysis is a critical tool when comparing products in the early design stages of a project. It can help an Owner decide whether to go with: VCT flooring, which won't cost much at first but will require years of cleaning and waxing; or terrazzo flooring, which will have a high first cost but will last much longer than VCT and will not require as much maintenance. The following factors should all be taken into consideration when conducting a life-cycle cost analysis:
- Initial Costs (or construction cost, often a primary factor in material selection)
- Operation Costs (annual cost to operate the equipment - this applies to mechanical equipment, electrical equipment, etc.)
- Maintenance Costs (scheduled costs associated with upkeep of the facility)
- Repair Costs (unanticipated expenses required to prolong the life of a building)
- Replacement Costs (anticipated expenses to major building components to maintain operation)
With all materials, there is a predicted life expectancy. In the example above, the life expectancy of the materials plays a major role in that the VCT flooring would need to be replaced every 15 years, while the terrazzo flooring would last 40+ years. If the goal of the building is to last for 50 years or more, providing terrazzo flooring makes more sense.
There are various resources available to help designers focus on life cycle costs. RS Means Facility Maintenance and Repair Cost Data and The Whitestone Facility Maintenance and Repair Cost Reference are 2 key reference guides to help sort through the detail.
A key to life-cycle cost analysis though is communication. Often the analysis gets to be a complicated formula that takes many factors into consideration. It is important to understand all of these factors, but it is probably more important to understand the bottom line and provide an easy method to digest the comparison. Discussions with Owners will be easier and more productive with an eye-catching graph that can illustrate quickly which product will have the most bang for the buck. Below is an example of a life-cycle cost comparison of roofing membranes.
You may be asking yourself, how does life-cycle cost relate to sustainability? It is true that sustainable building products focus on how they are manufactured and how there production effects the environment. (Life-cycle assessment is another term used that examines cradle to grave life of a product and the overall impact on environment, but we'll leave that for another Journal.) The longer a material survives, the more sustainable it is in that it does not require as much use of the earth's resources to replace it. Although not all of the durable materials may have sustainability as their primary selling point, their low maintenance and prolonged life expectancy make them sustainable.
Another important consideration for a project may be to understand how selection of certain systems and materials impact the LEED scoring potential. Even though the current LEED rating system treats all materials as if they have equal service life, the selection of equipment and products can impact a building in many ways. Site water control, energy efficiency, water reduction, use comfort, air quality, and the overall impact of the environment are all criteria (and contribute directly to LEED credits) that are impacted by these decisions.
As Owners evaluate options presented to them by the design team, they often have to consider other criteria that ultimately affect their bottom line, such as: payback period(or return on investment), the potential reduction in permitting fees for incorporating a sustainable design feature into a facility, the marketing benefit, the donor incentives, the staff and student recruiting opportunities, and other tax and economic incentives. These decisions will vary based on the type of facility, the anticipated life of the building, and the overall mission of the Owner/organization. Many Owners, who have chosen to pursue sustainable design initiatives and particularly LEED certification, look to the design professionals to help them determine which credits make the most sense to pursue for their project. The design team can assist in this evaluation process by helping the Owner understand what the base case condition is, what initiatives would need to be pursued to achieve the desired certification level, and the associated cost impact of each. For example, a university client that would typically design to a higher institutional standard (50+ year building) would likely already have some basic sustainable design initiatives already built into their project. This might include bike racks, a higher efficiency HVAC system, low water use fixtures, additional insulation in the roof or wall cavity, additional thermostats to offer individual control, occupancy sensors, etc. From this base line, additional credits to consider could be:
· Shower - alternative transportation credit
· Parking signage – alternative transportation credit
· Commissioning – to ensure proper design, installation, and start up of equipment
· Green Power – Purchasing green power
· Certified Wood – Use of FSC Certified wood for doors, casework, etc.
The point here is that it is critical to establish what the baseline condition is first. As you can see from the example above, the baseline was a higher institutional standard; therefore, the additional credits to be pursued were relatively minor with a low cost impact. If the base case is a lower developer standard for a building with an expected 5-10 year life, the pursuit of additional credits can become more costly and make the pursuit of LEED certification more difficult.
So the basic question is does LEED cost more? The answer is not a simple yes or no. If life-cycle cost analysis and long-term return on investment is considered, probably not. However, if one only looks at the initial capital expense, LEED can become more difficult to achieve and justify.
August Sustainable Stan Award Winner:
Tom Ning, RA is this month's Sustainable Stan Award winner. Tom is always exploring new materials and is especially interested in innovative lighting products. Although LED lighting is not new, many of the LED products have been unobtainable due to pricing. Tom discovered the CREE light troffers, recently installed in Schmidt Associates Interiors, were available at a discounted rate by the manufacturer to try to encourage their integration into the market. Schmidt Associates often tries to use their facility as a demonstration lab of products recommended to Owners. The CREE light troffers demonstrated how easily they could replace fluorescent fixtures while offering generous energy savings (estimated to have less than a 1 year payback) and better light quality/color rendition. The discounted fixtures allowed Schmidt Associates to incorporate LED fixtures into the office earlier than they were planning. This installation has demonstrated to the staff and visitors how much better the lights are than standard fluorescent fixtures. Thanks for keeping your eyes open Tom.
events
- Energy Fair - November 8
- 10:30-12:00: Presentations by Vince Griffin, Indiana Chamber of Commerce and Dan Schmidt, Schmidt Associates, Inc.
- 12:00-1:00: Fair/Lunch with booths provided by IPL, Schmidt Associates, and others.
- Random Acts of Greenness - coming soon
- Carpool to work/Mass Transit Day - coming soon
opinion
An interesting article was shared in the office over the last few weeks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Biz_campaign The Japanese Ministry of the Environment instituted a Coolbiz program to reduce energy consumption. It is pretty simple actually; it is merely adjusting the thermostats in the workplace to be closer to the outside temperature and allowing the employees to dress more casually to allow them to be comfortable. They encouraged men to wear short sleeve shirts and no jackets.
During this string of consecutive 90+ degree days, I'm sure the air conditioning was almost running continuously. Lightening up on the business attire would have been welcomed during those hot days, and by the looks of our energy use, changing the thermostat set points would have helped reduce our energy use. Hopefully, this will become an easier thing to adjust when the backbone for new central controls is installed.
It's great that people are becoming more conscious of the energy that is spent around them, and looking for ways to reduce that energy. It may take some time to get everyone in agreement on how to best accomplish the goal, but with more and more people asking the questions, the improvements may come sooner.
Have a good rest of the summer,
