20B — November 22 - December 5, 2013 — Green Buildings — Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
G reen B uildings
s the cost of energy con- tinues to rise, so does the cost of operating By Timothy D. Ward, P.E., Limbach Engineering & Design Svcs As the cost of energy continues to rise, so does the cost of operating a building A
Creating the perfect environment
• MEP Design • Sprinkler Design • Commissioning • Energy Conservation and incentives
to aid building owners. But, this may not be the best avenue to reduce energy costs. New construction projects have incorporated sustain- ability and energy reduction technologies to reduce future energy costs of operating build- ings and reduce their impact on the environment. However, these new buildings are only a small fraction of the energy consumers. Consider all of the existing buildings where energy performance is poor. The energy consumption of existing buildings far exceeds that of new buildings being construct- ed. Serious reductions in global energy use can only be achieved
when conditions of existing buildings are addressed. The cost of energy has been rising gradually in recent years. The cost of electricity has doubled in less than 10 years. The cost of natural gas has more than tripled. Recent rapid increases to record high oil and gasoline prices have increased the attention on all energy sources and brought attention to operating costs of existing buildings. The majority of existing building energy use is related to heating, ventilating, cooling and lighting. These systems tend to use more energy as the building increases in age. Complacency in maintaining these systems and complex energy conserving features that may have been installed are defeated. The most energy efficient and simple systemwithin a building is the time clock. You can’t save any more energy than turning the system off. However, this is the energy conservation feature that is most defeated. No one complains when the air conditioning is left operating all night. Once the time clock is defeated, there is no incen- tive to reactivate this simple energy-conserving device. Newer buildings are provided with more complex energy conserving systems. This can include anything from heat re- covery systems to sophisticated control sequences. When prob- lems arise with these systems, untrained maintenance per- sonnel find ways to make the occupants feel comfortable. No one calls maintenance to com- plain that the drive belt failed on the heat recovery system. Once these systems fail, they usually stay that way. Existing building owners need a professional partner to develop an energy conservation strategy. Although there are many companies emerging to develop these programs, many energy conservation efforts are doomed to failure if not main- tained properly. To really solve their energy problems, building owners need to partner with companies that have technical engineering expertise, dedi- cated construction personnel, and experienced maintenance technicians. An energy program for an existing building should start with monitoring and track- ing of utility bills. Energy engineering professionals can review and benchmark the continued on page 21B
a building. E c o n om i c s and energy conservation are coming together and creating a fo- cus for build- ing owners to respond.
PO Box 782, Voorhees, NJ 08043 P: 856-988-1890 Email: info@gilbeauxassociates.com www.gilbeauxassociates.com Contact: Jeff Gilbeaux
Timothy Ward
Many energy conserving up- grades and retrofits that were not cost effective just a few years ago now make financial sense. With the high attention to energy conservation projects, many companies are emerging
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