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Featured ZNE Project
Photo Credit: Voltaire Solaire
The Delta is New York City's first zero net energy building. Located in Brooklyn, the Delta is a retrofit of a 2,700 square foot building that uses both solar and wind power to meet it's energy needs, generating its own electricity, water and heat. Despite it's lack of southern exposure and odd triangular shape, the 5-story building is powered by enough renewables to offset its annual energy use.
Photo Credit: Voltaire Solaire
The building is a mixed-use project with one triplex residence, a studio residence, retail and a restaurant. The building includes solar panels, a solar skin, innovative window treatments, and a rooftop wind turbine. Developer Voltaire Solaire partnered with IKEA, Samsung, Sharp and others to make the project possible.
Photo Credit: Voltaire Solaire
The developer is now working on a second multifamily project based on lessons learned on the Delta project.
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| New Research | |
NRDC Server Studies
According to a recent study by the National Resources Defense Council, server rooms and data centers are estimated to consume more than 75 billion kilowatt-hours annually -- the equivalent output of 26 medium-sized coal-fired power plants.
As much as half of the energy needed to power servers is wasted due to poor operational practices and inefficient hardware, particularly in small server rooms and server closets. NRDC estimates that energy waste in U.S. server rooms and closets represents the equivalent output of seven medium-size coal-fired power plants and costs U.S. businesses more than $2 billion per year in unnecessary electricity costs.
Fortunately, solutions exist to significantly reduce server energy waste. If you are a server room manager in a small or medium organization, consider implementing some of the server room energy savings opportunities NRDC has indentified and read what other server room managers say about the challenges and opportunities. If you are a utility company, respond to NRDC's proposal for utility companies to implement incentive programs to encourage small server room operators to adopt server operational best practices. And if you are a policymaker, raise awareness of the energy efficiency opportunities -- and the costs savings for small businesses -- hiding in server closets across America.
How to optimize the energy footprint of your server room:
- Measure or estimate the energy consumption of your server room
- Switch off unused servers
- Set servers to go into low power mode when inactive
- Optimize server use through consolidation and virtualization
- Move some applications to the cloud
- Consider facilities and hardware efficiency
For more information:
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PV's & Wind Turbine at The Delta, NYC
Photo Credit: Voltaic Solaire
In this Issue
- Featured ZNE Project: The Delta, New York City's first ZNE building
- CA Governor's order to "lead by example" through ZNE public buildings
- Architecture at Zero Design Competition
- NBI Plug Load Best Practices Guide for Offices
- PGE upcoming ZNE residential training
- NBI webinar on Integrated Daylighting and Controls
- Benchmarking research in California
- ZNE Commercial Action Plan Stakeholder Meeting
- NRDC research on reducing energy use in server closets
- San Francisco's new Public Utility Commission offices
About the Action Bulletin
In response to requests for more information on news and events in the zero net energy (ZNE) buildings arena, New Buildings Institute, in partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), developed this ZNE Action Bulletin to keep you informed of new trainings, workshops, innovative buildings and developments with key strategic efforts in policy and planning.
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| News & Events | |
CA Governor's Order to Green State Buildings & Target Zero Net Energy
Governor Brown issued an executive order to green state buildings, increase energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "Doing something real about the growing threat of global warming requires more than just new laws. We must lead by example," said Governor Brown. "Greening the state's buildings will shrink our environmental footprint and save taxpayers millions of dollars." The executive order calls for:
- "new or renovated state buildings larger than 10,000 square feet to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED 'Silver' certification or higher and to incorporate clean, on-site power generation, such as solar photovoltaic, solar thermal and wind power generation and clean back-up power supplies.
- A target of zero net energy consumption for 50% of the square footage of existing state-owned buildings by 2025 and zero net energy consumption from all new or renovated state buildings beginning design after 2025."
For more information: Read the press release and executive order
2012 Architecture at Zero Design Competition
PG&E and AIA San Francisco are joining together to host the second annual "Architecture at Zero" competition for ZNE building designs. The competition is open to all entrants, including designers, academics, researchers and students. To help generate innovative ideas for zero net energy building designs, the competition will focus on the design of a zero net energy building and schematic design on a campus site at the University of California, Merced. International experts will judge the entries and award up to $25,000 in total prizes in October.
Said AIA SF Executive Director Margie O'Driscoll, "The winning designs will be those that are not only aesthetically interesting, but also create zero net energy spaces that help UC Merced continue its leadership in driving innovation." This is the second year that PG&E and AIA SF have held the Architecture at Zero competition. The competition supports an action plan of the California Public Utilities Commission for all new residential construction in California to be zero net energy by 2020. The goal for new commercial construction is to achieve zero net energy by 2030. "The Architecture at Zero competition helps PG&E drive innovation in California's buildings and prove the feasibility of zero net energy building technologies for our customers," said Steve Malnight, vice president of customer energy solutions for PG&E. "This year's competitors have the unique opportunity to focus their zero net energy building designs on a site at UC Merced's state-of-the-art campus." The deadline for entries is Oct. 1, 2012.
To register or learn more: visit architectureatzero.com
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| Education & Training |
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Plug Load Best Practices Guide for Offices
To help commercial building owners and occupants get control of the energy used by office equipment and other electronic devices, New Buildings Institute (NBI) released the Plug Load Best Practices Guide for Offices. The guide, based on research by Ecova and NBI for the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program, offers actionable information on how to save money by reducing plug load energy use in office spaces.
On average, plug loads account for 15-20 percent of electricity use. For offices that have already improved the efficiency of their lighting and HVAC systems, that number can be as much as 50 percent. The impact of plug loads can be reduced by up to 40 percent through a combination of no- and low-cost steps such as aggressive power management settings, inexpensive hardware controllers like timers and advanced plug strips, and occupant-based strategies. When the time comes to replace equipment, thoughtful procurement of new energy-efficient models can also lead to lowered energy bills. The guide also gives advice on how to manage energy used by computer server rooms.
The biggest opportunity for plug load reduction is minimizing device time and idle modes. Occupant education can also play an enormous role in reducing and managing plug load energy use.
Whether you're an energy efficiency manager, building owner or tenant, this guide will help you assess current plug loads, make the case for addressing plug load energy use, identify energy-saving priorities, create an energy reduction plan and engage occupants to ensure ongoing plug load management.
For more information: View the Plug Load Best practices Guide or visit the Advanced Buildings Plug Load website TRAININGS Planning a Zero Net Energy Existing Home Project August 9 (Thursday, 9:00-4:30 pm) | Eureka--Eureka Public Marina The concept of a net Zero Energy Home (ZEH) is to reduce electrical loads to the point that the home's photovoltaic system annually supplies as much electricity to the utility grid as the home uses. Not only does it require a clear understanding of the climate, building enclosure and internal loads, but the house must also be monitored upon completion to evaluate its actual performance. This class covers the history, challenges and realities of designing and building ZEHs. Researcher Danny Parker will discuss why, how and what it really takes to achieve a ZEH. Topics include Energy Gauge modeling, performance monitoring, rebates and incentives. Audience Level: This intermediate- to advanced-level class is intended for architects, builders, home performance contractors, designers, engineers and utility staff who are interested in or have experience with Zero Energy Home projects. For more information: View the Course information or Visit the PG&E Training website NBI Webinar: Breaking Barriers to Integrated Daylighting and Controls Integrated controls hold huge promise for significant untapped energy cost savings and carbon reduction, reducing operating costs and peak building electric demand. Join Barb Hamilton of New Buildings Institute, Christopher Meek of the Integrated Design Lab (IDL) in Seattle and Richard Yancey, Project Director of Green Light New York, Inc. (GLNY) for this one-hour webinar on the state of integrated daylighting and controls in the lighting industry, design tools to facilitate this practice and new controls research to help drive demand for this crucial element of advanced lighting design.
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| Planning & Policy |
New Report: Statewide Benchmarking Process Evaluation Volume 1
On behalf of the California Public Utiltities Commission (CPUC), NMR Group and Optimal Energy have recently published a new report on benchmarking in California. The purpose of the Statewide Benchmarking Process Evaluation report included "to provide feedback on the appropriateness of the current and planned activities of the IOU benchmarking initiatives to meet CPUC goals and increase benchmarking among the state's commercial buildings, to understand if and how benchmarking leads to energy savings and identify implications of this information for the IOU initiatives, and to better understand the appropriateness of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager as a tool for benchmarking California commercial buildings."
ZNE Commercial Action Plan - Annual Stakeholders Meeting
Pacific Energy Center, San Francisco
On June 19th, the California Public Utilities Commission held its 3rd annual meeting on the Zero Net Energy Commercial Action Plan. The ZNE Commercial Action Plan is an implementation tool of the CPUC to help guide strategic efforts toward achieving statewide ZNE goals in the commercial sector. Officially published in 2010, this document sets out priority strategies, milestones and actions as well as Champions to help lead these efforts.
Attendees received updates on major California efforts in the commercial ZNE sector, heard about current trends in financing programs and leading state level efforts such as the new governor's executive order for increased energy efficiency in public buildings (described above), and received updates on utility program efforts. Attendees discussed emerging priorities in the ZNE Commercial Action Plan and participated in breakout sessions to give input on next steps. Key priority ZNE action plan strategies include: benchmarking, commissioning, plug loads, leading by example, and the path to zero outreach and education efforts.
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| Innovative Buildings | |
Photo Credit: Business Wire; Jay Barmann/SFist
San Francisco PUC's New Green Office Tower
While not a ZNE building, the new 13-story San Francisco Public Utility Commission office tower is said to be one of the greenest office buildings in the country. Targeting a LEED Platinum rating, it will house more than 900 of the agency's employees and will generate 7-8% of the building's energy needs through wind turbines and solar panels. Black and gray water systems will help reduce water consumption by 62%, and an integrated control system will manage the energy efficiency of the building so that it is constantly running at optimal efficiency. According an article in Architectural Record, "the building is estimated to use one-third less energy from the grid than a typical office building, saving $118 million in energy costs over the next 75 years." The tower features a double glazed high performance curtain wall with interior and exterior shading devices, light shelves to harvest daylight, an under floor air system, a 200kw roof-mounted PV array and vertical axis wind turbines.
For more information: Read articles about the building in SFist, SF Business Times, Architectural Record
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| Other Announcements | |
2012 Portfolio Energy Retrofit Challenge
Rocky Mountain Institute, NBI and True Market Solutions have teamed up to offer six building portfolio owners (three office and three retail) the opportunity to partner in a unique donor-subsidized opportunity. The 2012 Portfolio Energy Retrofit Challenge will help participating owners set the foundation for rolling out energy efficiency measures and retrofits throughout their portfolio, providing targets, best practices and other strategies for screening, phasing, and implementing improvements more deeply and cost effectively. Our methods are based on integrative design practices, streamlined whole-building analysis, right-timed improvements and customized energy goals.
For More Information: Visit the Rocky Mountain Institute Retrofit Challenge website
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We look forward to hearing about your ZNE efforts. If you want to get the word out on related upcoming ZNE events, new research, buildings or other CA ZNE Action Plan news, please send info to Heather Flint Chatto at heather@newbuildings.org. |
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