by Rebecca Walker — April 27, 2011—To ensure a sustainable future, the greatest opportunity lies in modifying existing buildings, says ASHRAE. Only 2 percent of construction projects are for new buildings, while 86 percent of construction dollars go into renovation of existing building stock.
ASHRAE and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) are revising ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 100-2006, Energy Conservation in Existing Buildings, to provide greater guidance and a more comprehensive approach to the retrofit of existing buildings for increased energy efficiency. The standard was first published in 1981, and the need for its requirements has grown as more attention is paid to improving energy in our current building stock.
ASHRAE’s advisory public review process is designed to seek suggestions for new, unusual or potentially controversial elements of a proposed standard that the committee feels would benefit from increased public scrutiny. Unlike ASHRAE’s formal call for public comments process, comments received under advisory public reviews are supportive and do not need to be resolved.
Of the 94.6 quadrillion btu of energy consumed in the United States in 2009, 42 percent was used by commercial and residential buildings, says ASHRAE. Over the next 24 years, national electric consumption is expected to grow by over 22 percent and natural gas consumption by 16 percent. In the same period, the amount of commercial and residential floor space in the marketplace is expected to increase by 37 percent and 17 percent respectively.
The revised standard provides comprehensive and detailed descriptions of the processes and procedures for the energy efficiency improvements of existing residential and commercial buildings in order to achieve greater energy efficiency.
The standard addresses major and minor modifications for both residential and commercial buildings, single and multiple activity buildings with variable occupancy periods and identifies an energy target for 53 building types in 16 climate zones/sub-zones.
The revised standard also identifies energy efficiency requirements for buildings without energy targets mostly industrial, agricultural, data centers and special laboratories and provides multiple levels of compliance.
Included within the revised standards is criteria for energy use surveys, auditing, implementation and verification. Appendices are included for life cycle cost analysis procedures as well as identification of potential energy efficiency measures.
The standard is open for an advisory public review until May 25, 2011. For more information, see the Web site.
