Existing Buildings Highlighted at ASHRAE Summer Meeting

The need to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings was highlighted at the ASHRAE 2009 Annual Conference held in Louisville. At the meeting, ASHRAE launched the prototype of its Building Energy Quotient building energy labeling program and introduced a year-long focus on existing buildings.

“In these economic times, dollars for new construction have dwindled,” said Gordon Holness, ASHRAE president. “Given that more people are renovating than building new, now is the perfect time to focus on reducing energy consumption in existing buildings to save money and reduce carbon emissions.

“The vast majority of buildings that will exist in the year 2030 exist today,” Holness said. “If we are to have a material impact on overall energy use, it is through renovation of existing building stock. While existing buildings present greater challenges, they offer us a greater opportunity to impact our overall national energy demand, reduce our dependence upon imported oil and gas and minimize our carbon footprint.”

The Society launched its Building Energy Quotient program, known as Building EQ, which will include both asset and operational ratings for all building types, except residential. ASHRAE is working with major real estate developers to implement the label prototype this fall with a widespread launch of the full program in 2010.


1 COMMENT

  1. The Building EQ program would be an excellent opportunity for owners and Facility Mangers alike to take full advantage of a Maintenance Management System. Having a CMMS system to record all asset data such as HVAC, Chillers, Boilers, Hot Water Heaters, along with a PM Schedule, Task List to insure proper inspection are performed on a routine basis and not wait for a failure to occur. Having this type of data would also help in any type of an energy audit, to take full advantage of any incentive programs run by there Utility such as Focus in Wisconsin. To have name plate information, ratings, and specifications and history for each asset the time savings would be substantial.
    It has been said that a well maintained HVAC system will use at least 15 to 20 percent less energy than those systems that are not maintained. Not only do you cut energy usage, but other things to consider would be Air Quality, and Environmental impact. This has been along time coming my Hat is off to ASHRAE.

    Regards

    Greg Bennett
    Eagle Technology, Inc.
    1-800-388-3268 Ext. 237

Comments are closed.