NEEA is constantly at work on emerging technologies that have the potential to achieve significant energy savings in the Northwest and around the country. One initiative, Existing Building Renewal (EBR), seeks to accelerate commercial adoption of deep, integrated energy-efficient retrofits. With the help of the New Buildings Institute (NBI), NEEA searched the U.S. for examples of commercial buildings significantly renovated over the past 10 years that achieved 30% or better improvements in energy performance. Of the 50 buildings that achieved energy savings, NEEA and NBI identified nine projects for a deeper look.

From an emerging technology perspective, this study helps us develop a set of recommendations for commercial property owners on how to increase their building’s energy efficiency with proven retrofits.

The study, available on Conduit, NEEA’s online community for energy professionals in the Northwest, describes the nine existing building renovations in terms of building characteristics, efficiency measures, motivations, money, market and tenant outcomes and barriers and innovations. A couple interesting findings from the report:

One location stated that rents average about 35 percent higher than other local properties; another owner has increased occupancy from 68 percent to 96 percent and has seen increased rents, tenant retention and net operating income.

The whole-project costs for eight of the full-building renovations ranged from $100 to $176/sf.

Energy and cost savings of 50 percent are clearly achievable and fit within the business parameters and motivations of these owners. Average savings among these buildings are 46 percent better than the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager-calculated energy use intensity (EUI) for a similar building. The average ENERGY STAR score of 92 puts these buildings in the top 10 percent of office building energy performance in the U.S.

Contact FacilitiesNet Editorial Staff »   posted on: 10/20/2011