Comment on "Opportunities and challenges for a sustainable energy future" on Nature.com

This comment was posted on Nature.com in response to “Opportunties and challenges for a sustainable energy future” by Steven Chu and Arun Mujumdar. In it, Amory Lovins argues that integrating the Department of Energy's technological solutions with innovative design, strategy, and public policy could solve many energy problems.

 

GSA Net Zero Renovation Challenge Charrette

This report summarizes the discussion in and outcomes of the GSA Net Zero Renovation Challenge Charrette.

 

Reinventing Fire Buildings Sector Methodology

This document provides RMI's methodology for the analysis of the buildings sector in Reinventing Fire.

 

BEM Summit Pre-read

This document was written as preparatory material for all Building Energy Modeling (BEM) Innovation Summit attendees prior to the actual event.  The purpose of this document was to provide all attendees with an understanding of the history and current state of the energy modeling industry within the United States. Specifically, this Pre-Read document: - Begins to identify a vision for the future of energy modeling and identify gaps between that vision and the current state; - Identifies gaps and barriers within the energy modeling sector to support the development of the agenda for the summit; and - Saved time at the summit by getting everyone on the same page in terms of background knowledge and serving as an information source during the breakout groups.

 

Going Deeper: A New Approach for Encouraging Retrofits

This paper describes a new approach to demand-side management that promotes whole-building projects and encourages owners, energy service providers, and utilities to work together for significant energy savings.

 

Autodesk AEC Headquarters and Integrated Project Delivery: Factor Ten Engineering Case Study

This paper describes the design and construction of Autodesk’s Headquarters building. The building was a “triple win”: design and construction costs were below target (benefiting both the design-build team and owner); designer and contractor profits exceeded targets; and the building achieved LEED-CI Platinum and all other goals. The building demonstrates several principles of factor-ten engineering.

 

Pulling the Levers on Existing Buildings: A Simple Method for Calibrating Hourly Energy Models

Comprehensive building retrofits require an investment grade audit in conjunction with a calibrated hourly energy model. Even with the most thorough audit processes, uncertainty still remains when identifying and modeling building parameters. This uncertainty propagates throughout the final calibrated model and affects the quality of the energy saving estimates. This paper, geared towards the typical energy analyst, provides a step-by-step process for achieving more reliable results by calibrating an energy model based on actual utility data.

 

Energy Modeling at Each Design Phase: Strategies to Minimize Design Energy Use

Design teams often use energy modeling as an accounting or code compliance tool to establish that minimum requirements are met. Used in this way, significant opportunities to inform and improve building design are overlooked. Properly used, energy modeling can provide outputs that optimize a building’s energy consumption, reduce life cycle costs, and even reduce first cost. This paper will review how and when design teams typically use energy modeling in each design phase (concept phase, schematic design, design development, and construction documentation) and describe strategies for each phase that can lead to lower energy use buildings.

 

Factor Ten Engineering Design Principles

Designers often assume that radical efficiency is too expensive. Yet RMI’s Factor Ten Engineering initiative demonstrates that very large energy and resource savings can be very profitable across a wide range of applications. Factor Ten Engineering uses such innovations to transform design and engineering practice, via whole-system thinking and integrative design. This document outlines the design principles of Factor Ten Engineering.

 

Carbon Neutrality Based on Native-site Carbon Storage

In response the building industry's increased interest in carbon neutrality, this paper discusses alternative approaches to carbon neutrality and introduces a new definition of the term. As an example of the new concept in practice, an institutional building in construction documentation phase in Lake Placid, Florida is examined. The introduced model allows for the assessment of buildings in a way that is arguably more helpful than calculating “net-zero” building operation emissions.

 

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