The Power of Existing Buildings

The Power of Existing Buildings Save Money, Improve Health, and Reduce Environmental Impacts

By Robert Sroufe, Craig Stevenson, and Beth Eckenrode

Annotated Table of Contents Introduction: Why Should I Think About Retrofitting My Building?

There are a number of reasons to renovate your existing building from cost savings to improved indoor air quality, lowering your carbon footprint, and finding new value in the spaces and places we spend over 90% of our time. What we see growing in the most enlightened circles of sustainability and building performance is an acceptance that the “greenest� buildings in the world, are existing buildings restored to ultra-low energy demands and ultra-high indoor environmental quality. Our approach to finding the power of your existing building shows that the technologies and building science strategies exist today to transform old buildings into new buildings with an integrated bottom line business case to support this transformation. Each chapter lays out a stepwise approach to realizing the full potential of your building.

Chapter 1: My Building Has High Performance Potential This chapter gets readers thinking about how and why you want your building to be a highperformance space. We advocate for the natural order of sustainability. It promotes a passive first, active second, and renewables last strategy to ensure building systems are optimized for performance. Buildings and sustainability have come a long way with the American Institute for Architects, United States Green Building Council, Living Building Challenge, RESET Air and WELL Building certification programs. Any action taken on an existing building must be expected to improve overall health and performance of that building and an owner should have proof that their investment will lead to results in operations.

Chapter 2: Where Do I Start?

Here we look at asking the right questions early in the planning process and raising expectations for project results. Those who focus solely on first-costs and set construction goals to building codes inadvertently force projects and stakeholders into low performing buildings.

Instead, establish baseline data and set whole building performance goals in the form of energy and indoor environmental quality that reflect the owner’s values and set the stage for what will be expected in the eventual performance of the building. Armed with baseline data and clearly articulated metrics-based goals, owners and developers will begin to build the confidence necessary to make the proper investments and improve the building performance of existing buildings.

Chapter 3: The Importance of a Project Plan: Every Building Needs One Once decision makers have developed a list of priorities, its time for a sustainability charrette to bring together a broad group of stakeholders, to build consensus around key sustainability goals. In this chapter, we offer these tips to increase the odds of achieving high performance goals: we review the importance of owner’s project requirements tools; and we provide insights and identify metrics to align project teams to goals and we lay out the pitfalls of committing to a sustainability standard too early. In this chapter we re-wire readers to think about performance first and plaques second.

Chapter 4: Can I Afford This?

To ensure your projects gets the visibility it needs, its time to consider showing not only the financial costs and benefits, but also how sustainability provides new opportunities for your buildings vision. After the first four chapters, readers are ready to calculate benefits of proposed building changes and develop a plan to communicate those benefits. We identify the seven (7) actions owners must take to improve their cost-confidence in the building project. Only with cost transparency will owners shake the historical skepticism that investing in existing buildings cannot transform performance within a reasonable budget. Chapter 4 is critical step down the path of realizing the Power of Existing Buildings as it explains how contemporary building science allows project teams to “tunnel through the cost barrier”.

Chapter 5: The Building Envelope Holds the Key Owners today expect performance in operations. This chapter builds confidence in building owners and developers, through modeling and simulations, that the expected results are achievable in operations. This empirical evidence is essential for convincing key decision makers to invest in existing buildings. We discuss building science, selecting the right architect, energy performance modeling, Passive House standards, Zero Energy, drivers of innovation, and an integrated approach to the design of building components. There is now a path to discovering a new era of making rational investments in existing buildings.

Chapter 6: How Real Is Zero Energy for an Old Building?

Here we show you that zero energy goals can be achieved within a reasonable budget and are possible when restoring and renovating existing buildings. This is accomplished with a project design and construction process guided by technology and a commitment to building science.

We review known Zero Energy projects, review what it takes to set and reach goals of Zero Energy in operations. These efforts are measured with Energy Use Intensity (EUI), GHG

emissions and a focus on energy with calls for sustainability in the build environment demonstrating the cheapest form of energy is the energy never used.

Chapter 7: Operating Buildings for Maximum Benefit This chapter focuses on reliable measurement and verification systems which provide feedback on the key performance indicators defined earlier, in terms of building owner’s performance goals. It is important to understand the minimum infrastructure, e.g., the sensors and meters that can be integrated as technology evolves. With robust technology platforms we can go beyond automated systems to integrated dashboards, IoT connected systems and smart building infrastructure. When connecting KPIs from prior chapters, we realize the importance of visualizing simulated performance expectations against actual trended performance data in the same time/context. Only with that information will owners know if they achieved the building performance for which they paid; is the building winning or losing versus what was expected in design?

Chapter 8: Case Studies The case study projects provide a context for building the business case for projects showing decision makers of existing building projects they can afford to do this. We review different types of buildings and how advocates for the transformation of these spaces developed each project and collaborated with teams. For each project, we review the theoretical optimum performance potential of each building. We learn how each team set the right goals for their project, implemented the renovation steps in the proper sequence, increased cost confidence and improved the performance of each building within their budgets. Today, using contemporary building science and smart building infrastructure, the path to making old buildings perform like new is achievable for almost any project. It is essential to have a building performance advocate identified on every project team who will hold the team accountable to achieving the building performance goals, first costs and long term operating costs.

Chapter 9: Existing Buildings can Save the World The goal in Chapter 9 is to insert our global responsibility to people and planet into the conversation about the Power of Existing Buildings. Now that we’ve proven that investing in the performance of existing buildings is a reasonable financial endeavor, we explain the impact existing buildings have on important United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, like climate change, fuel poverty, equitable indoor air quality, etc. We discuss the growing urgency shown by governments, foundations, organizations and citizens around the world to require investments in existing buildings because of their impact on society’s most pressing and complex problems. The Power of Existing Buildings—save money, improve health, and reduce environmental impacts aligns us all—everyone wins.

Appendix 1: Building Your Plan: Project Development Homework A review of end of chapter project homework action learning opportunities with direct application to your building project.

Appendix 2: Critical Resources on Existing Buildings A compendium of seminal authors, impactful research, and resources for stakeholders involved in existing buildings.