Green Projects
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Contents Part One Identifying Green Buildings That Work
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By Stephen Carpenter, P.Eng.
Part Two Transparency in the Built Environment
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By Francesca Desmarais, Marion Lawson, LEED AP, and Thaddeus Owen, LEED AP
Part Three RCMP E Division Headquarters Project Takes the Gold
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By Teresa (Reece) Sims
Part Four Dynamic Faรงades
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By Bob Marshall, P.Eng., BDS, LEED AP
Part Five Earth Rangers By Andy Schonberger, P.Eng., MBA,LEED AP
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Part One Identifying Green Buildings That Work
BY STEPHEN CARPENTER, P.ENG.
Stephen Carpenter, P.Eng., founded green building consulting firm, Enermodal Engineering—now MMM Group Ltd. He manages his own sustainable design and investment consultancy, Building Rapport. In 2014, Carpenter was presented with the Order of Canada.
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Photos courtesy Mountain Equipment Co-op
IDENTIFYING
GREEN BUILDINGS THAT WORK
Is a green building defined by what it looks like? Should it have various ‘sexy’ technologies like solar panels, green roofs, and straw-bale insulation? Or does it need to have low offgassing materials, plentiful daylighting, and native species landscaping? Instead of defining a green facility by a checklist of technologies, one should define a building by its actual reduced environmental footprint. As the most significant direct impact of structures, energy use should be the most important way they are ultimately judged. Without significant, monitored energy savings, no facility should be called ‘green.’
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The 2500-m2 (26,910-sf) Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) retail store in Burlington, Ont., has a cooling system that uses six ice thermal storage units–– the first of its kind in Canada.
Where we are now How does one know if a facility saves enough energy to rank among the most energyefficient? There is very little data on the actual energy use of individual Canadian buildings, let alone a way to objectively identify the top-performing ones. All that is really known is the average commercial/institutional building in this country uses almost 400 kWh/m2 (37 kWh/sf).1 To help rectify this lack of data on actual building energy use and separate structures designed green from those that actually are, the website. Green Buildings that Work––supported by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and Union Gas––provides a simple database of the energy use of Canada’s most energyefficient commercial/institutional buildings, developers, design teams, and academics.2 Of course, green buildings should do more than just save energy––water consumption, occupant health and comfort, sustainable materials, and site considerations are also important. Therefore, the website includes case studies for more information about these projects on how the building design team and building operators accomplish energy and other green goals. The site also provides project team information for the design team so interested professionals can ask for further information.
The goal To qualify for the database, a building must prove exemplary performance through submitting actual utility bills. Buildings on the site must achieve an Energy Star score of 80 or higher (meaning they are in the 80th percentile compared with the actual energy use of other North American buildings of that type) and at least 50 to 60 per cent energy savings relative to the average Canadian building of that type. Before the building industry can create goals for Canadian high-performance buildings (e.g. net-zero and carbon-neutral) or for an individual green building project, the benchmark for green buildings must be established with actual performance numbers. This database can be seen as the first step toward a greener built future.
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MMM Group’s Kitchener, Ont., office, A Grander View, made use of the site’s existing hill to provide thermal massing and install ‘earth tubes’ (i.e. concrete tubes used to naturally pre-heat or pre-cool ventilation air). However, the hill’s slope creates drainage problems, with a typical solution being a sump pump to release water. Photos courtesy MMM Group
The team decided to relandscape the site around the building to allow for gravity drainage to storm drains and eliminate the need for a pump. Less equipment means less energy used.
How to get a ‘green building that works’ Achieving a truly sustainable building involves simple design. Unfortunately, many engineers are prone to oversizing equipment, adding unnecessary control complexity, and using old rules of thumb developed when minimizing energy use was not a priority. Achieving designs below 100 kWh/m2 (9 kWh/sf) requires re-thinking how buildings are designed—not just mechanical/electrical design, but architectural as well. Proper orientation, narrow floor plates, and optimal window-to-wall ratios (WWRs) are all equally important. There are three examples of how elegantly simple design works in practice.
Throw out rules of thumb One should throw out rules of thumb or strategies that exist because “we’ve been doing it like this for years.” One of the biggest mindsets holding back sustainable design is the use of outdated engineering rules of thumb and common practices not reconsidered from an energy efficiency perspective. For example, many designs fill up a rainwater cistern (used
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The Waterloo Regional Police Investigative Services Building houses labs, offices, and garages. Although is uses simple materials, layout, and architectural design, an innovative mechanical/ electrical system helped reduce the two-storey building’s metered energy use to 52 per cent less than a conventional building of this type.
to supply toilets or irrigation) with city water when empty. This requires the city water to be repressurized for use in the building, which uses energy. Most engineers do not even consider other options to maintain the pressurization and save energy. On one of this author’s projects, Waterloo Region Police Service Investigative Services Building, the team had the city water bypass the cistern altogether, joining the building plumbing system after the cistern system so the water maintains the correct pressure from the source to the building.
Eliminate equipment One should remove as much equipment as possible. If something is plugged in, it will use energy. With this motto in mind, it is important to eliminate unnecessary pieces of mechanical equipment. For example, the Kitchener, Ont., office of this author’s former firm is built into a hill. The resulting slope creates drainage problems, with a typical solution being a sump pump to capture and release water. This type of thinking is so engrained, most design teams would install this pump without even considering options that do not require energy. The team decided to re-landscape the site around the building to allow for gravity drainage to storm drains and eliminate the need for the pump.
Do not waste The traditional approach to server rooms is to install a dedicated air-conditioner to deal with the incredible amount of heat generated by the electronic equipment. Not only is this an extra piece of equipment that serves no other purpose, but the heat energy generated by the equipment is also wasted.
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For the Waterloo building, a rooftop air-conditioning unit feeds direct expansion cooling coils in the airhandling unit (AHU). The system also has 100 per cent outdoor air capability for free cooling and a dual duct system consisting of a recirculating airconditioning system and dedicated outdoor air system ventilation ducts.
At Northlands Parkway Collegiate in Winnipeg, Man., the building’s variable refrigerant flow heat pumps (integrated into the ground-loop heat pump) will provide heating and cooling to the computer rooms and server room which have a different load pattern from the rest of the school. Most of the heat removed from these rooms will be used to heat domestic hot water. Another development at Northlands is to look to the kitchen for energy savings. Commercial kitchens are often overlooked as much of the load is considered ‘unregulated’ and is not considered for energy savings. However, the electrical demand in this kitchen exceeded that of the rest of the school. Therefore, the team selected: • a low-flow, variable-speed range hood ventilation system; • a dedicated high-efficiency tankless booster heater for the dishwasher; • thicker insulation panels for the walk-in coolers and freezers; • a water-cooled refrigeration plant connected to the ground heat exchanger; • higher efficiency defrost and control for refrigeration; and • an electronic ignition system for the gas cooking appliances.
Mountain Equipment Co-op Retail, healthcare, and multi-unit residential buildings are among the highest energy users in the commercial/institutional building sector at 431 kWh/m2 (40 kWh/sf). It is harder to get these types of building to reduce their energy use more than offices, schools, and public assembly buildings. Thus, the energy use reduction target cited for the Green Buildings that Work database for retail is 50 per cent. With an Energy Star score of 88, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) in Burlington, Ont., is the first MEC store to receive LEED Canada certification. The 2500-m2 (26,910-sf) building, which houses retail, warehouse, and administrative space, is a model for sustainable retail. From environmentally appropriate materials to an unusual innovative cooling system, MEC Burlington sets the bar high. The building’s core is a one-of-a-kind mechanical system. The cooling system uses six ice thermal storage units––the first of its kind in Canada. To shift the peak cooling electrical load to when there is less demand for energy, the system makes ice at night then cools the building during the day by circulating liquid refrigerant between the ice tank outside
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ENERGY METRICS
F
or this article, the author chooses to represent energy use in equivalent kWh/m2 of gross floor area; by equivalent, this means converting all energy consumption––such as natural gas or oil––to kWh and adding to the electricity consumption. Although this is a good metric for setting energy targets, there are two weaknesses: • there is no adjustment for severity of climate––a colder climate would target a higher number than a warm climate; and • electricity is assumed to be 100 per cent efficient at the building site, whereas in many locations fossil fuels are burned at approximately 33 per cent efficiency at the source to generate this electricity. To address these issues, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) uses the Energy Star database to allow more accurate comparisons of buildings in different climates and based on source energy consumption to account for powerplant inefficiencies. Energy Star assigns buildings a percentile rating based on their energy use in comparison to their peers with ‘0’ being better than no buildings and 100 being better performing than all similar buildings.
and the fan coils at the store ceiling. When outdoor conditions permit, the occupants can naturally cool the building with operable windows and a ventilating clerestory. Lighting is typically a major energy load for retail stores as products must be displayed effectively, and some lights are on for security purposes during off-hours. To minimize unnecessary lighting, MEC Burlington features bi-level lighting which allows for lights to be at half their maximum luminescence when an area is unoccupied and automatically increase to full levels when occupied. In the warehouse and washrooms, lights are off as a default and only turn on when the occupancy sensors detect movement. These measures meant the interior lighting design achieves 63 per cent energy cost savings over a conventional retail building. A rooftop energy recovery ventilator (ERV) and a true underfloor displacement ventilation system supply 100 per cent outside air to floor grilles in the runway around the main floor and mezzanine retail area. In winter, ventilation air is pre-conditioned by the ERV, then further warmed by hot water pipes wrapped around the underfloor ducts set in the radiant heated floor. All spaces are heated by hot water radiant floors and two modulating condensing gas boilers. MEC Burlington’s actual energy use is 188 kWh/m2 (17.5 kWh/sf)––56 per cent less energy than a conventional building. Other sustainable features include: • two rainwater cisterns––one that collects stormwater runoff from the parking lot for irrigation and the other that collects rainwater from the roof for toilet flushing; • the building is designed for simple disassembly and material recycling or reuse; and • the structure is made of wood––a renewable resource––97 per cent of which is from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified sources.
Le Tournant School Although one of the lowest energy users of Canadian commercial/institutional buildings at 281 kWh/m2 (26 kWh/sf), prospective green schools have their own challenges, such as strict construction budgets and rigid, traditional design rules.
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The reversing flow heat recovery ventilator is part of the Waterloo police building’s dual duct system that includes a dedicated outdoor air system. The system achieves 85 per cent heat recovery efficiency without a defrost cycle.
Another separate AHU provides 100 per cent outdoor air to evidence labs. This lab HVAC system includes variable air volume terminals, heat recovery, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration of supply and exhaust, and a standby backup exhaust fan.
Completed in 2002, the 2682-m2 (28,869-sf) Le Tournant School in St. Consant, Que., serves 220 students. With an Energy Star score of 90, it is one of the most energy-efficient schools in the country, using 72 kWh/m2 (7 kWh/sf)––a reduction of 74 per cent. These results were achieved by using simple, tested methods. A high-performance building envelope with an optimal WWR set the stage for the rest of the high-performance design. The asphalted areas are away from the building, and careful planting was used to encourage heat gain in winter and block the sun in summer. Even the brick colour was selected to optimize absorption. The mechanical engineering option selected was a closed-loop geothermal system. A mix of methanol circulating through 5 km (3 mi) of pipe connecting to 18 independent wells transfers heat to and from the ground. In winter, heat from the ground is transferred to the school, and in summer, heat from the school is returned to the ground. Depending on the weather conditions, the system selects one of the two air intakes which, during the heating period, pass behind one of the two solar walls (a plain black perforated plate) and benefit from substantial heat gain. The fresh air intake rate is regulated by a carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor. To prevent heat loss, a thermal tube heat exchanger is also used to warm intake air from the outside using the heat extracted from evacuated stale air. Inside the building, heating and air-conditioning are ensured by 25 heat pumps. An electric coil can provide
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3115 Harvester Road in Burlington, Ont., achieved an Energy Star score of 88. Its actual energy use is 134 kWh/m2 (12 kWh/sf), and its use reduction is 66 per cent.
backup if necessary. Electricity use is reduced to the minimum so even though the heating coil runs on fossil fuel, the impact on CO2 emissions is negligible. Ventilation and lighting are linked to presence sensors, and the control of all school systems is centralized and can be remotely monitored. With the help of a subsidy from the federal government equal to twice the expected annual savings, the budget granted by the QuĂŠbec Ministry of Education, Recreation, and Sports was exceeded by only 10 per cent. One could speculate on a larger-scale project, the cost overrun would be even less. At current energy prices, the additional cost was recovered by 2011.
3115 Harvester Road The office is the most common type of Canadian commercial building, using an average of 394 kWh/m2 (37 kWh/sf). The target for energy reductions for the Green Buildings that Work database is 60 per cent for offices. This five-storey, LEED Silver speculative office3 in Burlington, Ont., demonstrates green buildings and energy savings are not necessarily synonymous with a high design and construction premium. Created on a comparable budget to other spec offices, this project achieved an Energy Star score of 88 because its actual energy consumption is 134 kWh/m2 (12 kWh/sf), and its use reduction is 66 per cent. The energy-saving measures implemented in the project, 3115 Harvester Road, include heat pumps, demand-controlled ventilation, and an efficient lighting design. The building shell is often sacrificed in primarily glass buildings. This building features a high-performance curtain wall with a low-emissivity (low-e) coating, argon-filled gaps, and warm-edge spacers. The roof is well-insulated at R-25 (i.e. RSI-4). In the facility’s water loop heat pump system, heat is added to the water loop using a condensing boiler and rejected from the water loop with a dry cooling tower. Each water-to-air heat pump, distributed throughout the office ceiling space, responds only to the heating or cooling load of the zone it serves. This zoning provides excellent comfort levels for occupants, better control of energy use for building owners, and lower seasonal operating costs.
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In the Burlington facility’s water loop heat pump system, heat is added to the water loop using a condensing boiler and rejected from the water loop with a dry cooling tower. Each water-to-air heat pump, distributed throughout the office ceiling space, responds only to the heating or cooling load of the zone it serves. This provides excellent comfort levels for occupants, better control of energy use for building owners, and lower seasonal operating costs.
The energy recovery ventilation units for this project achieved 76 per cent efficiency on energy recovery. Another improvement in this building regarding energy efficiency is its demand-controlled ventilation in meeting rooms. In these rooms, CO2 sensors on the wall monitor the number of people in the room and increase or decrease the amount of fresh air brought into the space accordingly. This not only saves energy by providing a decreased ventilation rate when the rooms are not in use, but improves indoor air quality (IAQ)—especially when a meeting room is full. An efficient lighting plan minimizes the amount of lighting power density needed in the space. Occupancy sensors are used to only turn on lights when someone is in that room. The building only uses 9 W/m2 (0.8 W/sf). Low-flow plumbing fixtures for toilets, urinals, and faucets supplied by a rainwater cistern helped the building achieve an indoor water use of 11 L (2.9 gal) per person––a 60 per cent reduction.
Conclusion Over the past decade or so, Canadian design teams have shown green buildings can be exciting, attractive contributions to the built environment. The next step is to prove green buildings are actually using significantly less energy than conventionally designed ones. This does not need to be an expensive challenge or require new technologies. The best buildings in Canada today––green buildings that work––use simple engineering strategies, good basic design principles, and on-the-market, proven technologies to create superior performance results.
Notes See Commercial and Institutional Consumption of Energy Survey (CICES) 2005 database. For more information, visit www.greenbuildingsthatwork.ca. 3 Speculative offices are workspaces built for unknown tenants to rent as opposed to being built for a particular tenant or by the owner. 1
2
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Part Two Transparency in the Built Environment
BY FRANCESCA DESMARAIS, MARION LAWSON, LEED AP, AND THADDEUS OWEN, LEED AP
Francesca Desmarais is at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. Previously, she was the director of Architecture 2030’s Challenge for Products. She supports other Architecture 2030 initiatives with in-depth technical research and analysis. Desmarais can be contacted through www.francescadesmarais.com
Marion Lawson, LEED AP, is a sustainability consultant at Cannon Design. She was part of the Material LIFE and Mbod-E calculator development team and participates in the firm’s continued research on Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), lifecycle assessments (LCAs), and Health Product Declarations. Lawson can be reached via e-mail at mlawson@cannondesign.com.
Thaddeus Owen, LEED AP, is Herman Miller’s chief sustainability engineer, greenhouse gas program manager, and lifecycle assessment leader. He helps lead sustainable product design as part of Herman Miller’s Design for the Environment (DfE) team. Owen can be reached at thaddeus_owen@hermanmiller.com.
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Photo © Christopher Barrett Photography
Transparency in the Built Environment Calculating and assessing embodied energy of construction materials Specifiers, architects, engineers, and contractors use numerous criteria when choosing materials and products for a building. Questions they must consider include: • Does the product perform well? • Does the product match the project esthetics? • Does the product fit the budget?
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Figure 1
This chart shows Canadian energy consumption by sector. Data from Natural Resources Canada, Office of Energy Efficiency, Energy Use Data Handbook
Energy consumption and carbon footprint are also key product attributes. Reducing energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from building construction and operations are critical steps the construction industry can take to reduce the risks of climate change. Each building product consumes energy throughout its lifecycle. These different lifecycle stages include: • raw material extraction; • raw material transport; • product manufacture; • product transport and distribution; • installation; • maintenance and use; and • product disposal or recycling. The total energy used for all stages is referred to as the product’s embodied energy. In Canada, it accounts for approximately eight per cent of the national energy consumption (Figure 1). A building product’s carbon footprint refers to the GHG emissions released as a result of burning fossil fuels to produce energy to create the product.
Embodied energy and building materials The embodied energy of materials usually represents about 20 to 25 per cent of the building’s total energy consumption over its lifetime (averaging 50 to 60 years), with operational energy—heating, cooling, plug loads, and maintenance—accounting for the remaining 75 to 80 per cent. As building designs become more efficient and minimize operational loads, the embodied energy of materials becomes a larger percentage of a building’s total energy consumption.
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Figure 2
The embodied and operational energy of a residential building. Data courtesy Architecture 2030, EIA 2011, Richard Stein
Therefore, it is important to consider the impact of building products in order to design carbon-neutral buildings. For example, on move-in day for a new building, 100 per cent of its energy footprint is associated with the embodied energy of the materials used to construct the building. Operational energy will then accrue over time, but during the first 15 to 17 years, the materials themselves have a larger energy impact than the energy required to run the building (Figure 2). Low-energy building products are critical to achieve energy and GHG reductions.
Architecture 2030 In order to catalyze progress toward using building products that reduce the risks of climate change, the non-profit organization Architecture 2030 issued its 2030 Challenge for Products in February 2011. This initiative is a global, voluntary, and incremental roadmap for building products to achieve a 50 per cent smaller carbon footprint than the average for that product category. The challenge creates a framework for the global building sector to collaboratively work toward low-energy and low-carbon building products. Architecture 2030 challenges manufacturers to calculate and publish the energy consumption and carbon footprints of building products and to use these analyses to reduce their impact. It also challenges architects, designers, and specifiers to request this information from their product representatives, use the information to make informed, low-carbon decisions, and ultimately specify building products meeting the challenge’s targets. As consumers increasingly request product energy consumption information, the hope is manufacturers will become more transparent with their product information. By increasing transparency, manufacturers are more easily able to identify and communicate the major areas of focus during production in order to make their
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Cannon Design’s Material LIFE document. Images courtesy Cannon Design
products more sustainable. The challenge is to then find a standardized method of reporting these environmental impacts in a consistent way across the industry. The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) has risen as one of the most prevalent tools for reporting a material’s lifecycle impacts.
Understanding EPDs An EPD is a document disclosing the lifecycle environmental performance of products and services. It usually includes results of impact assessments (e.g. Global Warming Potential), lifecycle inventory results (e.g. water consumption, embodied energy), and other non-lifecycle assessment (LCA) data (e.g. recycled content, list of environmental certifications). An EPD does not, however, constitute a claim of environmental superiority. It is intended to be an objective document developed following International Organization for Standardization (ISO) guidelines and it must be supported by a critically-reviewed LCA. ISO 14025, Environmental Labels and Declarations–Type III Environmental Declarations: Principles and Procedures, is the governing standard for EPDs. In order for an EPD to be verified, the supporting LCA must comply with: • ISO 14040, Environmental Management–Lifecycle Assessment: Principles and Framework; • ISO 14044, Environmental Management: Lifecycle Assessment: Requirements and Guidelines; and • the relevant Product Category Rule (PCR) for that product type. The EPD must also be registered by a qualified third-party EPD provider to ensure the reported data is credible, accurate, and complies with the Product Category Rules.
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As building designs become more efficient and minimize operational loads, the embodied energy of materials becomes a larger percentage of a building’s total energy consumption. An EPD is essentially a summary of an LCA and, is similarly owned by the product manufacturer or service provider. A lifecycle assessment measures a product or service’s potential environmental impacts (e.g. global warming) from the time raw materials are extracted through production until the product is disposed of or recycled at the end of its life. An LCA report may total more than 200 pages and can be written and organized in a way difficult for the casual reader to glean information. An EPD, on the other hand, summarizes the key results from an LCA in a consistent format developed with the user of the results in mind. Both EPDs and LCAs are based on a Product Category Rule. According to ISO 14025, Environmental Labels and Declarations–Type III Environmental Declarations: Principles and Procedures, a PCR is a set of specific rules, requirements, and guidelines for developing Type III environmental declarations, including EPDs. PCRs are written to ensure the LCA and EPD are performed according to the prescriptive language in the PCR, so all LCAs and EPDs created in a specific product category follow the same rules. For example, all EPDs created for carpeting use the same set of PCRs. Someone comparing EPDs using the same PCR and created for the same company can have reasonable assurance the differences in impacts are valid. However, EPDs following the same PCRs but originating from different manufacturers may not be directly comparable. Due to variations in the data used and results obtained, the environmental impacts of products from different manufacturers may have a large range of uncertainty. Consequently, small variations in environmental impacts between two different companies’ products may not be as significant as if comparing two products manufactured by the same company. As the LCA field develops and more customers begin requesting them, the reports, methods, and guidelines will become increasingly stringent. The ultimate goal is LCAs will all be comparable, and the increase in requests will stimulate additional work focused on achieving comparability between manufacturers. In the building design and construction industry, EPDs can be used to help specifiers and purchasers identify manufacturers who are working to understand the environmental impact of their products and the associated hotspots in their product’s lifecycle. By completing an EPD, a manufacturer can identify which phases of manufacturing have the greatest environmental impacts and work to develop a method to lessen those impacts. Specifiers can use the EPD to obtain data on the product’s embodied energy and carbon and this data can then be used to select materials with a smaller energy footprint.
Building design To better understand the impact embodied energy has on building projects, the architecture and engineering firm Cannon Design (which has offices in Toronto
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Figure 3
Embodied energy of Cannon Design’s Chicago office.
and Vancouver) conducted a research study on the embodied energy of building materials. The goal was to calculate and evaluate the embodied energy of materials and to use these findings to determine the total amount of embodied energy in two interior build-out projects. The research focused on evaluating existing calculation tools and collecting embodied energy data from publicly available sources such as EPDs and the University of Bath’s Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE).1 This investigation led to the development of Mbod-E—an interactive embodied energy calculator designed specifically for building projects—as well as Material LIFE, an embodied energy material selection guide for designers.2 Mbod-E is formatted to cater directly to the building industry. Embodied energy is typically measured in megajoules (MJ) per kg—a unit of measure not suitable for construction materials since these products are not usually quantified by weight. Embodied energy units in Mbod-E have been converted to more applicable construction units, such as MJ per square metre or foot, MJ per linear metre or foot, etc. Material LIFE is a complementary embodied energy guide focusing on interior products and organized according to ASTM International categories, allowing for quick embodied energy comparisons between various material types. After developing Mbod-E and Material LIFE, these new tools were tested by conducting an embodied energy evaluation on two corporate interior build-out projects—the firm’s Chicago and Washington, D.C., offices.
Case studies In 2012, the Cannon Design Chicago office relocated to a new building in the city. The new office is a 5590-m2 (60,205-sf) build-out of one floor in an office tower. The project was recently certified Platinum under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)–Commercial Interiors (CI) by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Tracking embodied energy was one of the many sustainability goals for the project
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Figure 4
Embodied versus operational energy for the Chicago office.
and embodied energy analysis of different products considered for the project was provided throughout the design. Embodied energy was tracked and calculated for all the materials used in the project, excluding ancillary furnishings and mechanical equipment due to the complexity of these components. Whenever possible, the research team collected product and manufacturer-specific data from Environmental Product Declarations. However, when this information was not available for particular products, industry averages from the ICE database were applied. Information regarding embodied energy was also built into the request for proposal language submitted to furnishings manufacturers. The responses to the requests were mixed, with some manufacturers providing detailed, product-specific LCAs and others providing only a general sustainability summary. The total embodied energy for the Chicago office was calculated to be 5.15 million MJ or 921 MJ/m2 (85.6 MJ/sf). As illustrated by Figure 3 (page 21), the most energyintensive categories are movable furnishings and floor finishes. Furniture itself represents more than half of the interior build out’s embodied energy, even though all systems seating was reused from the office’s prior location. To better understand the magnitude of the project’s embodied energy, the embodied energy of 921 MJ/m2—which is equivalent to 255.8 kWh/m2 (1 MJ is equal to 0.278 kWh)— was compared to the modelled operational energy. The project was modelled and operational energy was projected to be 98.1 kWh/m2/yr (31.1 kBtu/sf). Therefore, the energy embodied in the interior architectural components and furnishings is equal to over 2.5 years’ worth of operational energy (Figure 4). If the embodied energy of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) equipment had been included, the energy built into these systems would have totalled to be an even longer term of operational energy use. This comparison of embodied versus operational is particularly important in a commercial tenant improvement project since a leasehold is measured on a shortterm basis—sometimes as short as five years. Longer lease periods, combined with the reuse of existing systems, help mitigate the embodied energy impact on a project’s overall energy footprint.
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Figure 5
Embodied energy of Cannon’s Washington, D.C. office.
During the Chicago office’s relocation, Cannon Design’s Washington, D.C., team also began the design of its new space; the project was used as the second case study for embodied energy tracking. The new office encompasses 1890 m2 (20,336 sf) on two floors of an office building in Arlington, Virginia. The project is also targeting LEED-CI Platinum and has high energy goals. The design concept of this office included the construction of a new steel and wood communicating stair connecting the two floors, which the team hypothesized would increase the embodied energy of the project compared to the Chicago office. The total embodied energy for the project was measured to be 860,740 MJ or 455.3 MJ/m2 (42.3 MJ/sf). Compared to the Chicago office, this total value was significantly lower mostly due to the fact the Washington, D.C., office elected to reuse all its existing workstations, systems seating, and conferencing furniture. Additional workstations were only purchased to complement the expansion project. As demonstrated by the Chicago office case study, furniture systems are the largest contributor to the embodied energy footprint of interior construction projects. The most energy-intensive categories in the Washington D.C. office were interior partitions and floor finishes. Figure 5 illustrates the distribution of embodied energy for the Washington, D.C., project. In the end, the construction of the communicating staircase represents only five per cent of the total energy embodied in the project, and this impact is far less significant than the movable furnishings category. To provide an accurate comparison between the two projects, movable furnishings were subtracted, as well as the staircase from the Washington D.C. office. Once standardized, the results are much more comparable and replicable (Figure 6, page 24). The intent is to continue such evaluations on projects so an embodied energy baseline can be established for projects.
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Designers and manufacturers must study the energy and carbon impacts of a product, as well as other lifecycle and human health impacts including global warming potential, eutrophication, and chemicals of concern. Figure 6
Comparison of Cannon Design Chicago and Washington, D.C.’s embodied energy.
Conclusion The research discussed in this article shows there is a demand for embodied energy data, as well as overall transparency from manufacturers to permit this flow of information. As more manufacturers publish EPDs, it will become increasingly easier to highlight manufacturers who are taking the necessary steps to reduce the energy footprint of their manufacturing processes. However, decisions are not made in a vacuum, and looking at embodied energy alone is not enough. Designers and manufacturers must study the energy and carbon impacts of a product, as well as other lifecycle and human health impacts including global warming potential, eutrophication, and chemicals of concern. Complete product transparency is a challenging endeavour to say the least, but it can be achieved through the collaborative effort of manufacturers, designers, specifiers, builders, and third party participants. The tools and standards exist for manufacturers, designers, and specifiers to make better-informed choices about sustainable materials. It will now fall to manufacturers to use those tools, and designers to request product disclosure.
Notes The complete database is available online by visiting opus.bath.ac.uk/12382. The material selection guide, Material LIFE, is available online by visiting the website, media.cannondesign.com/uploads/files/MaterialLife-9-6.pdf. 1 2
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Part Three RCMP E Division Headquarters Project Takes the Gold
BY TERESA (REECE) SIMS
Teresa (Reece) Sims, is the owner of Reece Sims Branding + Strategy and ACE PR which specializes in working with architecture, construction, and engineering firms. She can be reached at hello@reecesims.com.
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Photos © Ed White Photographics
RCMP E Division Headquarters Project
Takes the Gold With 25 operational units formerly dispersed throughout the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) E Division Headquarters in Surrey comprises the country’s largest division. Approximately one-third of the entire force is located in the province, and the existing facilities were neither purpose-built nor suitable in terms of space, adjacencies, systems, and technology. Therefore, it was determined a new facility—built adjacent to the city’s Green Timbers Urban Forest—was critical to maintain operational efficiency.1
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) E Division Headquarters collects stormwater from the site and uses an irrigation function for the vegetated roofs and the lawn in the rear courtyard.
The Government of Canada developed a public-private partnership (P3) agreement between the Green Timbers Accommodation Partners (GTAP) and Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). As part of the agreement, GTAP designed, built, financed, and will maintain the facility for the next 25 years. The relocation project brought all 25 offices into a single, purpose-built headquarters in Surrey. As the largest federal accommodations project outside the National Capital Region, the RCMP E Division Headquarters was completed in December 2012. The facility is a unique, multi-disciplinary, fast-tracked, complex project that improved the RCMP’s federal, provincial, and municipal operations. The new facility also provides sustainable, purpose-based office accommodations to more than 2700 personnel. The 76,162-m2 (819,800-sf) facility comprises three buildings strategically designed to enable greater collaboration between international, national, provincial, and municipal partners. The campus is complete with a seven-storey administration and operations centre, a post-disaster emergency operations centre, and a warehouse facility including workshops, garage and vehicle bays, and parking for more than 1800 fleet, staff, and visitor vehicles. Through a selection process a consortium was chosen to carry out the project. The team included: • consortium sponsors InfraRed Capital Partners (formerly HSBC Infrastructure) and Bouygues Bâtiment International and Bouygues Energies & Services Canada (formerly ETDE Facility Management Canada); • architectural and interior design firm Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd.; • Bouygues Building Canada and BIRD Construction Joint Venture; and • Bouygues Energies & Services Canada (formerly ETDE Facility Management Canada).
Lifecycle planning and sustainability Early in the design phase, it was evident sustainability was a key focus for the project team. The consortium’s approach to sustainability was to seek total dedication and
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The project’s design was based on the history, tradition, and culture of the RCMP, and its connection to the natural site. Red and blue—the colours of the traditional RCMP serge uniform—are used to create colour zone divisions for each section of the facility.
collaboration among all designers to maximize the environmental, social, and economic benefits at the RCMP E Division Headquarters. When preparing the project, designers considered the effects of the proposed development on the local and wider environment, and considered sustainability in both the design and specification of materials. This ensured the RCMP facility would remain efficient throughout its lifetime. The environmental aspects requiring future management or maintenance were highlighted early in the design stage. To earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) New Construction (NC) Gold Certification, the credit targets were incorporated from early in the design phase and continually carried forward through the construction phases. During the project phases, the team worked with the LEED consultant’s updated sustainability credit list, as well as tasks and deliverables checklists. These lists were coupled with monthly LEED meetings to review the status of achieving the targeted project credits. The monthly review facilitated achievement status and improved the likelihood of success. In meeting with the project team, it was established energy management, material selection, resource efficiency, biodiversity, water efficiency, and connectivity to the natural environment were critical for meeting LEED Gold requirements.
Energy management Since energy management was one of the priorities for the design team, considerations were made to use energy-efficient equipment, ensure the building’s orientation harnessed optimal natural light, and control airtightness. The creation of a passive design to ensure effective use of the campus microclimate and optimize building orientation was essential. While planning the layout of the three buildings, the design of north and south building façades were substantially larger than the east and west faces, thereby maximizing control of sunlight glare and heat gain/loss. Initiatives
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Green walls, wood features, and natureinspired palettes were incorporated into the break areas to encourage relaxation.
such as this reduced the mechanical system’s size within the facility and significantly decreased energy consumption. In conjunction with GTAP, Stantec Consulting, Integral Group (formerly Cobalt Engineering) and Kasian registered for B.C. Hydro’s New Construction Program brief in the design process to complete an extensive whole lifecycle energy-modelling analysis. The study concluded there were 10 main energy-conservation measures that could be combined to save more than 3.7 gigawatt hours of electricity annually. This equated to an 18 per cent energy reduction relative to American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1-1999, Energy Standard for Buildings except Low-rise Residential Buildings. The energy-conservation measures used during the construction of the buildings included: • increasing roof insulation to R-30 and wall insulation to R-20; • improving the glazing insulation to R-3.12; • installing a water-side economizer to cool the data centre; • incorporating a variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system in the post-disaster building; • installing variable-speed drives on all pumps and fans; • employing interior and exterior lighting controls; • reducing lighting density by 20 per cent on the interior and 15 per cent on the exterior; • using the heat from the data centre and telecommunications rooms to provide hot water and heat to other areas of the facility; and • installing a chilled-beam HVAC system in the main building.2
Chilled-beam HVAC systems Of the various energy-conservation measures implemented, installing a chilled-beam HVAC system in the main building was the most innovative development. Despite chilled-beam systems having been used in Europe and Australia for years, they are a relatively new concept in Canada. Specifically in Western Canada, only a handful of such systems have been installed in buildings, making the RCMP project’s installation the most extensive in the region. Chilled-beam systems are an alternative to variable-air volume (VAV) systems for cooling and ventilating spaces where an indoor environment and individual space
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Figure 1
This shows an active chilled beam (ACB) system in cooling mode. Image courtesy Kasian
control is valued. There are three main types: the passive-chilled beam (PCB), activechilled beam (ACB), and integrated/multi-service beam (MSB). Located within a space, all chilled-beam systems use water to remove heat energy from a room. The predominant difference between PCBs and ACBs is the way in which airflow and fresh air are brought into the space. PCBs require ventilation air to be delivered via a separate air-handling system whereas with ACBs, the ventilation air is delivered to the beam by a central air-handling system via ductwork. This induction process allows an active-chilled beam to provide more cooling capacity than a passive chilled beam. Additionally, MSBs—a relatively new development—can be installed as either an active or passive chilled beam system, but integrate additional building services such as lighting, speakers, sprinkler openings, and cable pathways into their build-out. The ACB in the main RCMP E Division Headquarters building consists of a fin-andtube heat exchanger contained in a housing suspended from, or recessed in, the ceiling (Figure 1). Warm air rises and is chilled by cooling coils in the chilled beam. Once the air cools, it falls down to the floor where the cycle starts over again. Due to National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings (NECB) 2011 requirements in the British Columbia building code, outdoor air had to be supplied to the indoor spaces via a dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS). The active-chilled beam does not contain a condensation draining system. Therefore, the DOAS must keep the dewpoint of the indoor air below the surface temperature of the chilled beam to avoid moisture from condensing on the coil and leaking into the space. Despite the need to prevent condensation, the risk of a greater number of leaks, typically higher installation costs (in comparison to a VAV system), and complex installation challenges, the project team believed the long-term benefits of employing a chilled-beam system in the design outweighed the potential drawbacks.
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The headquarters was built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards. Photos © Ed White Photographics
The consortium team worked together extensively to ensure potential drawbacks were minimized. Since this was a P3 project, design and construction were occurring simultaneously and resulted in short timelines for schedule and budget requirements. Nevertheless, the project was completed within the overall construction budget. Additionally, the project team used building information modelling (BIM) to carry out extensive clash detection pre-construction. This eliminated potential constructability issues for the active-chilled beam installation, mitigating costly delays and additional construction expenses. The active chilled-beam system’s benefits include: • reduction in energy use in comparison to a traditional VAV system; • improved space ventilation; • smaller ductwork and air-handling units required due to a 50 to 65 per cent reduction in air required in comparison to a VAV system; • minimal maintenance required as there are no moving parts and no filters to maintain; • near-silent system noise; and • more uniform space temperatures achieved in rooms.
Material selection and resource efficiency Material selections were based on local availability, and construction methods were designed to reduce waste. Locally sourced materials were used wherever possible. More than 35 per cent of materials were regionally based as per LEED Materials and Resources (MR) Credit 5, Regional Materials. Additionally, 80 per cent of construction demolition and land-clearing waste was diverted from landfills. Further, use of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood—as noted in the province’s Wood First Act—was used for more than 50 per cent of all wood-based materials incorporated into the project.
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Since energy management was one of the priorities for the design team, considerations were made to use energy-efficient equipment, ensure the building’s orientation harnessed optimal natural light, and control airtightness.
The creation of a passive design to ensure effective use of the campus microclimate and optimize building orientation was essential.
Biodiversity, water efficiency, and connectivity to the natural environment One of the main intentions behind the project’s design was to embody the history, tradition, and culture of the RCMP, while connecting to the natural site. As noted, the building envelope was designed to be highly efficient and minimize the 76,180-m2 (820,000-sf) facility footprint. This was accomplished by creating three separate buildings comprising a multi-level campus and employing long spans to maximize space and flexibility. Expansive windows and angled brick masonry also references tree trunks in the structure’s natural surroundings. Red and blue, the colours of the traditional RCMP serge uniform, as well as green, were used to create colour zone divisions for each section of the facility. Each colour was employed as an accent at vertical circulation components to support intuitive way finding. Careful design considerations were given to retaining existing heritage trees and ensuring the main entryway complemented the natural esthetic. While the site plan was designed to accommodate and minimize impact on the Green Timbers Urban Forest, it permits a 30 per cent expansion to accommodate any future growth of RCMP operations.
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Since energy management was one of the priorities for the design team, considerations were made to use energy-efficient equipment.
The facility’s design resulted in a more than 47 per cent water use reduction over baseline fixture performance requirements. Similarly, there is no potable water used for irrigation of the landscaping in the campus. Some of the innovative design elements contributing to the water reduction include low-flow plumbing and rainwater capture. Further, a retention pond that irrigates the surrounding flora is circulated to the building to provide water for the vegetated roofs installed on two of the campus buildings. These roofs create a closed loop system with the retention pond as they are planted with natural vegetation, filter pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2), reduce energy costs, and help manage storm water.
Lifecycle management Lifecycle management was an important factor in the planning and design of the RCMP E Division building. With a building as large as this headquarters, the process pathways of the facility maintenance crews were considered in the design process. Initial design concepts incorporated policy framework requirements, as communicated in a facility management design manual. Since ETDE Facility Management Canada will be maintaining the building for the next 25 years, it was important the building was designed to be functional and durable for that time. Further, if replacement was deemed necessary, replacement value and ease of access needed to be carefully considered. Every aspect of the project design including material specification and location were previewed by the facility maintenance group. Shop drawings were reviewed and signed off or questioned by the facility maintenance provider as part of the regular shop drawing review process. The loading bay facility layout and its adjacency to clear and direct circulation paths for delivery of goods were carefully planned with the facility maintenance providers.
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Energy-conservation measures implemented equated to an 18 per cent energy reduction relative to American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1-1999, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-rise Residential Buildings.
Additionally, to ensure the green building features installed were being operated correctly to achieve the desired energy savings, the consortium was directly tied into a contract that guaranteed the amount of energy used was measured and verified regularly. This ensured all the facility’s energy-consuming elements—including lights, computers, and mechanical equipment—were sub-metred and monitored for optimal energy efficiency.
Conclusion Due to the sustainability features such as the chilled beams, efficient lighting systems, and other environmentally responsible technologies, it is anticipated the RCMP E Division Headquarters will use 18 per cent less energy than a comparable building of its size and save nearly $160,000 annually in utility costs. These energy savings, coupled with a long-term design vision, integrated facilities management plan, and sub-metering regularly measured and verified by the consortium program, have created a new benchmarking standard for major government institutional buildings. Under the strategic direction of the design team, the facility successfully enhances the RCMP’s ability to provide integrated, intelligence-based policing, improves overall communications and response times, and acts as a design marvel and model of sustainability for both civic and P3 facilities alike.
Notes This article was written with contributions from W. Scott Douglas, AAA, AIBC, MAA, and Ajaz Hasan, AIBC, MASA, LEED AP BD+C. 2 For more information, visit www.bchydro.com/content/dam/BCHydro/customer-portal/ documents/power-smart/builders-developers/rcmp-success-story.pdf. 1
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Part Four Dynamic Façades
BY BOB MARSHALL, P.ENG., BDS, LEED AP
Bob Marshall, P.Eng., BDS, LEED AP, is Canada’s appointed expert sitting on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/TC 163-TC 205 WG4 on Energy Performance, and the voting member for TC 163/SC 2 on calculation methods, which includes dynamic façades. He has been appointed to the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Task Group on Energy Use Intensity targets. Marshall founded Cedaridge Services Inc. He can be reached at marshallrbrt@aol.com.
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Photos courtesy Cedaridge Services Inc.
Dynamic Façades Looking for smarter skins to improve efficiency and provide clean energy As Canadian building code requirements become more stringent, and as the criteria for programs like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system become tougher, demand will increase for ‘smarter’ building skins—essentially, claddings with high thermal performance and the potential for energy production. World-class innovations from Europe, Australia, Asia, and the United States may strongly influence the dynamic façades that will change the landscape of Canada’s built environment. Designed to improve the energy efficiency performance of buildings, such assemblies are a new work item for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 163/WG4, Thermal Performance and Energy Use in the Built Environment.1
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Figure 1
The State Ministry for Urban Development and Environment headquarters in Wilhelmsburg, Germany boasts many energyfriendly innovations. Such projects can be a guiding light for the façades and skins of Canadian buildings in the near future.
At the group’s meetings in September, Canadian representatives—including this author— had the opportunity to share some of the preliminary findings from the work on innovative hybrid curtain walls. The research was funded by the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP). These high-efficiency systems include glazing that can generate electricity right from the façade. Based on the preliminary findings, game-changing innovations may make the ‘zero-energy’ building target for the 2030 Challenge quite achievable.2 In the near future, glass building skyscrapers could essentially provide a source of renewable energy for our communities. (Buildings offer high amounts of solar transmittance due to their large surface areas, but with current advanced glazing technologies, only about five per cent of the energy comes from the clean energy from the façade.) This author explored several innovative building projects at a German international exhibition, IBA Hamburg. In that city, the government showed leadership by relocating its new State Ministry for Urban Development and Environment headquarters from Hamburg’s downtown centre to Wilhelmsburg, rejuvenating a neighbourhood. The building itself (Figure 1) is also quite remarkable. A performance of 70 kWh/m²/year of ‘primary energy’ was established at the concept stage. This metric includes source and distribution losses, rather than ‘delivered energy’ performance (at the building), which is mostly used in Canadian and U.S. buildings. (Essentially, ‘primary energy’ includes production energy and energy required to make up for the line losses, etc. If the building creates energy, it can be used in the building or fed into the grid, and will have much lower line losses.) A combination of passive and active measures are employed, including: • increased insulation; • appropriate glass areas of the façade (i.e. glass areas are approximately 40 per cent for optimal daylighting/energy efficiency); • natural cross-ventilation via an open staircase atrium; • geothermal energy; and • ‘free’ cooling at night through an off-peak system that allows removed heat to be stored in geothermal loops.
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Figure 2
Solid-wood mid-rises—like the Walderhaus Hotel in Hamburg, Germany— provide a natural thermal break and employ renewable raw materials.
Dynamic façades will allow architects and owners to continue to use glass to provide daylighting. With transparent, solar-power-producing glass and high-performance insulation technologies—such as vacuum-insulated panels (VIPs)—glass buildings can be significantly more energy-efficient.3 Before summarizing some of these innovations, it is important to emphasize ‘holistic thinking.’4 By integrating dynamic façades with other building systems, there is an opportunity to maximize performance benefits and realize cost savings. For example, a smarter skin can allow for a reduction in heating and cooling loads, leading to reduced initial capital costs, smaller mechanical units, and lower operating costs.
Smart solutions to meet code and LEED v4 It is smart to evaluate energy efficiency measures—including air leakage strategies and minimization of thermal bridges in window and wall assemblies—at the schematic and design stages. This is preferable to finding out after construction the building skin is not sufficiently airtight (potentially causing health problems), the windows need exterior shading, and the wall assemblies yield condensation leading to mould growth. Retrofitting additional heating/cooling equipment and remediating thermal anomalies in windows and walls is significantly more costly than appropriate construction and detailing. Certain solutions should be identified at the new LEED v4-required prerequisite design review of the building enclosure (i.e. Energy & Atmosphere [EA] Prerequisite 1, Fundamental Commissioning and Verification). It is important to remember any level of LEED certification is impossible without meeting all prerequisite requirements. Airtightness can be improved by specifying unitized curtain wall systems fabricated
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Figure 3
The five-storey residential BIQ building located in Whilhelmsburg is built to the Passive House standard, ensuring energy efficiency.
in controlled conditions and expected to meet higher energy performance standards. Unitized wall modules may be installed during inclement climate weather conditions common in many parts of Canada. Window innovations include warm-edge (perimeter) spacers with slower heat transfer at the frames, and metal wall profiles with thermal breaks structurally integrated into the frame that improve U-values and reduce the risk of interior condensation. Solid wood buildings provide a natural thermal break and employ renewable raw materials. In Hamburg, there are many mid-rise solid-wood buildings, including Walderhaus Hotel (Figure 2, page 38), which was one of the destinations of this author during his dynamic façade excursions. In Canada, code solutions should be suited to the specific building uses, with compliance particulars verified by a qualified building science professional. COMcheck is a free software from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); it can be used as it includes the Ontario Building Code’s (OBC’s) SB-10 requirements and an envelope compliance report. A compliance checklist is prepared for the OBC requirements, including insulation, fenestration/doors, and air leakage. (For other provinces, there are Model National Energy Code of Buildings [MNECB] and ASHRAE compliance checklists.) LEED v4 will require more stringent energy efficiency performance than previous incarnations of the rating program. New York City already requires performance data to be published for large existing buildings, and it seems to be only a matter of time before other municipalities in Canada and the United States follow suit. Only by providing evidence of a building’s actual—and not projected—energy consumption can a project truly be considered ‘sustainable’ or ‘green.’ New York’s LEED Platinum-rated Bank of America Tower, which opened in 2010, was reported to use more than twice the energy per square foot as the 80-year-old Empire State Building.5 The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is learning from this experience by creating stronger integration between LEED credits and their performance outcomes.
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One of the most significant changes will be the result of the aforementioned building enclosure review prerequisite in LEED v4. The question is, who should conduct this review? For Canadian projects, it makes sense to have those qualified for LEED Canada’s Durable Building credit to complete this task. (These qualifications were established by a special Durable Building Task Force.) There are many similar building enclosure practices in North America that can be applied to all LEED buildings, so there are practical approaches to meet the LEED v4 prerequisite.
BECx and dynamic façades
Figure 4
Biomass from the BIQ building (shown on page 39) is taken offsite and converted into biogas.
Another significant LEED v4 change is the building envelope commissioning (BECx) option as part of EA Credit 1, Enhanced Commissioning, which is worth two points. BECx of the thermal envelope design details involves checking the compatibility of the numerous materials used in an assembly. Further, the built conditions of the envelope assemblies and interfaces are checked to verify they are properly constructed. The interfaces between different façades, and between the façade and roof, are critically important for the building to be sufficiently airtight. Internal façade components need to be constructed to drain any moisture penetrating into the wall to the exterior, rather than causing damage and health issues for the occupants. The BECx process provides a greater likelihood the air barrier system is continuous, and moisture control measures are in place for better building performance. Sustainable building should not stop at current codes or with LEED points and building certification. By setting energy performance targets, the creativity of the entire design/construction team can be unleashed.6 The 2015 National Energy Code for Buildings (NECB) could be the first North American jurisdiction to require energy use intensities (EUIs). Therefore, it is smarter to identify higher energy efficiency measures that contribute to lower EUIs. At the same time, why not assess a zero-energy building target with use of renewable energy options? IBA Hamburg includes 60 projects to illustrate ways to make positive changes in the built environment in terms of energyefficiency, social structures, and community planning.7 This article will now examine a few that could be considered for Canada.
Bioreactor façades Comprising 15 apartments, the five-storey residential BIQ building in Whilhelmsburg (Figure 3, page 39) is built to the Passive House standard.8 The building has southwestand southeast-facing bioreactor façades. Two different types of algae (summer and winter grade) are cultivated for the generation of energy and to control the daylight and
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Figure 5
For a three-storey residential building in Wilhelmsburg, a dynamic textile membrane façade provides shading for the patios and includes flexible photovoltaic (PV) modules on the membrane strips.
provide shading for the building. The algae in the glass bioreactor façades is constantly in motion and changing its colour. The bioreactor’s façade is part of a holistic regenerative energy concept where the plate-shaped glass panels produce biomass and heat through photosynthesis and solar thermal energy. The heat is directly available to the house. The biomass is transferred to containers (Figure 4, page 40) and taken to an offsite location before being converted into biogas.9 Geothermal energy and a connection to Integrated Energy Network at Wilhelmsburg Central provide the balance of the heat supply during winter and serve as a long-term reservoir for the heat generated in summer.
Textile membrane façade A three-storey residential building in Wilhelmsburg comprises four family units built to the Passive House standard. A dynamic textile membrane façade (Figure 5) is not only a distinguishing feature, but also a smart curtain—it provides shading for the patios and includes flexible photovoltaic modules on the membrane strips. The strips rotate to optimize energy generation and daylighting. From the first floor patios, all four units have a view of a canoe canal and the Island Park. The building consists of sustainable solid wood construction, including the walls and ceilings left as natural wood surfaces to achieve greater carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions. High levels of insulation and airtightness are integrated into the building façades (Figure 6, page 42). Heat pumps provide the balance of the heating and cooling for the building.
Energy bunker At IBA Hamburg and throughout Europe, social structure and community planning are also priority. An example is the restoration and reuse of the Energy Bunker in Wilhelmsburg. The sturdy and distinct air-raid bunker was built in 1943, sheltering up to 30,000 people during Allied bombing raids. Four years later, the building’s interior
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Figure 6
was destroyed by the British. The outer shell, with up to 3-m (9-ft) thick walls was all that remained undamaged for more than 60 years (Figure 7, page 43). It was once inconceivable a new use of this memorial would be found. However, the Energy Bunker has been covered with 400 solar thermal units on the roof and photovoltaic panels on the south elevation (Figure 8, page 44). In addition to the solar energy, energy derived from biogas, wood pellets, and waste heat enable production of approximately 22,500 MWh of heat and about 3000 MWh of electricity. This neighbourhood power station is an example of decentralised energy policy that creates local jobs and revenues. Canada achieves enhanced energyefficiency in public-private partnership (P3) projects and other landmarks when a specific energy performance target is set as part of the owner’s requirements. High levels of insulation and airtightness are (It helps when the owner’s requirements are integrated into the building façades of this multi-family residential mid-rise. quantified in the specification in terms of ekWh/m2/year, with the actual performance monitored. Some owner’s specifications have penalties and rewards if there is a significant difference. It is important to meet the target on a cost-optimized basis (i.e. lowest cost measures that provide the best energy savings); therefore, the contractor or cost estimator should be included for estimating real costs for different scenarios. This approach works, for example, on a P3 project where the energy target was 202 ekWh/m²/year (about 45 per cent below the proposed 2015 NECB EUI of 373 ekWh/m²/year). The winning approach was achieved with analysis and collaboration between the architect, engineers (i.e. structural, building envelope, mechanical, and energy), and contractor.
Solar power glazing façade Advanced solar power glazing façades are another promising technology. (Though not showcased at IBA, they were presented at the ISO meetings.) There needs to be more work on these building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, which employ nanotechnology as an integral part of the glass layers, while still offering transparent glazing. Pilot demonstrations in the Northern hemisphere are essential.10 In the Southern hemisphere, however, the precedent has already been set. The new Government Communications and Information Systems Office in Pretoria, South Africa, is believed to be the first demonstration of advanced solar power glazing (Figure 9, page 45). Based on preliminary performance data, advanced solar power glazing could generate about 35 W/m2 per façade (based on solar transmittance on each façade and obstructions). With other attributes that include more than 75 per cent
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Figure 7
This German air-raid bunker was built in 1943; its interior was destroyed by the British four years later. The outer shell, with up to 3-m (9-ft) thick walls was all that remained undamaged for more than 60 years. Image courtesy www.aufwind-luftbilder.de
transparency and more than 90 per cent of solar infrared blocked, the glazing also helps with daylighting while converting solar energy into a clean, renewable power source. As the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is the fastest growing high-rise capital of North America, testing and demonstration of this innovative technology here is a top priority on the list of many of those working in the dynamic façade field. Architects and building owners must assess the feasibility of integrating new innovative technologies into their projects. It is best to do this decision-making at the concept and pre-design stages. For the early adapters, possible government funding partners are available.
Conclusion The importance of the thermal envelope and smarter skins for all buildings in North America is critically important. Based on current experience, it is expected prototype demonstrations will occur next year, with full-scale demonstrations soon following, depending on scale-up of production by a large glass supplier. Beyond ISO, other groups are currently engaging in testing and standards creation for dynamic façades. For example, it is important to have a standard measurement to define how to gauge electrical power for various PV modules. International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 60904-1, Photovoltaic Devices, is typically used—there are a few labs in Canada that are accredited for this method.
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Figure 8
This World War II bunker has been covered with 400 solar thermal units on the roof and PV panels on the south elevation—it has been transformed into a neighbourhood energy plant. Photo courtesy Cedarridge Services
With code and LEED v4 compliances, Canadian design/construction professionals can help achieve smarter and more dynamic façades. As a result, the average energy performance of North American buildings (traditionally relatively poor) will significantly improve. Of course, the information in this article does not only pertain to new builds. The many existing structures in Canada, where the façades are reaching the end of their useful service life, are another opportunity to integrate world-class innovation. The re-skinning of these projects will not only improve energy efficiency, but also yield potential for energy production.
Notes For more information, visit www.iso.org/iso/iso_technical_committee?commid=53476. Initiated by the Architecture 2030 group, the 2030 Challenge asks the global architecture and building community to ensure all new buildings meet a performance standard of 60 per cent below the regional (or country) average/median for that building type, and that an equal amount of existing building area be renovated annually to meet a fossil fuel, greenhouse gas (GHG)-emitting, energy consumption performance standard of 60 per cent of the regional (or country) average/median for that building type. It also requires the fossil fuel reduction standard for all new buildings and major renovations be increased to carbon-neutral by 2030. This may be accomplished by implementing sustainable design strategies, generating onsite renewable power, and purchasing (20 per cent maximum) renewable energy. For more, visit architecture2030.org. 1 2
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Figure 9
The Government Communications and Information Systems Office in Pretoria, South Africa, employs advanced solar power glazing. Photo © Peter Morey. Photo courtesy Tropiglas
For more on VIPs, as researched by ISO/TC 163/SC 3/WG 10, visit www.iso.org/ iso/home/standards_development/list_of_iso_technical_committees/iso_technical_ committee.htm?commid=53530. 4 Further discussion on taking a gestalt approach can be found in this author’s article, “Time for Holistic Thinking: Integrated Building Energy Performance Solutions,” in the May 2010 issue of Construction Canada. Visit www.constructioncanada.net and select “Archives.” 5 To read the New Republic article, “Bank of America’s Toxic Tower: New York’s ‘Greenest’ Skyscaper is Actually its Biggest Energy Hog,” written by Sam Roudman, visit www.newrepublic.com/node/113942. 6 For more on this concept, see the December 2012 issue of Construction Canada for this author’s article, “The Need for Energy Performance Targets.” 7 Visit www.iba-hamburg.de/en/iba-in-english.html. 8 To learn more about the Canadian Passive House Institute program online, visit www.passivehouse.ca. 9 Biomass transported to make biogas is expensive and not very efficient (i.e. < five per cent). In Canada, some sewage treatment plants use the biomass in the plant to make biogas for running local generators. However, there is not yet a market to sell biomass on a grand scale. 10 Current cost/benefit analyses of BIPV dynamic façades, with feed-in tariff (FIT) incentives, are resulting in simple payback estimates of about seven to nine years. It is difficult to obtain real incremental cost estimates for the advanced solar power glazing versus traditional curtain walls, until specific project particulars and suppliers are identified. 3
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Part Five EARTH RANGERS
BY ANDY SCHONBERGER, P.ENG., MBA, LEED AP, AND SCOTT TAROF, PHD
Andy Schonberger, P.Eng, MBA, LEED AP, is Cisco Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business development manager, Smart+Connected Communities. A mechanical engineer by training, he was director of the Earth Rangers Centre (ERC) for Sustainable Technology from 2010 to 2014. Schonberger chairs the Greater Toronto Chapter of the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and holds a bachelor of energy management, mechanical engineering, from McMaster University, and an MBA in sustainability and strategy from York University. He can be reached via e-mail at aschonbe@cisco.com.
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Photo courtesy Earth Rangers
The Sustainable Success of
EARTH RANGERS Exploring a really smart environment Located just north of Toronto, the Earth Rangers Centre (ERC) is a smart, green building that continues to adopt new technologies and strategies to meet its financial and sustainability goals.1 It was designed 15 years ago with advanced and progressive strategies to reduce the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environmental footprint. The facility also uses a thermal mass structure to enable its HVAC strategies and energy conservation aims.
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This is the Earth Rangers Centre’s (ERC’s) data centre. The ERC was an early adopter of virtualization in 2009 and is now home to almost 90 virtual machines. Photos courtesy Cisco Canada
The Earth Rangers organization teaches children and families about the importance of protecting animals and their habitats, with its headquarters serving as proof the group practises what it preaches. Additionally, the organization uses technology to reach out to kids—through social media, online games, website content, television, and in live community venues—so it should come as no surprise Earth Rangers has been quick to realize the benefits of a ‘connected’ environment in its headquarters.
Moving forward with technology Proof of this technology and sustainability integration is evident on arriving at the building, located on the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s Kortright Centre, in Vaughan, Ont. Six large solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays that tilt and turn to track the sun are situated in the parking lot. These arrays combine the output of 330 solar panels to provide up to 100,000 kWh annually in clean energy, generating up to $44,000 per year from the Ontario Power Authority’s (OPA’s) Feed-in-Tariff Program.2 A second smaller array provides additional power, bringing the onsite generation total to approximately 20 per cent of the ERC’s annual energy consumption. Efforts at the ERC from 2008 have largely focused on energy conservation, often turning to technology to attain conservation goals. This process started in 2009 with an American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Level 2 building audit where Earth Rangers’ consulting engineers examined
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The LEED rating system has helped push green buildings into the mainstream, with more than 1400 certifications completed in Canada. the building’s system performance in fine detail and compared actual performance to design specifications. This audit provided a detailed examination of the building’s energy and water use on a system-by-system basis and it provided a budgeted plan to push the building to carbon neutrality. This involved some major systems retrofits, including the retrofit of a ground-source heat pump system, demand control ventilation, and a modern building automation system to bring together previously unconnected building systems: lighting, security, HVAC, access control, and energy monitoring. The automation system has proven an important part of the integration puzzle, as the more than 300 monitored points in the building allow precise tracking of consumption and system performance. Integration of technology within the ERC led to total energy consumption of approximately 9 ekWh/sf—a decrease of approximately 18 per cent from the pre-retrofit period, and less than a third of the energy used in a typical Canadian office building.3 There was also a dramatic 100-tonne annual decrease in the centre’s carbon footprint as a result of the switch from natural gas-fired heating to an electrically powered groundsource heat pump. Platinum certification of the ERC under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (EBOM) program followed in September 2012, complementing the Gold certification obtained in 2006 for the New Construction (NC) program. The LEED rating system has helped push green buildings into the mainstream, with more than 1400 certifications completed in Canada. The market forces pushing green buildings forward continue to do so, and technology is increasing their rate of adoption. For instance, a quick scan of industry headlines shows the installed cost of solar photovoltaic generation has dropped 50 per cent since 2010.4
Retrofitting Technology retrofits at the ERC, as well as commissioning and system integration, have led to reduced HVAC and lighting loads. As an example, the building automation system can communicate with the building’s alarm system, allowing it to shut off unnecessary lighting when the building is armed and unoccupied. Not all loads have trended down, however, as plug loads have continued to grow along with the organization. Load on the building’s uninterruptible power supply (UPS) grew 40 per cent from 2010 to 2013. This is partially due to occupancy increases, but also due to extra plug loads such as computers, monitors, printers, and other distributed office components. There are also unique requirements for energy use in Earth Rangers’ animal care areas, such as the heat lamps required to keep reptile and amphibian animal habitats at proper temperatures. Earth Rangers’ information technology (IT) needs are similar to many of today’s connected businesses, and yet unique to their educational programming. All of Earth Rangers’ educational programs and content are developed onsite, from the kids’
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Digital signage placed throughout the Earth Rangers Centre with automation software allows for real-time energy monitoring.
and adult websites and social media content to the development of some of the public service announcements airing on national kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; television and the production of videos used in school and community shows. This is in addition to the usual enterprise tools used to manage a modern organization. As a result, the ERC is home to a small 11.6-m2 (125-sf) data centre. The data centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy use has grown with the organization, now home to almost 90 virtual machines. Now fairly standard practice in data centres, virtualization allows many servers or computers to operate on fewer physical devices that run at higher capacity than standalone physical servers, saving energy, capital cost, and operational effort. Earth Rangers was an early adopter of virtualization in 2009. Despite this, since 2010, energy use in the ERC data centre more than doubledâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a trend shared with buildings across the world. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates buildings accounted for over 35 per cent of total global energy use in 2010, and the amount of energy consumed annually by buildings is expected to grow by 50 per cent globally by 2050.5 There are large economic and environmental reasons to moderate these costs, and building owners are increasingly looking to technology to help mitigate and control energy costs as well as align with sustainability initiatives. The dramatic adoption rate of technology is not limited in scope to buildings. It is happening in every sector of the economy, and a particularly noticeable trend is the emergence of the Internet of Everything (IoE), the connection of devices to each other, to people, and the Internet. Practical examples include Nest internet-connected home thermostats, smartphone connected lights and security systems, security cameras that automatically detect
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license plates, electric cars that send an email if they’re unplugged before completely charging, and in-store retail signage that can send personalized promotions to your smartphone. The number of current examples is massive, and growing daily. The IoE represents a $19 trillion opportunity globally between the private and public sectors over the next decade. Some of the main drivers of this value include: • asset utilization ($2.5 trillion); • employee productivity ($2.5 trillion); • supply chain and logistics efficiencies ($2.7 trillion); and • customer experience ($3.7 trillion).6
Smart buildings ‘Smart’ buildings, like ERC, make more intelligent use of space, create more productive places to work, require fewer resources to build, run, and manage—all while offering unique ways to provide tenants with an engaging experience in the space. Asset utilization is a large cost-driver in the real estate industry; rent must be paid on a space whether in use or not. The “Workplace Utilization and Allocation Benchmark” study, conducted by United States General Services Administration (GSA), showcases multiple examples where large firms have realized major savings by using technology to reduce the amount of physical space required for their workforces, increasing utilization rates. Mobile technology is enabling a reduction in the amount of office space allocated per occupant, saving space costs, while also increasing the productivity and reducing turnover from occupants who appreciate flexibility in where they work. Video conferencing can also help reduce travel expenses, without sacrificing face-to-face interaction between people. Collaboration technologies can make an office space more efficient by requiring less physical space, allowing employees to be more productive in flexible work environments. These benefits are easy to understand for those spending any amount of time commuting in a congested city. Connected technology is making its way into more traditional building systems as well, and is not isolated to traditional information and communications technology (ICT) uses. Granular control of HVAC systems that also provide performance data, at little to no increase in capital cost, are now becoming widely available. Examples include: • individually addressable lighting fixtures; • Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) variable air volume (VAV) HVAC controls; • parking management systems; • PoE access controls; and • digital signage. These systems can all share a common network, reducing cabling costs and the capital cost to build a connected building to less than a traditionally built structure. What does this all mean for the building? These previously disparate systems can now communicate with each other, offering improved tenant services and amenities, energy savings, corporate branding, easy integration of the collaboration technologies mentioned, and generally a modern office experience being demanded by tenants. To make this more tangible, consider the following operations sequence that would be possible in a fully connected building:
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The ERC parking lot holds six large solar photovoltaic arrays that tilt and turn to track the sun. They provide up to 100,000 kWh annually in clean energy.
After a short commute where your cell phone directs you along the least congested route, you arrive at the building, scan your access card and the parking management system directs you to an available electric car-charging station. After plugging in, you walk to the elevator and the automation system has already called the elevator, whisking you up to your floor without the need to interact with the system. Head down, reading e-mail on your smartphone, you are automatically connected to the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s WiFi and recognized by the security camera at the entrance. Swiping your card to gain access to the office space, you choose a workstation for the day through a touchscreen interface. The lights come on because it is a cloudy morning, the ventilation system comes out of night mode, and you are logged onto the video phone on your chosen desk. You are the first to arrive, and so the coffee-maker now brews its first pot, anticipating further arrivals. Walking to the printer, you pass by digital signage telling you how much energy the building is using today, how much your floor is using, and how that tracks against corporate goals. A weather feed tells you what to expect the rest of the day, and a transit feed informs you when the next train or bus arrives to take you to your next meeting up the street. You grab your printed reports and head to a video conference room. Walking into the room, a single touch starts a video meeting with a customer on the other side of the country. Meanwhile, the facility operator sits at a remote location managing multiple buildings, seeing all these activities and managing the building much differently than previously possible. The operator can see, from individual meters, whether a toilet is running, if temperatures in a space are outside of prescribed limits, or if a belt has fallen off a fan. He can dispatch a service technician before you, the tenant, is even aware something needs to be fixed.
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While certainly at the leading edge of smart building systems and technologies, the Earth Rangers Centre is not alone in adopting technology to enable it to grow and be more productive. This is all possible in a connected building, and it is easy to imagine the thousands of variations that tenants and property managers will come up with to increase the value of their properties and control costs. All these sequences will require a robust network to handle the traffic, and building systems will need to communicate openly with each other, using protocols understood by each subsystem. The realization of this ideal space requires the network is leveraged by all systems, similarly to how these systems currently rely on electricity. The network is becoming a necessary utility. However, system integration is not only for high-end new office towers. Implementation can be much simpler with a new build, but can be completed in existing buildings with a targeted strategic implementation plan. This can include capitalizing when systems require updates or reach obsolescence, new technology is deployed, or as tenant tastes and experience requirements change with leasing cycles. The Earth Rangers Centre has implemented some pieces of this puzzle through retrofitting, integrating lighting, security, HVAC, intrusion detection, and energy metering.
Connected building elements Only occupied during regular business hours, ERC automatically arms its security system, shuts off unnecessary lights, and puts HVAC systems into night mode. This saves energy and also ensures a secure environment for staff and animal ambassadors, while providing an experience matching the organization’s values. The market for smart and connected buildings is accelerating. Growing from $69 billion in 2012 to an expected $297 billion in 2022 at an annual rate of 16 per cent, this sector trails only consumer electronics in growth. Similarly, technology adoption is still happening at the Earth Rangers Centre as technologies offer new ways to reduce operational footprints and enable the business. The ERC data centre was recently updated as existing servers and switches reached the end of their useful service lives. New servers have allowed for the deployment of thin clients—terminals that connect a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and phone to the data centre for more efficient central computing—that use less than half the energy of a laptop while being much easier to service and deploy by the IT department. Video conferencing and collaboration technology have also been added, with strategic connections between Earth Rangers and its supporters now being possible without travel and lost productivity. Future plans for remotely interacting with Earth Rangers members are also a possibility.
Conclusion Future facility plans include a change in data centre cooling—taking advantage of colder winter air and the capacity of the ground-source heat pump system to halve the cooling requirements of the data centre—and deployment of software-based energy metering to track and control the energy being used by devices. IEA states the
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The Earth Rangers Centre continues to evolve as a smart and connected building. Smart and connected technologies are expected to grow into a $297 billion market by 2022, according to Machina Research.
fastest growing segment of building energy use in many countries is from appliances and electronics. This mirrors what is happening at the Earth Rangers Centre, and the strategies mentioned here will mitigate those effects while allowing the organization to grow and innovate. While certainly at the leading edge of smart building systems and technologies, the Earth Rangers Centre is not alone in adopting technology to enable it to grow and be more productive. Technology is enabling day-to-day business, while at the same time reducing the impact on the habitats and animals they are enabling kids’ to protect. Smart buildings are an opportunity for real estate everywhere, and will soon be the desire of tenants and facility managers across Canada.
Notes For more on the project, see this author’s article, “Building Heavy with the Earth Rangers,” co-written with Scott Tarof in the April 2012 issue of Construction Canada. Visit www.constructioncanada.net 2 For more on the Feed-in-Tariff program, see Gary Kassem’s article “Finding the Perfect FIT—Feed-in tariffs and long-term rooftop power generation commitments,” in the January 2011 issue of Construction Canada. Visit www.constructioncanada.net. 3 For more information, see Real Property Association of Canada’s 2012 Energy Benchmarking Report at www.realpac.ca/?page=RPEBP5Reports. 4 For more, see Greentech Media and Solar Energy Industry Association’s “U.S. Solar Market Insight” at www.greentechmedia.com/research/ussmi. 5 See International Energy Agency’s Transition to Sustainable Buildings. 6 For more, see “Embracing the Internet of Everything.” Visit www.cisco.com/web/about/ ac79/docs/innov/IoE_Economy.pdf.
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