Energy

Building energy use is predicted to be 25.7 kBtu/SF per year - 40 percent lower energy cost and CO2 emissions than it in an ASHRAE standard building. At a cost of $270 per square foot, the Federal Center South Building 1202 delivers value. The energy bill should be approximately $200,000 a year less than comparable new office buildings.

Conventional building systems have been replaced with efficient hydronic heating and cooling, and a healthier, more energy-efficient 100% outside air underfloor air distribution system.

To enable these systems to perform at an optimal capacity within the project budget, a highly efficient building envelope reduces the magnitude of heating and cooling demand and optimizes the use of daylight within.

Energy studies analyzed the effect of building orientation on annual and peak energy, which drove an optimized north/south orientation, and minimized the western exposure to meet the project's energy goals while reducing the size and cost of mechanical equipment.

Energy use intensity of Federal Center South Building 1202 as compared to a typical office building and the required performance. And we can see the results, the EUI of the actual performance is much lower than the typical office and 40% lower than ASHRAE 90.1-2007. And among these energy aspects, the demanding energy is consumed in Heating section has decreased obviously.

This figure is the potential EUI of the Building, as we can see, there are four parts of consumption, and the first one is the free cooling and low-energy heating through heat exchange with heating. This part is always used during the winter time and it is inevitable. However, the other three parts, especially the ground source heat pumps and PCM thermal storage tank, the result of EUI is much higher than predicted result.

This is the figure of the EUI expression in the whole year. After one year of operation, the building was tuned from operating at 10% over the target in the first quarter, to 12% below the target in the fourth quarter. The final first year EUI is 25.7 kBtu/ft2 (adjusted for plug loads and operation outside of the hours of operation agreed upon during the design); the project’s metered EUI (without adjustment) in 2013 was 33 kBtu/ft2.

The adjustments to the building operation from M&V save the GSA and the USACE up to $40,000 per year in energy costs and have dramatically improved comfort. Meeting the energy performance target allowed the design build team to receive the 0.5% of the construction contract retained for proof of performance — nearly $400,000.

EUI Performance