Energy and Atmosphere overview

- [Instructor] According to the findings by the American Physical Society, by implementing current and emerging cost-effective energy efficiency measures in both new and existing buildings, the growth in energy demand from the building sector could fall from a projected 30% increase to zero between now and 2030. A study by the New Building Institute that investigated 121 LEED certified commercial office buildings in the United States found out that these buildings used 24% less energy than the national average.

Majority of the projects I've worked on achieved energy savings between 18 and 25%, and some achieved as high as 35 to 40% with advanced technologies and holistic energy efficiency strategies. Lighting, space heating and cooling, plug loads, cooking, hot water heating are some of the operational activities that require energy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, space heating is the most energy consuming operation for commercial buildings in the U.S.

You need to know this fun fact for the LEED Green Associate exam. The Energy and Atmosphere category includes four prerequisites and seven credits, adding up to the most number of available points among all lead categories. There a total of 33 points on the LEED for New Construction & Major Renovations that is close to one-third of all available points. The strategies that can be implemented on the Energy and Atmosphere category are quite diverse, and can vary from no-cost applications such as taking advantage of natural resources, to higher cost applications such as highly efficient heating and cooling equipment and smart building controls.

The most successful project teams, in my experience, are the ones that can holistically bring together various strategies while maximizing synergies. Project teams should also consider life-cycle cost and pay back in implementing costly solutions in addition to initial cost. Not all high cost energy efficiency solutions are worth implementing based on the project priorities and cost.