Feds Said To Be Biggest Energy Hogs
The U.S. Federal government
is the nation’s single largest energy consumer and greenhouse gas emitter, with
CO2 emissions alone approximately equaling the combined emissions of Japan, France
and the UK
for transportation, industry and buildings.
As a result, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement held a hearing on July 21 to examine the federal government’s role in greening buildings and ways to improve its own energy efficiency.
Testifying at the hearing, ASHRAE President Lynn G. Bellenger said that, “over the years significant progress has been made in the federal, commercial and residential sectors, and we are poised to embark on a new era of energy efficiency and taxpayer dollar stewardship that will lead us to net-zero-energy buildings.
“Going forward, maximizing building efficiency and sustainability will require a fundamental shift in how buildings have been approached - from design to operation. Working together toward a whole building approach that fully considers how each system and building component will interact - instead of each discipline focusing on their own area of expertise - will be an essential element of ensuring that taxpayer dollars are well-spent.”
ASHRAE has long-partnered with the federal government on efforts to improve building efficiency, and ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential, now serves as both a federal building standard and the national reference for state-adopted commercial building codes. During the hearing, Bellenger highlighted several efforts and initiatives that ASHRAE is engaging in that will help lead to increased building efficiency, including ASHRAE’s:
Advanced Energy Design Guides for achieving 30 percent savings over Standard 90.1-1999,
the forthcoming Guides for achieving 50 percent savings, followed by Guides for
achieving net-zero-energy consumption (www.ashrae.org/freeaedg)
Certification programs for high-performance building design, building energy
modeling, healthcare facility design, commissioning process and operations and
performance management professionals (www.ashrae.org/certification)
Building Energy Quotient (Building EQ) labeling program that includes both As
Designed (asset) and In Operation (operational) ratings for all building types,
except residential. Building EQ allows the general public, tenants, building
owners, prospective owners, operations and maintenance personnel and others to
quickly and easily view how energy efficient a building is in operation
compared to its design through an easily understood letter grade and color
scale (www.buildingeq.com)
Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings
Except Low-Rise Residential - the first code-intended green building standard
in the United States.
Published by ASHRAE in collaboration with IES and USGBC, Standard 189.1 also
serves as a jurisdictional compliance option of the International Green
Construction Code (IgCC), published by the International Code Council. (www.ashrae.org/greenstandard)
Source: ASHRAE
As a result, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement held a hearing on July 21 to examine the federal government’s role in greening buildings and ways to improve its own energy efficiency.
Testifying at the hearing, ASHRAE President Lynn G. Bellenger said that, “over the years significant progress has been made in the federal, commercial and residential sectors, and we are poised to embark on a new era of energy efficiency and taxpayer dollar stewardship that will lead us to net-zero-energy buildings.
“Going forward, maximizing building efficiency and sustainability will require a fundamental shift in how buildings have been approached - from design to operation. Working together toward a whole building approach that fully considers how each system and building component will interact - instead of each discipline focusing on their own area of expertise - will be an essential element of ensuring that taxpayer dollars are well-spent.”
ASHRAE has long-partnered with the federal government on efforts to improve building efficiency, and ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential, now serves as both a federal building standard and the national reference for state-adopted commercial building codes. During the hearing, Bellenger highlighted several efforts and initiatives that ASHRAE is engaging in that will help lead to increased building efficiency, including ASHRAE’s:
Source: ASHRAE
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