computational science needs in the design, optimization and operation of energy efficient buildings...

Computational Science Needs in the Design, Optimization and Operation of Energy Efficient Buildings

Michael J. Holtz, FAIA, NCARB, LEED APFounder and Principal

LightLouver LLC and Architectural Energy CorporationBoulder, Colorado

July 8 - 9, 2010

Position Statement - Industry Trends - Construction - Commissioning

Our Planet

LightLouver LLC July 8 - 9, 2010

We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully, nor for much longer, unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody.

R. Buckminster FullerCirca 1960s

The U.S. at Night

LightLouver LLC July 8 - 9,2010

The challenge and the opportunity

A Big Concern - Trap

Pursuing advanced mathematics and computational methods without a clear understanding of the need for and use of these methods, and without an understanding and sensitivity to deep domain knowledge requirements and stakeholder perspectives, is like walking around with a hammer, and everything looking like a nail.

We need a philosophical construct that guides out thinking and actions when it comes to what R & D is needed to truly help achieve the ultimate goal.


Position Statement

Advanced applied mathematics and computational methods research must serve the needs of the marketplace and of stakeholders (users), always recognizing that science and comprehensive domain knowledge must be the primary considerations and drivers of the research, and that any resulting mathematical and computational tools must be flexible and adaptive to the changes in available technology and to the different requirements for computational rigor and accuracy. It is the combination of the user + the tool that equals the “expert system”, not the tool alone, and that combination will enable the achievement of our essential goal.


New and Existing Buildings are Fundamentally Different

The issues facing existing and new buildings are vastly different and the need for and the uses of energy calculations, likewise, are vastly different in each case.

What are the appropriate techniques to efficiently and effectively improving the energy efficiency of existing and new buildings?


Industry Trends – The Context

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)

To control costs, schedule and risks, IDP has been proposed as a means to establish “interconnecting contractual relationships which bind all parties – owner, designers, contractors, key vendors / suppliers and others - to work together to achieve stated, agreed-to performance objectives, and to share in all risks and rewards.

LightLouver LLC July 8 – 9, 2010


Performance-Based Design-Build Methods

In advanced design-build projects, a set of performance objectives are defined in great detail, and the design-build team is held accountable, through extensive M & V efforts, to substantiate that the completed project has achieved these contractual performance requirements.



Building Information Modeling (BIM)

BIM will be the standard method used to design and to coordinate the construction process in less then a decade. BIM views a building as an object with assignable attributes, that can be evaluated (simulated) to assess its likely in-situ performance. BIM enables the design and construction team to design, construct and operate the building virtually before a single brick is laid.



New Rules of the Road for Buildings

Zoning ordinances and building codes and standards – the regulations which govern building design and construction – are changing dramatically, especially as they relate to the energy and environmental performance of buildings. Local, state and federal regulatory agencies are developing and implementing stringent regulations which will guide the design and construction of energy and environmentally responsive buildings.



Litigation for unachieved/under-achieved Building Performance

Litigation is likely to increase as owners require designers and contractors to substantiate that the owner’s design intent, and specific quantitative performance objectives, have been achieved in the constructed and operating building. Financial penalties are being placed into the design and construction contracts that assign specific responsibility for achieving specific performance objectives.



Scientifically-Based Energy and Environmental Performance Metrics and Rating / Labeling Methods

If we are to improve the energy and environmental performance of our existing and new building stock, we must have scientifically-based energy and environmental performance metrics and rating / labeling methods to benchmark and track progress. These metrics and methods must be industry accepted standards and be required (mandated) for all existing and new buildings.


Construction and Commissioning

Boundaries between design and construction are blurring…becoming seamless and iterative process to design, construct, and commission buildings…and provide means to persist performance over the life of the building.


Commissioning

Systematic and comprehensive process for ensuring that the owner’s design intent, as reflected in the design team’s basis of design and construction documents, is achieved in the operating building.


Measurement and Verification

Systematic process of determining the actual operating performance (savings) a product, sub-system, system or whole building compared to its predicted performance.


Fault Detection and Diagnostics

Methods to identify operational and performance anomalies, and to identify the cause of the anomalies so that they can be addressed.


Useful Reminder

“We can’t solve (today’s) problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

-- Albert Einstein


Thank you !

Michael J Holtz, FAIA, NCARB, LEED [email protected]


computational science needs in the design, optimization and operation of energy efficient buildings...

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