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The relationship between the project team and the facility manager and operating staff doesn’t end when the keys are handed over. For net-zero energy buildings, the hand-off to the operations team is critical to achieving the required level of energy-efficiency to hit the annual net-zero energy target. With net-zero ready buildings this is just as important as the actual procurement, sizing, and installation of on-site photovoltaics; the addition of renewable energy may still be a while out from initial occupancy, and excess energy use may increase the size (and cost) of the system eventually procured.
Rather than a one-time event, the project hand-off is an ongoing process. All buildings go through a teething phase in the first year of occupancy, as HVAC systems face the seasons and occupants learn to control systems and appliances. For net-zero energy buildings, this “verification” phase is critical to determining if the project will annually meet the net-zero equation.
A decade of experience with net-zero energy projects has shown that the following tasks assist in early troubleshooting and a smoother verification phase:
Many lessons have been learned as the net-zero energy industry has evolved. Amidst unprecedented innovations in the tools and technologies available for gaining a detailed understanding of the living, breathing, working performance of a building during design, construction, and over its lifetime, one thing has remained constant. Whether net-zero verified or net-zero ready, successfully achieving the zero in the equation requires a much-needed spotlight on both procurement and post-occupancy, in a way the traditional design process does not.
Rachel Bannon-Godfrey (rachel.bannon-godfrey@stantec.com), Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, is principal, discipline leader — sustainability (buildings) for Stantec. Sergio Sádaba (sergio.sadaba@stantec.com), PE, CEng MCIBSE, is principal, mechanical engineering, and Porus Sam Antia (porus.antia@stantec.com), MSc, BEMP, LEED AP, is senior associate, building simulation manager, for the firm. Stantec has been delivering net-zero energy buildings for more than a decade, starting with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory research support facility in 2008 up to the firm’s most recent net-zero energy project for the California Military Department.
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