The construction industry could use a better contextual baseline than codes for measuring building efficiency against design strategy, says the executive vice president of James Construction, based in Carnegie, Penn.
Craig Stevenson, in a Construction Dive article, says a system such as Energy Star’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI) would provide a better way to measure efficiency and provide a better market-driven approach to sustainability. According to the Energy Star web site, “EUI is expressed as energy per square foot per year. It’s calculated by dividing the total energy consumed by the building in one year (measured in kBtu or GJ) by the total gross floor area of the building.”
EUI would create a common standard analogous to the miles-per-gallon standard in the automobile industry, Stevenson told Construction Dive. Codes can be too slow to catch up to the latest technology and techniques, he added.
Standards such as LEED may not go far enough to account for operations efficiency after a building is completed, he says. EUI, on the other hand, is measurable every year and provides a benchmark for the entire building and all energy-consuming systems.
Related Stories
| Sep 15, 2011
Bill Seeks To Spur Stronger Building Codes Nationwide
The Safe Building Code Incentive Act of 2011 would provide strong financial incentives for states to adopt and enforce strong building codes.
| Sep 15, 2011
New Federal Law Limits Amount of Formaldehyde in Wood
President Obama signed into law legislation that limits the amount of formaldehyde in wood. The new measure will impact particle board and other composite wood products .
| Sep 12, 2011
Living Buildings: Are AEC Firms up to the Challenge?
Modular Architecture > You’ve done a LEED Gold or two, maybe even a LEED Platinum. But are you and your firm ready to take on the Living Building Challenge? Think twice before you say yes.
| Sep 8, 2011
OSHA issues alert on incorrectly rebuilt circuit breakers
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a hazard alert, warning workers and employers of certain Eaton/Cutler-Hammer molded-case circuit breakers that were incorrectly rebuilt.
| Sep 8, 2011
USGBC Streamlines LEED EB: O&M
The Council has reorganized the prerequisite and credit structure of LEED EB: O&M.
| Sep 8, 2011
USGBC: 30 Legislative ‘Wins For Green Building’ So Far In 2011
A mid-year report by the U.S. Green Building Council says that there have been “30 legislative wins for green building” across 22 states in 2011.
| Sep 8, 2011
Revised Building Codes Adopted After WTC Attacks Being Implemented
U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) code revision recommendations in the wake of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks are being implemented in new high-rise construction including One World Trade Center, the lead building of the new World Trade Center complex.
| Sep 8, 2011
New Sustainability Standard Addresses Disaster Resistance
To aid local governments to adopt high-performance green building codes, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) have developed High Performance Building Requirements for Sustainability 2.0.
| Sep 8, 2011
Pilot ISO 50001 Implementations Report Big Energy Savings
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently published ISO 50001 to provide a recognized framework for integrating energy performance into management practices.
| Sep 8, 2011
USGBC Revises Energy Demand Response Credit
Originally launched in 2010, the revised and enhanced Demand Response Pilot Credit establishes guidelines that are anticipated to increase participation in automated energy demand response programs.
