Quantifying the “Real World” Impacts of Early Design Involvement and the Implications for New Construction Program Design, Implementation and Evaluation

Kevin Grabner, Pravin Bhiwapurkar, and Tate Walker, Energy Center of Wisconsin

Keywords

Abstract

Commercial new construction is a complex process that involves large, diverse teams where the only constant is the unique nature of each project. However, there are always strategies to improve a building's energy use, no matter what the design phase, the budget, or the project type. Although early design involvement is the ideal scenario for new construction programs, it is not always possible in the real world. In this paper, we investigate the implications for program design and delivery to accommodate projects at different design stages based on our experience delivering a non-residential new construction program in Wisconsin sponsored by We Energies.

From January 1, 2005 through June 30, 2007, fifty-eight buildings participated in We Energies' program, representing 6 million square feet across a range of building uses, size, ownership, and design process types. Our dissection of energy impact data from these projects shows that project design stage at the time of registration with the program is a primary factor for influencing the energy efficiency related decisions.

This paper focuses on quantification of "decision making ability" available during each design stage in terms of energy savings within the program. The relevance of early design involvement in the program will be quantified and analyzed in terms of energy savings as compared with projects later in the design process.

We will discuss features and modifications made to the program design and implementation to accommodate projects entering the program in any stage of the design process short of substantial completion. We offer program delivery recommendations for energy modeling and field implementation to apply program resources most efficiently for each project with an emphasis on design phase.