ASHRAE - American Society of Heating@ Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers@ Inc.
Scope
ABSTRACT The construction of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) new 220@000-ft2 (20@438-m2) Research Support Facility (RSF) was completed in June 2010. The project's Request for Proposals (RFP) set a whole-building demand-side energy use requirement of a nominal 25 kBtu/ft2??yr (78.8 kWh/m2??yr). The RSF baseline plug and process loads (PPLs) were 35.1 kBtu/ft2??yr (110.6 kWh/m2??yr). To meet the building energy goal@ PPLs had to be reduced by approximately 50%. This paper documents the methodology NREL researchers developed to identify and reduce PPLs as part of the RSF's low energy design process. They examined PPLs@ including elevators@ kitchen equipment in breakrooms@ and office equipment in NREL's previously occupied office spaces to determine a baseline. This@ along with research into the most energy-efficient products and practices@ enabled these researchers to formulate a reduction strategy that should yield a 47% reduction in PPLs. The building owner and the design team played equally important roles in developing and implementing opportunities to reduce PPLs. Based on the work done in the RSF@ a generalized multistep process has been developed for application to other buildings.