Proposed Design Process for Deep Energy Savings in Commercial Building Retrofit Projects

Abstract

Existing buildings, or those constructed before 2000, make up approximately 90% of the commercial building stock in the U.S. Existing buildings represent a large opportunity for reducing energy consumption in the U.S., because they account for approximately 16% of the country’s energy consumption each year. This paper presents a design process, in the form of a set of recommended practices, for achieving successful, deep energy retrofits (those that reduce energy consumption by 30% or more) in commercial buildings. These practices include forming an integrated design team, developing a process map for the design phase of the retrofit project that facilitates collaboration and communication, and routinely evaluating the energy performance of the project. This paper focuses on the predesign, schematic design, design development, and construction documents phases of a retrofit project and proposes tasks required in each of these phases to achieve deep energy savings in a retrofit project.