Introduction
The EEB Hub held its first Occupant-Led Energy Efficiency Workshop on January 14, 2014. This event convened representatives from eight innovative, energy-focused companies, EEB Hub researchers, and a large portfolio holding company, to discuss the current state of technology that engages tenants with energy efficiency in commercial buildings. Approximately 60 online and in-person attendees participated in the program.
Marla Thalheimer, Director of Sustainability for Liberty Property Trust, first discussed lessons learned from Liberty’s own efforts in energy efficiency and the feedback from tenants. She underscored the importance of speaking one-on-one with each tenant before undertaking any retrofits so that they can understand why changes are being made and the potential benefits for the occupants. Close coordination is essential to ensure that improvements align with tenants’ needs and that the occupants will therefore not override them. Thalheimer also reminded attendees that energy conservation measures (ECMs) can actually increase energy consumption due to building use and tenant adaptation. She shared an example of a real case of increased light energy use after occupancy sensors were installed in a building with a university tenant. Students attending weekend classes caused sensors to trigger more light energy use than had been occurring when lights were turned on manually.
Session 1: Engaging Large Numbers of Individuals
The first session looked at how to incentivize entire offices, companies, or campuses to work towards reducing their energy usage. Russell Zimmerman from QA Graphics, which develops specialized energy efficiency dashboards based on individual client needs touched on the importance of friendly competitions and employing a user-friendly interface that people want to engage with. Azizan Aziz, a Hub investigator, then spoke about the Intelligent Workspace Dashboard which allows users to see how their energy use compares to their colleagues. It also gives users the option to turn connected computers or screens on or off remotely. The final panelist, Kevin Burns from Lucid Design Group, a energy efficiency dashboard developer, reemphasized the importance of addressing plug loads in buildings. Studies suggest that plug loads will dominate the electric grid by 2030, so management systems like Lucid may become more prominent in the near future. Even today, Lucid’s research is compiled from real-world building data which shows that plug load energy consumption is significantly higher than studies suggest. Burns concluded by sharing results of a large-scale college campus energy competition hosted by Lucid, which drove significant energy savings, and segued nicely into the event’s second session.
Session 2: Programs with National Reach
Mary Ostafi, who manages HOK’s aptly named Occupant Engagement Program, opened up the next segment of the afternoon. Based on the ethos that “buildings don’t use energy… people do,” the program is custom tailored to each customer and results have been striking. Since launching an initial pilot with mixed results, HOK has been able to drive energy savings of up to 30% through a community-based social marketing approach. A few important lessons learned from this engagement program include:
If you place a visual aid to remind someone to do something, you have a chance of getting them to change their behavior, which becomes a positive influence.
Making behavior convenient, such as bike share programs, will influence an increased uptake of biking in a city!
Information feedback – sharing those results with the people who are affected – really motivates change. If participants can see their positive impacts, they’ll sustain the behavior. The more creative you are with the feedback, the better.
The session’s other two speakers, EEB Hub researchers Deane Evans of NJIT and Dr. James Freihaut of Penn State, shared two powerful Hub-funded programs that lay the groundwork for occupant-led energy savings. Evans walked the audience through the Saving Energy in Leased Spaces Toolkit, a web-based education platform that addresses three different scenarios in which tenants can push for energy savings: existing leases, new leases, and tenant fit-out.
Freihaut introduced the Hub’s pilot efforts to establish a Continuous Efficiency Improvements Loop: a methodology that will allow owners/operators to continuously model, monitor, set targets, report results, and take actions such as implementing low-risk options for energy improvements – and then repeat. The process is based on measuring fleet characteristics and begins by targeting outliers. Freihaut gave an example of results of a pilot examining a chain of convenience stores, which use as much energy as a large commercial office building.
Session 3: Technologies that Make it possible (COMMERCIALIZATION)
Five companies presented their products that are making energy efficiency more tenant-centered in this last session, as a part of the Hub’s Integrated Solution Showcase series.
First, Lindsay Baker, VP of Research and Marketing at Building Robotics, presented Comfy, an interface that allows tenants to request 10 minutes of hot of cold air to directly adjust the temperature of their space. The novel system puts control in occupants’ hands, while preventing them from changing the actual preset heating and cooling set point. As a plus, the added convenience extends to building operators who will no longer need to respond to constant requests for temperature adjustment. Using Comfy, tenants’ control is balanced against optimal energy efficient performance, and users have seen impressive energy savings. Building Robotics’ clients are currently undisclosed pilot projects so no data is yet available for the public.
Pete Smith of Bert Brain explained the company’s wireless platform that can control a particular plug load and meter it on a two-tiered level. Typically, Bert is used to control equipment with large plug loads: vending machines, large-scale copiers, window AC units, coffee makers. The system is all wifi enabled, which means users can log in anywhere to measure and control plug loads connected via the Bert technology.
David Errigo presented the LED light fixture by LumenOptix which offers a quick, tool-less LED replacement which can be easily installed in offices or schools to reduce energy consumption. LumenOptix offers various types of universally compatible LED inserts which can replace older fluorescent or down lights in any type of building. Errigo shared a quote from Warren Buffet: “Business schools reward difficult, complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.” The mission of LumexOptix is to take a very complex technology and make it simple to understand and implement. Lighting retrofits typically require huge install costs which are prohibitive, but on the other hand LumenOptix’ LEDs can easily replace older lighting systems, are energy efficient and provide a quick return on investment.
Jim Yorgey spoke on behalf of Lutron, which makes a suite of light dimmer and switch products, serving owner and tenant demands for ways to cut energy costs. Lutron’s retrofit lighting technologies include in-wall occupancy switches and dimmers, and daylight monitoring sensors which communicate wirelessly with compatible dimmers and switches. The sensors can measure daylight in a space and appropriately control the intensity to balance the light levels. Daylighting in this controlled fashion is one of many ECM recommendations promoted by the EEB Hub. Lutron’s stairwell vacancy sensor keeps light levels at a minimum 15% illuminance at all times and then boost levels to 75% when the space is occupied.
Harry Etra from CodeGreen Solutions closed out the event with a bit of something different. CodeGreen is a national energy efficiency and sustainability consulting firm and has built a niche service offering around benchmarking and disclosure law support services. CodeGreen’s partners include USGBC, EnergyStar, ConEdison, PG&E, and BOMA. Altogether, CodeGreen’s team has benchmarked 250 million sqft of building space across the United States through their work with Fortune 500s, single owners, and brokers. The company has now taken benchmarking information a step further, as noted Harry Etra, “we wanted to take publically available data and put it on an app.” The first-of-its-kind free iPhone or Android app empowers commercial building occupants to understand the implications and comparisons of their energy consumption – by filtering through cities, building groups, an address radius or publically available EnergyStar scores. Data is contextualized by the building’s size range and age, carbon footprint, and comparison to average building performance or to similar buildings in the area.
Conclusion
All of these occupant-oriented products demonstrate an understanding that energy efficiency is not simply a technology issue, but requires buy-in from tenants, financiers, and other stakeholders. There is a greater chance that commercial building tenants will work with the technology and tailor their actions to increase energy savings when the technologies are developed with them, as the end user, in mind.