Advanced energy design and operation technologies

Current practice in design of commercial buildings does not adequately consider the relationships between design decisions and energy performance. Estimates indicate that if energy criteria were integral to the design process, more than 15% of the energy used in new buildings could be conserved. This could be done using readily available energy-efficient design knowledge, without any increase in first costs. Furthermore, building design necessarily involves assumptions concerning use and operation of the building once it is built. Currently, operations practices intended by the designer are not adequately transferred during commissioning to building operators for use as guides during operation. Advanced technologies for overcoming these problems are described in this paper. The advanced energy design and operations technologies will consist of an intelligent automated design advisor that utilizes artificial intelligence and other advanced computer technologies to provide assistance to and encourage interaction among all participants in the design process. Assistance will be provided at all points in the building design process, especially in the early phases of design (e.g., during building programming) where decisions can have particularly significant impacts on energy consumption. The technology used for the design advisor will facilitate transfer of critical operation guidance to building operators and, coupledmore » with monitoring technology, provide feedback on performance to the design process. 4 refs., 1 fig.« less