Over the last few years, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) national laboratories have produced a series of documents containing technical support specifications and recommendations on how to achieve up to 50% energy savings in a range of buildings and facilities, such as:

• Quick-service restaurants

• Medium box retail buildings

• Small, medium, and large office buildings

• Grocery stores

• and large hospitals

These specifications will provide the basis for the next series of Advanced Energy Design Guides (AEDG), which are being promoted as “how-to” manuals for architects, engineers, and building designers to achieve exemplary, above-code energy performance for buildings using existing technologies. The 50% AEDG for small and medium office buildings is the first installment in the series to be made available here.

AEDGs that provide guidance for small offices, schools, hospitals, places of lodging, warehouses, and retail buildings to achieve 30% savings are already available at the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

The planned new crop of AEDGs will help offices, grocery stores, places of lodging, retail buildings, hospitals, and schools achieve 50% energy savings. You can view some of DOE’s early efforts in many of these categories.

For additional support with questions on energy savings design, please contact a Technical Assistance Service Provider or comment to this post.

Content for this Blog post courtesy of Katie Court and Todd Samuel, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory