photo credit: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)

by Jeffrey C Kadlowec, Registered Architect

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program began in 1993, led by Robert K Watson with support from the US Green Building Council (USGBC) [1]. The goal of the USGBC and the LEED building certification process is to “save money, improve efficiency, lower carbon emissions and create healthier places for people.” [2] Building-related energy consumption accounts for 48% of the total energy consumed by society [3], with commercial buildings accounting for a large portion of total building area.

The United States, much like China, is divided into a climate zones variety of climates and weather conditions ranging from severe cold to extreme hot. Chapter 3 of [4] classifies these into seven zones for the continental 48 states, with Alaska in Zone 8; Hawaii and island territories as Zone 1 like the southern tip of Florida. The building departments of Southern Nevada have adopted the Building Energy Codes Program for residential and commercial buildings [5]. Free software is provided to produce required reports analyzing the envelope, mechanical system, and interior / exterior lighting loads.

Reduction in the carbon footprint of commercial buildings has become one of the leading drivers in technology research and sustainable design for the 21st century. There has been a 2% reduction over the past twenty years, a 10% increase in efficiency in the last ten, with a current focus on electricity decarbonization [6]. Achieving the goal set by the Paris Agreement to limit global warming requires reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century.

The urbanization currently taking place due to rapid population increases has caused a growing need for high-rise residential construction [7]. Earthquakes can cause a catastrophic damage to buildings around the world. The dynamic loads they impose on structures are a key factor in the design of these structures. The stability of these buildings is dependent upon proper analysis of lateral forces caused by seismic loads and wind loads which induce base shear, story displacement, and story drift.

The design of many commercial buildings ignore the effects of climate increasing the consumption of energy for cooling and heating. With HVAC systems tending to be homogeneous in nature, the external façade of one of the major components affecting efficiency [8]. The concept of thermal mass has traditionally been used in to regulate interior temperatures by offsetting solar heat gains and nighttime heat loss. Modern design approaches have been explored over the past hundred years along with incorporation of new materials and methods to enhance the building performance. Advancements in engineering and the analysis of various exterior components allow for optimization of the building envelope.

Buildings account for 40% of the total energy consumption in the world with about 15% of that consumed by the lighting systems [9]. Except for sodium and halide laps in large facilities, lamp types are typically fluorescent, LED and incandescent. These lumen output per watt is a measure of the amount of light generated based on the energy input. LED lamps have begun replacing incandescent bulbs because of their efficiency and extremely long life. Linear fluorescent fixtures are most common in commercial applications.

Designing commercial buildings in Autodesk Revit Architecture provides a complete three-dimensional model of the building including all of these components [10]. The parametric nature of BIM allows for the changes and substitutions to be easily made throughout the design process. Additional levels of detail can be added through each phase provided an accurate representation of the building and the opportunity to optimize each of system.

References

[1] LEED. (2022). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEED.
[2] LEED Rating System. (2023). USGBC. https://www.usgbc.org/leed.
[3] Zhao, Shanguo & Feng, Wei & Zhang, Shicong & Hou, Jing & Zhou, Nan & Levine, M.. (2015). Energy Savings and Cost-benefit Analysis of the New Commercial Building Standard in China. Procedia Engineering. 121. 317-324. 10.1016/j.proeng.2015.08.1074.
[4] International Energy Conservation Code. (2018). International Code Council. energycodes.gov/rescheck & energycodes.gov/comcheck.
[6] Xiang, Xiwang & Ma, Minda & Ma, Xin & Chen, Liming & Cai, W.G. & Feng, Wei & Ma, Zhili. (2022). Historical decarbonization of global commercial building operations in the 21st century.
[7] Nishanth, Ch & Swaroop, Y. & Jagarapu, Durga Chaitanya Kumar & Jogi, Pavan. (2020). Analysis and design of commercial building with different slab arrangements using ETABS. Materials Today: Proceedings. 33. 10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.823.
[8] Khamis Mohamed Ali, Ahmed & Massoud, Osama & Ali, Sherif & El-Razik, M. (2022). Improve the energy efficiency for the commercial buildings (case study: window treatment for mall facades in Cairo, Egypt). 12. 687-699. 10.37896/JXAT14.12/316554.
[9] Baharom, Faizal & Ahmad, K & Mohd Nasir, Mohamad Na’im & Wan Daud, Wan Mohd Bukhari & Jaafar, Hazriq Izzuan. (2015). New Construction for Commercial Building (Restaurant) By Considering The Green Building Strategies. International Journal of Engineering and Technology. 7. 1329-1342.
[10] Reddy, E. & Singaram, Kailash Kumar. (2019). Design and Modelling of G+5 Commercial Building by Autodesk Revit Architecture. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology. 9. 4732-4736. 10.35940/ijeat.B5136.129219.