Supercharged Buildings Use Less Energy than Conventional Buildings

Dec. 17, 2013
Energy experts recognize that it is far more cost effective to save energy than to produce it. It is four to five times more economical to save one megawatt than to produce one megawatt. Moreover, ‘negawatts,’ or energy saved, produces no emissions. So the US government is encouraging development of net zero energy buildings. Thermal energy storage offers a highly effective way to help buildings achieve this goal.

This is the 6th article in a six-part editorial series which explains how a Supercharged building design can make your next commercial build more comfortable and energy efficient. Best of all, these building principles cost no more than conventional construction. This editorial series is sponsored by Termobuild.

Supercharged buildings use less energy than conventional buildings. But more significantly, they use less energy at the right time.

Many power plants run continuously day and night because it is not easy to turn them on and off. However, much of the energy they produce is not needed at night; it’s wasted. They produce excess power and therefore excess emissions. This can be compared to letting a car idle all night when it’s parked in the driveway. In contrast, supercharged buildings fuel up on night air, taking advantage of ‘nature’s green gas station’. So they help grid operators improve night time performance.

Moreover, if implemented on a larger scale, the Termobuild solution could reduce the need for building new power plants to serve the grid and optimize existing plants for better return on investment. In our estimation, if our method is utilized on a larger scale, two power stations can do the job of three – and a lot better!

As mentioned before, Termobuild does more than even out peaks and valleys of consumption; these buildings offer exceptional energy savings – a 45 percent reduction when compared to others. Consider the fact that saving one watt of energy negates the need to produce four watts. That means using our approach, the grid would need only 70 power stations (500 MW each); where under a conventional scenario it would need 100 power stations of the same capacity. (For more details on this energy analysis download the white paper.)

It is important to improve the efficiency of buildings since they account for 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Termobuild has seen up to a 65 percent reduction in use of heating equipment and a 40 to 60 percent reduction in air conditioning, depending on climate zone and humidity factors. So, Termobuild design means significantly less energy use and therefore lower emissions from buildings.

Energy experts recognize that it is far more cost effective to save energy than to produce it. It is four to five times more economical to save one megawatt than to produce one megawatt. Moreover, ‘negawatts,’ or energy saved, produces no emissions. So the US government is encouraging development of net zero energy buildings – structures that produce, on average, as much energy as they use. Thermal energy storage offers a highly effective way to help buildings achieve this goal.

It’s also important to note that in addition to supercharging, Termobuild construction can incorporate renewable energy, such as wind, solar electric and solar thermal with greater efficiencies. It also includes the best of today’s smart energy technology. For example, Termobuild’s digital benchmarking dashboard not only offers instant diagnostics, but also acts as a great tool for busy executives to visualize real time consumption from various sources on hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis.

Paving the way for more supercharged buildings
Energy efficient buildings often sell or lease at a premium. This market advantage is likely to expand as more and more cities require that buildings file public reports about their energy usage. Several cities already do require such benchmarking, among them New York, Boston, San Francisco, Austin, Washington, Seattle, Minneapolis and Philadelphia to name a few. Given the superior performance of the supercharged building, it is likely to fare well and thrive under these systems.

Several supercharged buildings have been built in North America. (See whitepaper for examples.) But there is far more to be done to encourage broader adoption of this highly efficient structure – which not only serves as an energy storage vessel, but also meets and exceeds energy benchmarks of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for 2020 and complies with latest fire and safety codes.

Building codes are evolving and have yet to widely incorporate mandatory standards for energy storage and integrated solutions like Termobuild. Distributed energy storage eventually will become a code requirement, a pre-requisite for any building. A cost analysis of various building structures confirms that it makes good business sense now for wider implementation across the US and Canada.

Distributed energy storage also is increasingly recognized for its importance by key rating organizations, such as the US Green Building Council, which sets requirements for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

That’s a start.

But forward-thinking architects, capital project managers and real estate portfolio managers aren’t waiting for regulators and ranking systems to catch up. They are taking advantage of Termobuild’s competitive advantage now. This white paper provided an overview of the Termobuild supercharged building. For greater detail, we encourage you to contact Termobuild’s green team directly: USA: 347.905.0865 / Canada: 905.764.1878 or visit www.termobuild.com.

About the Author

Kevin Normandeau | Publisher

Kevin is a veteran of the publishing industry having worked for brands like PC World, AOL, Network World, Data Center Knowledge and other business to business sites. He focuses on industry trends in the energy efficiency industry.

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