When we first published a map of LEED buildings per capita in 2011, we were accused of a political agenda by a few people. After the initial surprise and chuckle, our curiosity started to grow, after all, as energy-modelers we naturally gravitate towards analyzing data. So we asked ourselves, “What side would this map be on for a political agenda?”

Can you guess...

Question:

USGBC is asking me for a manual calculation on fan power. Can you walk me through how you calculate the fan power for a VAV system for LEED?

Answer:

It’s a pretty straightforward process. However, it does require some bouncing around in ASHRAE 90.1 and that can lead to confusion, so after this walk-through you might simply prefer to use our fan calculator. One of the most complicated parts of the calculation is determining the filter credit. But remember that you should only apply the fan credit if ALL the supply air is filtered. (The workaround is discussed in the...

Over a year ago, I decided to give LED’s a whirl and the LED's decided to give me a headache. I decided that I could not make a verdict on the purchase until a year had passed. It's been over a year, so here goes:

First thing, I did not install them for interior lighting, but for exterior night-time lighting only. I’m sure many of you are aware that LED’s are more popular for exterior lighting than they are indoors. In my opinion, exterior lighting is one of the best places to get LEED points because of the undisputed energy savings, plus LED’s can easily meet the lighting pollution reduction SSc8.

In any, case - why’d I update to outdoor LED’s? Naturally, I am energy conscious, but the main reason is because the...

I’d like to ask you the reader, what do you think I mean by the word ‘green’ in the title of this blog. I'd guess that most of you thought of multiple facets of green, but primarily thought of energy.

In the past decade, most conversations you have likely had about anything 'green' have had a large emphasis on energy. In some cases, it was probably the only topic in the conversation; energy consumption has become the cultural catch-all for being green. (even though energy consumption is only a piece of the green pie!)

Why has 'saving energy' become synonymous with “green”? This may sound like a trivial question but to put it in perspective, consider that twenty some years ago, the phrase ‘green’ was synonymous with “Don’t...