Pre-Design

The AEDG prescriptive requirements include: 

• a maximum allowable window-to-wall ratio;
• continuous insulation on the outside of walls;
• roofs and floor-slab minimum thermal performance;
• minimum window and door thermal performance;
• minimum boiler and chiller efficiencies;
• and mandatory use economizers or heat recovery ventilation.

If your project team is not comfortable following these guidelines, consider switching to Option 1, which gives you more flexibility.

Early access to the AEDG by each team member avoids last-minute changes that can have cascading, and costly, effects across many building systems.

Develop a checklist of all requirements, and assign responsible team members to accomplish them. Hold a meeting to walk the team through the AEDG checklist for your project’s climate zone. Clarify specific design goals and prescriptive requirements in the OPR for EAp1: Fundamental Commissioning.

Find your climate zone before attempting to meet any detailed prescriptive requirements. Climate zones vary by county, so be sure to select the right one. (See the Documentation Toolkit for a list of climate zones by county.)

Provide a copy of the AEDG to each team member as everyone, including the architect, mechanical and electrical engineers, lighting designer, and commissioning agents, are responsible for ensuring compliance. These are available to download free from the ASHRAE website.

Option 2: Prescriptive Compliance Path—ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Office Buildings, 2004. 

Even if you’re using Option 1, refer to the Advanced Energy Design Guides and Core Performance Guide (referenced by Options 2 and 3) for ideas on cost-effective measures to implement.

Energy-efficient design can increase your construction budget. Use your computer model to optimize packages of upgrades that balance any added costs against cost savings, and run payback analyses to identify the most cost-effective options.  

Consider highly efficient systems like heat pumps for heating and cooling, district energy and cogeneration, ice storage for off-peak cooling, or energy recovery ventilation—to attain a substantial energy reduction of 10%-20%.

Your mechanical engineer and energy modeler need to work in collaboration with the architect when finalizing building form, façade treatment, and programming—to give real-time input on the energy impact of all the design features.