ASHRAE Insights

Nine million tons (8.2 Mg) of carbon dioxide and $600 million in energy costs.That’s the potential savings represented by 100,000 copies in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series now in circulation.

More than 88,000 copies of the publications have been obtained via free download since January.

The series includes publications on small retail and small office buildings, K–12 school buildings, and warehouses and self-storage units. The books provide guidance on how to achieve 30% energy savings over building code minimum based on ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999, Energy Standard for Buildings except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.

Calculations show that if every guide downloaded resulted in a single building designed to save 30% beyond code minimum, the estimated energy and carbon savings would be 52 trillion Btus and 9 million tons of carbon dioxide. With an average cost of electricity of 5 cents per kWh and gas at $7 per MMBtu, the estimated cost of energy savings is over $600 million.

The guides are developed by ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America and the U.S. Green Building Council, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The downloads are available at www.ashrae.org/freeaedg.

“ASHRAE is committed to energy optimization and producing guidance that will help move the building industry toward market-viable net-zero-energy and carbon neutral buildings,” said ASHRAE President Kent Peterson, P.E. “The call for these high performing buildings is transforming our industry, and the guidance in the Advanced Energy Design Guide series is useable technology guidance to help owners, architects and engineers in accomplishing high-performing buildings.”

Upcoming publications in the series include 30% guidance books for highway lodging, existing buildings and small health-care facilities.