Page 217 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

ENERGY-RELATED QUESTIONS 193

project was certified as the first LEED Platinum project in the United States, under
the original USGBC pilot program for the LEED rating system. The Merrill Center
uses approximately two-thirds less energy than a typical office. The building’s east-
west orientation and operable windows were designed to take advantage of natural
lighting and ventilation. The walls and roof were constructed with SIPs (Structural
Insulated Panels). Approximately one-third of the building’s energy comes from
renewable resources including photovoltaic panels and geothermal heat pumps.*

Energy-Related Questions

In another context, the poet William Blake once wrote that “Energy is an eternal
†
delight and he that desires, but acts not, breeds Pestilence.” This is a good introduc-
tion to the overriding issue today in high-performance building design, which is to
realize our desire to dramatically reduce energy use in building design, construction,
and operations. The pestilence in this case would be global warming from a continu-
ing growth of global carbon dioxide emissions, nearly half of which come from com-
mercial and residential structures.
More projects are striving to attain zero net energy use through the use of onsite
power production and the purchase of green power to make up any shortfalls between
onsite generation and actual use. Since most buildings rely on electricity for most of
their power (using gas or fuel oil primarily for water heating and space heating), gen-
erating electricity onsite either through microturbines or solar photovoltaic systems is
becoming an accepted way to deal with onsite power generation. Figure 10.1 shows the
rationale for onsite production. The conventional remote electric power distribution

Figure 10.1 Onsite energy production reduces the loss of value from the
primary energy source by more than 70 percent. Redrawn with permission from Interface
Engineering.

*Chesapeake Bay Foundation [online], http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_merrillcenter_
energy_main, accessed April 2008.
† William Blake, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” Plate 66–67, 1792, found in www.cyberpat.com/shirlsite/
essays/blake.html, accessed April 28, 2008.