September 28, 2022
Understanding Title 24’s Life Cycle Energy Metric, Time Dependent Value (TDV)
Years ago, I spent many nights wishing I could discover a better way to evaluate some of the most obscure metrics in circulation in the California building energy industry. In particular, the long-term cost metrics California uses to estimate the cost of electricity and gas for buildings, also known as Blog
May 16, 2022
Energy Management Systems, Making Information Actionable
Energy management systems (EMSs) have become a popular tool in high performance buildings. You may have heard the term or have some familiarity with the concept; however, a lot of confusion persists in the building industry about what constitutes an EMS and how and when it can be useful.An EMS Blog
April 12, 2022
Finding the Value of Building Energy Modeling
April 6, 2021
Top Stories From 2020
October 30, 2020
Bending the Curve on Climate Change with Ongoing Commissioning
Our very own Michele Sagehorn recently had the opportunity to present with one of our top clients Chris Weyandt of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as part of the Virtual 2020 BCxA Conference. The event, which is still available for viewing and continuing education credits, was held on August 24th and Blog
August 24, 2020
The North Star of Ongoing Commissioning: Start with the OPR!
I just completed a presentation for the BCXA 2020 Conference with Chris Weyandt, Ongoing Commissioning Leader, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL), on “Why Ongoing Commissioning is necessary.” During the Q&A session, a very important question was posed that I think needs to be discussed; “Is the Owner’s Project Requirement Blog
July 22, 2020
Tools to Create an All-Electric Building Energy Code for California
April 8, 2020
What No One Tells You About HVAC & Lighting Integration
In a building, lighting and HVAC have historically remained separate systems without a need to communicate with one another. Although each of these systems have advanced in efficiency independently, there are additional energy efficiency synergies when they can be integrated. Recently, California’s 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24 Part Blog
November 9, 2019
Title 24 2022: Carbon Based Energy Codes for California?
In a workshop this October, the CEC released a set of working presentations about efforts underway to re-shape energy codes and standards for California building codes. With a rapidly changing planet and massive deployment of renewable energy which are changing the very shape of the energy grid, building codes and Blog
October 9, 2019
A Journey Towards Zero: Transitioning Zero Energy Designs into Zero Energy Operations
Straight talk with Chuck Mignacco, Senior Manager of Campus Facility at one of the world’s most sustainable museums….. the Exploratorium. Back in September 2012, the Exploratorium announced its goal to be become the largest zero net energy (ZNE) museum in the U.S., if not in the world. After opening their Blog