Case Study of the Energy Design Process Used for a Retail Application

Designing and constructing low-energy buildings (buildings that consume 50% to 70% less energy than code-compliant buildings) require the design team to follow a process that considers how the building envelope and systems work together. The High-Performance Buildings Research Project at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed a technique called the 'energy design process.' Thisprocess requires a design team to set energy-efficiency goals at the beginning of the pre-design phase. Detailed computer simulations used throughout the design and construction phases ensure that the building is optimized for energy efficiency and that changes to the design do not adversely affect energy performance. Properly commissioning the building and educating the building operators arethe final steps to successfully constructing a low-energy building. NREL's High-Performance Buildings Research project applies the energy design process in the context of real building projects. This paper defines the energy design process and describes how the process was used to optimize the design of the BigHorn Center, a retail building in Silverthorne, Colorado.