Utilities test Office of the Future


While reducing energy use in office spaces is fast becoming priority No. 1 for building managers, it’s not always a priority for building owners. That’s why a group of utilities from across the country called Office of the Future is contributing more than $1 million to study and document the effects of implementing a drastically different incentive model to convince building owners to tackle energy-saving measures.


Known as the Office of the Future Consortium, the group of eight utilities aims to reduce commercial buildings’ energy demand by 25 percent compared to California’s Title 24 requirements and ASHRAE 90.1-2004 codes nationally. It is taking a systems approach, rather than a traditional incentive-by-incentive approach, to create a framework for a system-based incentive called Advanced Energy Office.


“In order for the utilities to meet our energy goals—which are significant—we have to move away from a widget approach to energy,” says Doug Avery, project manager with Southern California Edison. 
Any final incentive program structure developed by the consortium would have to be approved by state utility commissions, which would not be a slam dunk. Utilities need hard data to support their case for any new incentive, according to Avery. 


The consortium is collecting data from nine pilot projects to prove the effectiveness of its plan. Measures include reduced lighting loads, advanced controls, low-cost HVAC system tune ups and advanced metering, which would cost about $1 million. The pilots are taking place in a wide variety of climates and range from a 2,000-square-foot office building to an 80,000-square-foot data center. Four of the projects are within Southern California Edison territory. Three are privately owned and one is a federal government office. Avery says he expects as much as a 60 percent reduction in energy use at each site.


White Salmon-based New Buildings Institute (NBI) is helping the group with administration and analyzing pilot project data.