New Buildings Institute
- 10 Years in Review
Since December 1997, New Buildings Institute has worked with
national, regional, state and utility groups to improve energy
efficiency in commercial new construction. By advancing technologies
and design practices, advocating for better codes and providing
national leadership, our efforts have contributed to making
buildings better for people and the environment. Take
a look back at some of the highlights of our first ten
years.
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What's New
New Buildings Institute has received an award
from the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy
Research (PIER) Program. NBI’s proposal, Evidence-Based
Design and Operations, was ranked number 1. The largest piece
of work is an NBI-led whole buildings measured performance
project, very much related to our work with USGBC and the
Measured Performance Steering Committee. Other projects in
the proposal, all related to improving the real work performance
of buildings, include plug load examination (with Ecos Consulting),
Fault Detection and Diagnostics (with Purdue University and
Western Cooling Efficiency Center), daylighting tool testing/development
(with Architectural Energy Corporation and California Lighting
Technology Center).
Promise
vs. Performance: A Deeper Shade of Green, published
in the October edition of Architect Magazine, addresses
the performance of LEED-rated buildings and explores the findings
of NBI’s USGBC-commissioned report “Energy Performance
of LEED for New Construction Buildings.”
NBI Announces New Board Members
As attention on green, high performance building has grown,
so has NBI. Four
new directors were seated in early August:
- Marge Anderson, Energy Center of Wisconsin
- Martha Brook, California Energy Commission
- Mark Eggers, New York State Energy Research &
Development Authority
- Brendan Owens, U.S. Green Building Council
As we welcome these individuals to our Board we'd also like
to acknowledge the contributions of outgoing Board Members
Brian Henderson and John Wilson and thank them for their long-standing
service to NBI.
NBI News
NBI is growing and changing. Learn about progress on our latest
efforts to improve the efficiency of new commercial buildings
by reading our latest newsletter.
Want regular updates?
LEED Energy Performance Project
 NBI
has just released the broadest
study to-date of measured energy performance of LEED buildings.
The study gathered whole building energy data from 121 LEED
NC buildings across the country that had been occupied for
at least one year.
On average, LEED buildings are delivering the anticipated
savings, performing 25-30% better than national average or
modeled baselines. Individual building results, however, display
a high degree of scatter, with some performing much better
than average and some much worse. These and other results
from this exploratory study suggest several opportunities
for improved feedback tools, follow-up research on actual
performance factors, improved modeling guidelines, and LEED
program refinements. For more information, contact
.
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Mark
Cherniack will be presenting a session on "Building
for the Future: Building Codes and Green Building Initiatives"
including Advanced Buildings Core Performance at
the American Public Power Association's 
Mark Frankel will be speaking at