Weathering the Perfect Storm: Resilient Lab Retrofit Projects

Alison Farmer, Andelman and Lelek Engineering, Inc.

Using the example of the recently completed major energy retrofit at UMass Medical's Lazare Research Building in Worcester, MA, we will discuss the hallmarks of successful lab retrofit projects and potential ways to overcome some of the common challenges facing project teams. Topics for discussion will include: the importance of communication between vendors, facility staff, and consultants; M&V and estimating energy savings in the face of incomplete information; the value and challenges that utility company involvement brings to a project; the amount of diligence that constitutes due diligence; and the technical and organizational successes and lessons learned from the LRB project.

Learning Objectives

• Identify common attributes of successful retrofit projects and typical issues encountered
• Develop potential process improvements to make projects resilient to stormy seas
• Understand the spectrum of methods that can be used to estimate realized energy savings

Biographies:

Alison Farmer is a physicist with a deep dedication to energy efficiency in buildings. Alison has extensive experience as an energy efficiency consultant for lab facilities, from strategic planning to detailed energy savings calculations. She teaches classes on energy analysis and is membership chair of the I²SL New England chapter. Alison holds bachelors and masters degrees in physics from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in astrophysics from Caltech.

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