Developing a Standard Structure for Energy Auditing Using Building Information Modeling at the Pennsylvania State University
Craig R. Dubler, Ph.D., Penn State University
Tabitha Sprau Coulter, MS, Penn State University
United States buildings account for 39 percent of our total energy consumption, 71 percent of electricity consumption and 39 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, a commitment to sustainability means constructing highly efficient, aesthetically pleasing buildings, which maximize their positive impact on the environment with regard to building materials, indoor air quality, landscaping, and overall footprint. It also means that existing buildings are "tuned up" to operate as efficiently as possible. The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) has over 30 million gross square feet, in 1,761 buildings, for all its 24 locations. The University Park campus alone contains over 940 buildings with an average age of 33 years. Penn State has invested $40 million to re-commission and retrofit existing buildings at University Park and several Commonwealth campuses. The challenge the university faces is where to invest these funds to provide the greatest impact on energy savings. In some instances, the standard data that are typically used to perform energy analyses for existing buildings may be representing the existing buildings' actual performance inaccurately.
This presentation will outline the current initiative at Penn State to inform the selection criteria on future energy retrofit projects. Specifically, the presenters will summarize the current energy auditing process followed by Penn State for the different retrofit types and levels, evaluate the energy auditing energy modeling tools that is used by the industry, and perform a comparison of the benchmarking data that is used in energy models on retrofit projects against the actual performance of these buildings. The presentation will conclude with how this initiative is integrating with the use of building information modeling (BIM) on new and existing facilities at Penn State.
Biographies:
Craig Dubler is a virtual design and construction engineer for the Office of Physical Plant and a course instructor for the architectural engineering department at Penn State. Upon completion of his master's degree, Dr. Dubler worked for two general contractors in the Washington, D.C. area. After several years of industry experience, Dr. Dubler returned to Penn State for his doctorate degree to gain further knowledge of the trending implementation of BIM. Dr. Dubler played an integral part in the development of the BIM Project Execution Planning Guide, a structured planning resource that assists team members with the use of BIM throughout the lifecycle of a facility. Upon completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Dubler transitioned to the Office of Physical Plant and continues to teach and advise future industry members. His current focus is the implementation of BIM into facility operations and is responsible for information integration within the Office of Physical Plant at Penn State.
After receiving her master's of science degree in architectural engineering from Penn State, Tabitha Sprau Coulter spent time working as a mechanical engineer for KlingStubbins. Ms. Sprau Coulter has recently returned to Penn State as a Ph.D. candidate. She is currently working with the Navy Yard E.E.B. Hub to develop a retrofit-specific user interface for a tablet application that will be used to collect initial building data. The tablet application will be used to perform screening audits and will feed that data into analytical tools. Ms. Sprau Coulter's personal research is focused on improving the benchmarking data utilized to perform energy analyses. The screening audit application and improved benchmarking data will enable building owners to make more informed energy based retrofit decisions.