Site: This includes not only the macro-climate, but also the micro-climate. Where your project is one of the biggest factors impacting the performance of your building. The key items to look for are dry bulb temperature, relative humidity and solar angles.
(Pro Note: You can get these with 2 simple clicks within cove.tool). Collectively these can help determine how the orientation of your building. In case, the site does not allow flexibility of orientation, these parameters help determine where to put high glazing percentage vs low glazing percentages on the building.
Passive Strategies: The most cost optimal way to create a high performance building is to exploit all passive strategies with appropriate massing, orientation, glazing percentages, natural ventilation, thermal mass etc, and then take the next step and use active strategies.
(Pro Tip : cove.tool automatically runs 6 most commonly used passive strategies to determine their impact on thermal comfort)
Money: Every project has a budget associated with it, making each aspect of the project subject to potential Value Engineering (VE). While, in the perfect world, VE may not exist, in our current world it definitely does. Doing a cost vs energy optimization to determine the lowest Return on Investment (ROI) gets owners more excited about the building performance strategies. To make the performance a realistic part of the project, always mention it’s impact on Money - First cost and Life Cycle Cost.
(Pro Tip : cove.tool runs a parametric cost vs energy optimization for first cost and life cycle cost.)
Carbon Emissions: Although climate change is a reality that many have been experiencing and scientists have been documenting for years, it has only become more of an everyday term after visionaries like Elon Musk and Michael Bloomberg have spoken and written about it. Regardless, buildings contribute to over 30% of the total carbon emissions in United States and with our new facilities, we can make an impact.
Certifications: Buildings contribute to over 30% of the total carbon emissions in United States and with our new facilities, we can make an impact. We live in a time where building performance certifications help raise the $/sf in rent and a better attract talent, student or tenant to a specific facility. With certification systems like LEED (USGBC), ASHRAE 189.1, Green Globes and more, are a great way to add that value to the project.
(Pro Tip : cove.tool does a preliminary calculation of your LEED EAc2 points.)