SYNOPSIS

Everyone talks about the glamour and glory of green buildings as well as the higher income for designers, contractors, and product manufacturers, but almost no one talks about the problems, risks, and performance.  This presentation will examine some of the reasons why green buildings do not always perform as expected, some of the misconceptions about “high performance” green buildings, and some of the risks for designers, contractors, and manufacturers, as well as owners and operators.  Even meeting the mandatory prerequisites for USGBC LEED® and other certification programs is easily challenged.  Most industry publications feature green buildings, but do not publish their metered energy consumption, so it can be compared with the readers’ experience.  Too much reliance is placed on energy models, which cannot account for occupants, operators, and the installed equipment and plug loads.

Actual experience with metered energy data from green and sustainable buildings shows that most do not perform any better than any other comparable new buildings.  One of the main reasons is the complexity that is designed and installed to hopefully achieve more points and meet higher standards, but rarely performs as advertised or modeled.  In addition, most building operators are not able to understand how these complex systems are supposed to function.  Even many contractors have little or no training or experience with installing and maintaining these systems.  This presentation will provide examples of widely publicized green and sustainable buildings with metered data that proves they waste energy efficiently.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Mr. Spielvogel is a Consulting Engineer in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and is a Registered Professional Engineer in 49 States. He is also a Chartered Engineer (CEng) in England, a European Engineer (Eur Ing) in 27 Common Market Countries, an International Professional Engineer (Int PE) in 11 other countries, a Certified Plant Engineer (CPE), and has lectured and written extensively.

He is a Fellow of ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning
Engineers), was an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer, and is a winner of its 50-Year Distinguished Service and other awards. From 2002 to 2005, he served on the ASHRAE Board of Directors and on many standing committees. He spent 19 years as a member and chaired the ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 Project Committee from 1999 to 2002, which serves as the basis for most building energy codes and is the energy benchmark for Federal tax legislation, the US Green Building Council LEED® Program, and most other green building programs. He served on the IESNA Board of Directors from 1976 to 1979.

He is also a Fellow of CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) (England), a Fellow of the SLL (Society of Light and Lighting) (England), an Emeritus Member of IESNA (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America), a Charter Member of ASPE (American Society of Plumbing Engineers), and a member of NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), ICC (International Code Council), and many other Technical and Charitable Societies.

His practice is limited to consulting on building energy management, procurement, and problem solving in buildings, and he has been a consultant on many major buildings around the country and the world.