Week 3 Questions


It is extremely important to monitor building energy and water use for several reasons.
One is that monitoring usage allows for the adjustment of building systems and the potentially significant reduction of energy and water consumption.  If there is a thorough understanding of use, informed decisions can be made and efficient adjustments can be implemented.

An example of this is the VIU building, which had much higher energy consumption than was originally predicted.  Because extensive monitoring software was used in the project, it was determined that gas, primarily the boiler gas loads, was one of the major reasons for this. The use of separate meters for lighting, plug loads, and boilers provided the necessary data to resolve the issue.

Another reason for the importance of monitoring energy and water use is that it provides data that allows for increased awareness and education.  For example, when water use is monitored, a device can be placed a water fountain to graphically show the user how many water bottles are being saved.

A long term benefit of monitoring the energy and water use in a building is that it provides a resource for future modeling.  The more data that is available, the more accurate modeling will be and the more efficient future design will be.




The AIA states that energy is a design problem, and they are undoubtedly correct.  Energy use, especially when considered in a modern, sustainable fashion, is absolutely integral to a building.

Energy use strategies have a significant impact upon a building in the physical sense, from site orientation to form to material selection, as well as the building systems.  They also inform the experiential aspect of a building: the influence of energy usage in the design of an atrium or a facade invariably affects the way in which users experience and occupy a building.  An example of this is the Genzyme building in Cambridge, with its massive atrium that directly impacts the way in which employees work and interact.  Creating this atmosphere while addressing energy usage is an iterative process, and certainly is a design problem.

Energy is a design problem in another sense as well, in that the way in which the design process is structured is inherently different when energy use is a primary goal of a project.  Due to the complexity of energy efficient building systems, an integrated design process in which all team members work in a highly collaborative environment is arguably necessary.  Creating this environment, and maintaining it, is a type of design problem.




Water is also a design problem.  The rapid increase in water consumption over recent years has created an issue with supply and availability, and as a result a new design problem has arisen: how can water needs be addressed more efficiently to reduce consumption, and how can they be addressed on site to increase supply?

Paula Kehoe and Sarah Rhodes, in their article "Water Efficiency", suggest that creating new supplies is equal in importance to conserving consumption.  They also note that toilet flushing, as a significant percentage of overall use, is something that can be addressed through treatment and reuse of water that is already on site.  Resolving the issue of water consumption is certainly possible, but not easy, and therefore the search for more efficient solutions throughout the design of a building can be considered a design problem.