Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT
Manitoba Hydro Place is among the most energy-efficient office buildings in North America. The building's high performance has its roots in an integrated design process, but the expected results were only achieved after an intensive optimisation phase. Situated in Winnipeg, Canada, where temperatures range from -35°C (-31°F) to +35°C (95°F) annually, a unique climatically-responsive design was constructed to take advantage of passive energy opportunities. For example, the buildingform is oriented with solar gains in mind, with a wide exposure to the exact south, and a reduced façade area in the north. These strategies, with the support of energy modeling as a design tool, were intended to reduce energy at Manitoba Hydro Place by 60% compared to the Model National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings. Upon building completion, an optimisation process began, which included the key engineers from the design team. The optimisation process considered data from hundreds of energy meters and made comparisons with the as-built model. Discrepancies were identified, and several modifications were made to mechanical and control systems. Throughout this process, the energy consumption of Manitoba Hydro Place was reduced from 161.2 kWh/m^sup 2^a (16.1 kWh/ft^sup 2^a) in the first year of operation to 85.3 kWh/m^sup 2^a (8.5 kWh/ft^sup 2^a) by the third year.
INTRODUCTION
In the development of a high-performance building, significant emphasis is placed on the design phase. This is reflected in most building certification systems, which award most or all of the certification points during this stage of the process. In many cases, the actual performance of a building is overlooked. A similar pattern can be seen in the area of knowledge transfer of high performing buildings. While there is already information widely available in the area of design strategies, there is a relative lack of documentation available about the post-commissioning optimization process.
Manitoba Hydro is the public energy utility for the Province of Manitoba, with more than 98% of its electricity generation coming from renewable hydroelectric stations in the region. With the construction of a new head office in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba Hydro decided to consolidate 2000 employees from several suburban offices into one central location. The company had several key goals for the project, but the primary objectives were:
1. To create a supportive workplace...