Lessons learned Green Energy Benny Farm

www.dunsky.ca (514) 504-9030 | [email protected]

Energy Efficiency in Affordable Housing

Alex J Hill, MEng, PMP, LEED AP Senior Energy Consultant, DUNSKY ENERGY CONSULTING November 25, 2013

[ slide #2 ] www.dunsky.ca

DUNSKY ENERGY CONSULTING

SERVICES

Design and evaluation of programs, plans and policies

Strategic, regulatory and analytical support

New opportunities assessments

CLIENTS

Utilities

Government

Industry

Non-profits

(sample clients from among >100)

EXPERTISE

Energy Efficiency and Demand-Side Management

Renewable Energy and Emerging Technologies

Greenhouse Gas Reductions


OUTLINE / OBJECTIVES

Introduction to Energy Efficiency in Social Housing

Green Energy Benny Farm

Outcomes and Lessons Learned

How the Lessons Were Applied

How to approach sustainable building design

Matching the Human scale

Socially, economically and environmentally appropriate

Green Building is: Quality Building, Energy Efficient Building


ENERGY EFFICIENCY’S POTENTIAL

Need to find new ways to meet growing demand with limited resources

CHEAP: compared to new supply (power plants)

JOBS: ~2-10 times more jobs per investment

CLIMATE: 1st priority reduce CO2 emissions

ECONOMIC BENEFIT: Frees money for productive uses

BOTTOM LINE: Biggest bang for the buck

Lowest Cost « Source » of Energy.


BUILDINGS CONSUME…

one-quarter of the global wood harvest,

one-sixth of its fresh water,

and two-fifths of material and energy flows.

In the United States, buildings account for 65 percent of electricity consumption and 36 percent of primary energy use.

A typical American house produces 26,000 pounds of greenhouse gases each year, enough to fill the Goodyear blimp.


EE/RE BENEFITS FOR COMMUNITY HOUSING

Large market – Growing needs

Ontario 267,000 units - $400M in utility bills

Quebec over 75,000 units owned or financed by SHQ - $406M in management costs annually

Centrally managed – Publicly funded

Campus development

Natural breaking of the “Split Incentive” Barrier

Longer term returns often acceptable to subsidized housing investors

Key players: Local social housing developers, Municipalities, Provinces, Federal (CMHC)


BENNY FARM: A VISION FOR A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY

Community Redevelopment: Renovation, new construction and in-fills

Conserving Energy and Water in three affordable housing projects


SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS USE AND MANAGMENT

The Green Energy Benny Farm projects were an early example of LEED construction practices in Quebec

Re-used bricks and radiators

Gypsum recuperated from flue gas scrubbing (95% pre-consumer recycled)

Fly-ash used in concrete

Waste management, re-use and recycling On-site building methods to reduce waste

Water efficiency and grey water recycling

Targeted LEED Gold rating


INTEGRATED ENERGY SYSTEMS Energy Efficient design with Ground source heat pump loops

Solar water heating and make-up air preheating


DISTRICT ENERGY SYSTEM CONCEPT

Energy Service

company formed

to implement

construct and

manage award

winning design


WITH COMPLEXITY RISKS ABOUND

* Montreal Gazette, September 2007

Renovations and lowest cost contracting led to deficiencies

Initial legal structure – servitudes for access in horizontal condominiums posed barrier

Innovative infrastructure needed redesign and rebuilding

Construction delays led to removal of third partner – loss of DE strategy

Through re-commissioning, redesign, and rebuild, systems were corrected and brought back on line


FINAL RESULTS UNDER-PERFORMED

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

EE4 referencebuilding

EE4 modelresults

Realconsumption

Ave

rag

e a

nn

ua

l c

on

su

mp

tio

n (

MJ

)

Chez Soi NDG Natural gas

Electricity

Overly-optimistic model predictions

Intermittent failure of GSHP and Solar array

Addition of cooling services

Lower performing measures and controls integration

Occupant behavior

Compounding Factors...


PERFORMANCE RISK IN GREEN BUILDINGS

New Building Institute, 2010

LEED building study results

Overall positive results: 20-25% average energy savings

Most under performing are Gold-Platinum

Scatter = risk (innovation)


OTHER OPPORTUNITIES AND BENEFITS The project created new opportunities to improve life for the residents

The project furthered knowledge about green building technologies


LEARNINGS FROM THE BENNY FARM EXPERIENCE

Avoid “innovation overload” – pick measures to match the occupant capacity

Avoid cross-over redundancies

Ensure adequate commissioning from day one to post-occupancy, covering all systems

Invest in integrated design process up front with strong client representation.

Formulate your successful recipe of EE/RE measures and equipment

Plan for affordable housing as a service, not just a commodity

Invest upfront AND in maintenance to keep projects affordable

Green building requires higher QC: Improve access to qualified commissioning

RESIDENTS/OWNERS PROGRAMS & POLICIES PROJECT TEAMS

Ensure each partner has adequate capacity to fulfill their role

Seek out third-party expert maintenance and management

Be prepared for contingency funding on energy bills – master-metering should be a thing of the past.

Plan as a group of projects with shared goals from the start


APPLYING THE LEARNINGS COTEAU VERT AND UN TOIT POUR TOUS

Cooperative 95 units

Non-profit Org. 60 units


REDUCED COMPLEXITY IMPROVED RESULTS

Project combines some “winning” approaches: partial district heating with redundancies, hot water supply using central gas fired units

Results so far:

Reduced energy costs

Lighter approach more manageable, and avoids redundancies

Central management coming together


Minimizing building occupant footprint

Local, recycled, non-polluting materials selection and use

Water efficient systems and rain water harvesting and use

Reduced energy consumption to less than 30% of typical, met needs with reliable Solar PV, GSHP and Solar Thermal

ABONDANCE MONTREAL NET-ZERO CONDOMINIUM


AN AFFORDABLE MARKET-READY MODEL


THE FINAL WORD

Green Energy Benny Farm presented a bold and compelling vision

Hit many pillars of sustainable construction

But the overly complex systems ultimately undermined the vision

With hard work and devotion, eventually arrived at a range of important community benefits

The learned outcomes have helped to shape the green building industry and social housing in Montreal, and across Quebec

and a final word on solar thermal systems…


Thank you... QUESTIONS?

Alex Hill, MEng, PMP, LEED AP DUNSKY ENERGY CONSULTING

(514) 504 9030 x30 [email protected]

www.dunsky.ca

Documents

Lessons learned Green Energy Benny Farm