Sdar 2014 for web

November 2014 Issue 4

The Journalof Applied

Research inInnovative

Engineeringand the BuiltEnvironment

Sustainable Design & Applied Researchin Engineering and the Built Environment

Journal

BuildingServicesnews

School ofMultidisciplinaryTechnologies

SDAR Cover 2014:Layout 1 12/11/2014 16:58 Page 1

Focus on appliedresearchThe School of Electrical and Electronic

Engineering (SEEE) in the Dublin Institute

of Technology focuses on applied research

with a strong emphasis on producing

useful and novel ideas to help Irish

industry compete globally.

Each year SEEE research produces patents

and technologies to licence and most recently

has resulted in a spin-out company in the

area of mobile communications.

SEEE research is recognised for its impact

and quality, which in many cases is on a

par with that of the very best groups

internationally. Researchers in the school

have also built strong collaborations with

internationally-renowned groups in Europe,

India, China and elsewhere, allowing the

School’s researchers to access unique research

knowledge and facilities.

ContactProfessor Michael Conlon Head of School Tel: +353 1 402 4617/4650/4575Email: [email protected]

www.dit.ie/colleges/collegeofengineeringbuiltenvironment/collegeresearch/

Areas of research � Biomedical Engineering

� Assistive Technology and Health Informatics

� Audio Engineering

� Wireless Comms

� Photonics Sensing for Structures

� RF Propagation

� Microelectronic Circuits and Systems

� Control Systems and Robotics

� Engineering Education and Teaching &

Learning Pedagogy

� Information and Communications Security

� Sustainable Design

� Energy Management

� Lighting

� Renewable Technologies

School Research Centres The Antenna & High Frequency Research Centre (AHFR)ahfr.dit.ie/

The Dublin Energy Lab (DEL)dublinenergylab.dit.ie/dublinenergylab/

The Photonics Centre (PRC)prc.dit.ie/

The Electrical Power Research Centre (EPRC)dit.ie/eprc/

The Communications Network

Research Institute (CNRI)

cnri.dit.ie/

Research Advert:Layout 1 16/11/2014 13:17 Page 1

Contents Introduction

Welcome to the the fourth edition of the SDAR Journal which the CharteredInstitute of Buildings Services Engineers (CIBSE) in Ireland is delighted to partner withthe Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) in producing this exciting publication.

The partnership approach between CIBSE and DIT is an excellent example of industryand third-level colleges working together in response to the need for more research inthe areas of sustainability and low-energy technology. Compiling the results of someof this research in a single journal makes for a valuable source of information toresearchers, designers and all involved in the built environment.

The recovery that we are experiencing in the construction sector at present is givingrise to an increased demand for engineering solutions that are innovative, and thisonly can be delivered by detailed investigation of new ideas and new technology. InIreland we are fortunate to have highly-educated and capable engineers and scientistswho can deliver on the demand for this detailed research.

The various events that CIBSE Ireland organises in conjunction with the DIT, such asthe Irish Lighter, Young Lighter and SDAR Awards, are potential sources for futureresearch papers. Other CPD events including the annual CIBSE Ireland conference andthe building services master class at the SEAI Energy Show are also ideal platforms toshowcase papers that could eventually be published in the SDAR Journal.

I would encourage third-level students, academic staff and alsothe industry as a whole to be actively involved in these events byproviding papers, including case study information, that we canall learn from. Through the medium of the SDAR Journal we willthen ensure that the benefits of this information are made freelyavailable for all involved in the building services sector.

DIT is delighted to be co-publisher of the fourth edition of the SDAR Journal.The ongoing collaboration between DIT and CIBSE represented by this publication isof great importance to us as an academic research community.

As Director and Dean of the College of Engineering and Built Environment at DIT, I am very aware how important it is for us to fulfil a core objective of our mission tobuild strong relationships with industry and to help disseminate new knowledge andideas. This journal offers a means for authors from a variety of institutions andorganisations to share significant research contributions with the wider world ofengineering and the built environment. As result, it provides a direct high-qualitypathway for this College to realise one of our core objectives.

We place a strong focus on applied research in DIT which is recognised for its impactand quality, and in many cases is on a par with that of the very best groupsinternationally. As a College we have a strong emphasis on research in areas such asenergy management, renewable energy technologies, electrical energy systems andsustainable design in the built environment. These research areas are of vital

importance in a world which increasingly realises the very finitenature of our planet’s resources, and the need to protect andnurture our environment.

I congratulate the editors of the journal and the authors on thehigh quality of their work and on their contributions to researchin this area, in Ireland and further afield.

Sean DowdChairman, CIBSE Ireland

Professor Gerald FarrellDirector and Dean of the College of Engineering and BuiltEnvironment, DIT

2 Editor’s foreword

2 A reader’s guide to this issue

5 Implementation of ISO 50001 Energy Management System in Sports StadiaAidan Byrne, Martin Barrett and Richard Kelly

15 A new approach to interior lighting design: early stage research in Ireland James Duff and Kevin Kelly

23 Leveraging Lean in construction: A case studyof a BIM-based HVAC manufacturing processColin Conway, Colin Keane, Sean McCarthy, Ciara Ahern and Avril Behan

31 Retrofit electrochromic glazing in a UK officeRuth Kelly Waskett, Birgit Painter, John Mardaljevic and Katherine Irvine

37 A Cost-optimal assessment of buildings in Ireland using Directive 2010/31/EU of the Energy Performance of Buildings RecastChristopher Pountney, David Ross and Sean Armstrong

The SDAR Journal is a sustainable design and applied researchpublication written by engineers and researchers forprofessionals in the built environment

Editor: Dr Kevin Kelly, DIT & CIBSEContact: [email protected]

Deputy Editor: Dr Keith Sunderland; Head of Electrical Services Engineering, DITContact: [email protected]

Support Editorial Team: Thomas Shannon, Yvonne Desmond,Pat Lehane

The Reviewing Panel is: Dr Martin Barrett, Professor MichaelConlon, Professor Tim Dwyer, Dr Avril Behan, Sean Dowd, KevinGaughan, Michael McNerney, David Doherty, Dr Marek Rebowand Professor Gerald Farrell.

Upload papers and access articles online:http://arrow.dit.ie/sdar/

Published by: CIBSE Ireland and the College of Engineering & Built Environment, DIT

Produced by: Pressline Ltd, Carraig Court, George’s Avenue,Blackrock, Co Dublin. Tel: 01 - 288 5001/2/3 Fax: 01 - 288 6966email: [email protected]

Printed by: Swift Print Solutions (SPS)

ISSN 2009-549X

© SDAR Research Journal

Additional copies can be purchased for €50 1

Editor’s foreword

Once again we bring you our annual issue of the SDAR Journal. This journal is intended toencourage innovative practice in low-energy design of the built environment, and to encourageapplied research among professional practitioners and new researchers in academia. The paperspublished are intended to inform design practice in construction and to assist innovative engineersstriving towards optimisation of building integrated renewable technologies.

CIBSE and DIT came together four years ago to jointly publish this journal. The intention then wasto disseminate insightful findings to the professional community involved in the builtenvironment. This is still the case. We assume the reader to be a sceptic who will be convincedby evidence. We are not interested in green bling on buildings or unproven designs. We wantinstead to encourage post-occupancy evaluation of innovations that support more sustainableand energy-efficient practice leading to mainstreaming of good-quality leading-edge projects.

While we want to hear what works well, we are conscious of the fact that the professionalcommunity can also be informed by what went wrong. Therefore we encourage critical reflectionand objective evaluation of real-world projects. Moving forward we want to publish more papersfrom our architectural and construction colleagues.

In this issue we feature a paper on Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM is not just theapplication of software but a paradigm shift in construction projects that demands a new psychefor large contractors who wish to compete internationally for large projects. BIM facilitatescollaborative working between all members of the design and construction team. BIM processesaccelerate project design times, reduce costs, and are shown to improve the speed and qualityof large projects. BIM also improves facilities management and cost control tasks.

We would be delighted to receive your abstracts or ideas and can offer support in the writing upof papers. The industry is data rich but sometimes time poor. We encourage and support inpractical terms synergies with academia. Academics are eager to support this applied researchprocess and will provide time on task in exchange for access to useful data. A good example ofthis is the lead paper in this issue, where a working engineer collaborated with academics in theSchool of Electrical and Electronic Engineering to produce a paper that will be informative tothose involved with stadia design and management throughout the world.

We are also keen to publish papers about current issues such as the EPBD Recast paper in thisissue. Would-be contributors are encouraged to submit abstracts for the annual SDAR Awardsand Irish Lighter competitions. Both competitions are effectively feeders for this journal. Weparticularly encourage novice researchers and industry professionals to submit short abstracts oftheir work, either to the above competitions or directly to me. There are two papers in this issuefrom PhD candidates who are also working engineers, one is on lighting design and the other isabout electrochromic glazing.

SDAR Journal 2014

2

Dr Kevin T. KellyC Eng FCIBSE FSLL FIEIHead of School of Multidisciplinary TechnologiesDublin Institute of Technology

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A Reader’s Guide

3

A Reader’s Gude

In this issue we bring you five varied and interesting papers that are briefly described below. The first paper byByrne et al is a world’s first implementation of ISO 50001Energy Management System in an international sports stadium.

The changes implemented areexplained and resulted in animpressive €1 million plus savingin three years. This is estimatedas “costs avoided” to accountfor increased energy unit rates.Energy savings were in the orderof 14,000 MWh over the sameperiod. Identifying significantenergy users (SEUs) and the

parameters affecting variability in energy is seen as crucial to a successful outcome. The Aviva Stadium in Dublin invested in sub-metering to achieve the energy savings it did.

The second paper is on lighting and the main author, JamesDuff, is an engineer/lighting designer and a part-time PhDstudent in DIT. Duff is at anadvanced stage of his PhD and hassome insights into the directionthat interior lighting designpractice is likely to take. It is widelyaccepted in the lighting communitythat present guidance andstandards lead only to functionalinteriors with adequate illuminanceon the working plane.

Duff is striving for more with a robust examination of theoriesput forward by Cuttle in New Zealand. This leads Duff toexamining whether the idea of brightness adequacy and roomappearance can be legislated for in lighting standards. In thispaper he explains, analyses and discusses the newmethodology proposed and explains how research in DIT isprogressing to overcome the barriers of implementation of this

method within lightingstandards.

The third paper describesBuilding InformationModelling (BIM) and Leanconstruction methods,implemented by MercuryEngineering. This paper iswritten collaborativelybetween the company

engineers and academics in DIT who lead and teach BIM in DIT.The paper identifies some early results of implementing BIMprocesses that acted as drivers of Lean construction. It is alsoan example of exemplary collaboration between disciplines(building services, electrical, manufacturing and geomatics)facilitated by BIM processes and technologies, and the moveaway from the silos that traditionally defined this sector.

The paper focuses on the business and personal benefits ofimplementing BIM and details the processes that have resultedin a significant increase in efficiency for the contractor. As moreclients demand BIM preparedness and experience, this paperprovides evidence of the benefits for contractors of BIMifyingtheir processes and of leveraging Lean. This is a must read forany contractor who wishes to compete nationally orinternationally for large projects.

The fourth paper is the firstUK case study that monitorsclosely occupants’ reaction tothe use of electrochromicglazing in a building. Theauthor is an engineer anddaylight specialist who iscompleting her PhD in DeMontfort University in the UK.Ruth Kelly shows the potentialfor this technology and how it can improve occupantcomfort, provide greater access to daylight and a view tooutside, while decreasing energy usage.

The fifth and final paper assesses buildings in Ireland againstthe EPBD Recast. It is the first cost-optimal assessment of

national energy performancestandards for buildings inIreland. The focus is on bothresidential and non-residentialbuildings and the new-buildstandards required under Part L.It evaluates the impact onprimary energy demandassociated with a range ofenergy efficiency measures andrenewable technologies.

Results show that new build residential standards are within or beyond the cost optimal range but that for non-residentialbuildings the current standards are outside the cost-optimalrange.

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CIBSE is the professional body that exists to “support the science, art and practice of building services engineering, by providing our members and the public with first class information and education services and promoting the spirit of fellowship which guides our work.”

CIBSE promotes the career of building services engineers by accrediting courses of study in further and higher education. It also approves work-based training programmes and provides routes to full professional registration and membership, including Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer and Engineering Technician. Once you are qualified, CIBSE offers you a range of services, all focussed on maintaining and enhancing professional excellence throughout your career.

CIBSE members in Ireland are represented by an active Regional Committee which is involved in organising CPD events, technical evenings, training courses, social events and an annual conference. The committee welcomes new members, suggestions, and collaborations with other institutions in the built environment.

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers in Ireland

Providing best practice advice, information and education services

We’re always on the lookout for you …

Email: [email protected] Web: www.cibseireland.org

Implementation of ISO50001 EnergyManagement System in Sports Stadia

Aidan ByrneAVIVA STADIUM

[email protected]

Martin BarrettDUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Richard KellyDUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY



Byrne, Barret, Kelly SDAR paper:Layout 1 12/11/2014 17:11 Page 5

Abstract

Many modern sports stadia around the world

consume large amounts of energy during their day-

to-day operations. With the cost of this energy

constantly on the rise, the challenge of managing

this uncontrolled cost has become increasingly

more important for the successful and sustainable

operation of these facilities. It is essential that

some form of energy management system be

embraced by these sports stadia.

This paper is a case study on Aviva Stadium’s

recent implementation of the ISO 50001 Energy

Management System. The authors identify the

potential challenges and benefits of implementing

the ISO 50001 Energy Management System in sports

stadia. Final certification to the standard came on the

25th of September 2013 making Aviva Stadium the

first stadium in the world to have achieved third-

party certification to the ISO 50001 standard.

This paper can act as a guide for other stadia wishing

to adapt ISO 50001 to their venue, especially since it

resulted in a €1 million energy cost avoidance over

a three-year period.

Key Words:

ISO 50001, Energy Management, Sports Stadia.

1. IntroductionAs the focus on energy continues to sharpen worldwide due to political, financial or environmentally driven factors, energymanagement systems such as the ISO 50001 Energy ManagementSystem aim to address these issues by enabling organisations toeffectively manage their energy use, consumption, efficiency andperformance. Many industries have already begun to adopt the ISO50001 Standard. However, the sports stadia industry has been slowto adapt to this recent trend.

The Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland has led the way for stadiaaround the world by becoming the first stadium in the world toimplement and achieve third-party certification to the ISO 50001standard. By using their experience in implementing ISO 50001 thispaper aims to identify the potential challenges and benefits ofimplementing this standard within a sports stadium, and act as a guide for other stadia who wish to implement ISO 50001 in the future.

1.1 Background

Aviva Stadium was officially completed in May 2010. It was thenhanded over to a management company which was set-up by thetwo host organisations i.e. The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU)and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). This managementcompany is registered as New Stadium Ltd, or ‘NSL’ as its alsoknown, but trades as Aviva Stadium and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the stadium, all pitch events and concertswhich are held within the stadium.

Upon opening, it was quite apparent to the senior managementof NSL that energy would be a major concern. Almost immediatelyit was clear that estimated energy costs foreseen were greatlyunderestimated by the designers. Despite the Aviva Stadium beinga state-of-the-art facility, encompassing some of the best plant andequipment available at the time of construction, the designer’smain priority was to create a stadium which could cater for up to50,000 people, up to 25 times a year, and not for the hosting ofmeetings, incentives, conferences and events (M.I.C.E). But M.I.C.Eare the second most essential revenue stream for the stadium, andare much more frequent throughout the year. As a result, thestadium consumed over 19,000MWH of energy during its openingyear. To address this issue the decision to implement the ISO 50001

SDAR Journal 2014

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Figure 1: Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland.


Implementation of ISO 50001 Energy Management System in Sports Stadia

7

Energy Management System was made in August 2011. Final certification to the standard came on the 25th of September 2013 making Aviva Stadium the first stadium in the world to have achieved third-party certification to the ISO 50001 standard.

Figure 2 outlines the stadium’s annual energy consumption overthe four years 2010 – 2013. It is clear that 2010’s consumption wasmuch greater than the subsequent years following theimplementation of ISO 50001 in May of 2011. However, the rise ingas consumption in 2013 was a direct result of the record lowtemperatures in Jan – April of that year.

2. ISO 50001The ISO 50001 Energy Management Standard was created by theInternational Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and wasdeveloped by the ISO/TC 242 “Energy Management” technicalcommittee. This committee was set up in 2008, and the final draftof ISO 50001 was released in June 2011. The committee consistedof 55 participating countries most notably the United Statesthrough the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) who were joint secretariat with Brazil’s Associação Brasileira deNormas Técnicas (ABNT) which translates as the Brazilian NationalStandards Organisation. Ireland participated through the NationalStandards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), and an additional 16 othercountries observed the work of this standard. These countries,unlike their participating counterparts, followed the work but couldnot make any comments or vote during the development process(International Organisation for Standardisation, 2011).

The standard outlines the requirements/specifications for anyorganisation in establishing, implementing, maintaining andimproving an energy management system (EnMS) through asystematic approach which will achieve continuous improvement ofthe organisations energy performance. Included in this is theenergy efficiency, consumption, energy use, and security of supplyirrespective of the organisation’s geographical, cultural or socialconditions. The continual nature of this energy reduction processalso reduces the associated energy costs and greenhouse gasemissions, thereby reducing the environmental impact made by theorganisation. The application of the standard can be tailored to suitthe specific needs or requirements of any organisation, irrespective

of the energy management system’s complexity, degree ofdocumentation used, and the amount of resources required /available.

ISO 50001 outlines rules and requirements for its implementation,but does not impose any definitive quantitative requirements forenergy performance. It simply states that an organisation shouldstrive to achieve commitments outlined in its energy policy, nordoes it enforce the obligations to which an organisation mustcomply in order to meet its legal and other requirements(International Organisation for Standardisation, 2011).

The ISO 50001 standard uses the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)methodology to continuously improve energy use in anorganisation by incorporating energy management practices into normal, everyday organisational practices (InternationalOrganisation for Standardisation, 2011).

• Plan: conduct the energy review and establish the baseline, energy performance indicators (EnPIs), objectives, targets and action plans necessary to deliver results that will improve energy performance in accordance with the organisation’s energy policy.

• Do: implement the energy management action plans.

• Check: monitor and measure processes and key characteristics of operations that determine energy performance against the energy policy and objectives, and report the results.

• Act: take actions to continually improve energy performance and the EnMS.

.

3. Applying ISO 50001 to Sports StadiaEven though the ISO 50001 Energy Management System wasdesigned to suit almost any organisation irrespective of its type,size or complexity, applying the ISO 50001 Energy ManagementSystem to a Sports Stadium is quite a unique process.

Using Aviva Stadium’s implementation as a guide, this section willoutline the various steps taken by the Aviva when implementingISO 50001. Figure 3 shows the energy management process usedby the Aviva Stadium’s energy management team. This flow chartis their interpretation of the PDCA cycle used by the ISO 50001

Figure 2: Aviva Stadium's annual energy consumption (2010- 2013).

Figure 3: Aviva Stadium's Energy Management Process.

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

2010

9,370

10,088

Elec

Gas

2011

7,724

8,718

2012

6,203

6,505

2013

6,425

8,724

MW

h


standard. It is divided into five main steps which are described asfollows.

3.1 Commit

The most important step in any implementation is the commitmentstage where the benefits of implementing ISO 50001 are identifiedand communicated to senior management. Should the standardbe deemed appropriate and in line with other objectives and goalsassociated with the successful operation of the organisation,implementation may proceed. It is vital that top management, or in the case of a sports stadium that the Stadium Director/CEO,clearly understands the benefits of ISO 50001 and commits to itby creating an energy policy stating the organisation’s commitmentto the continual improvement of energy performance. It must alsocomply with any legal and other requirements expected of theorganisation. This policy must be regularly reviewed and updated,generally during the annual Management Review.

A management representative then needs to be appointed whowill have the appropriate skills and competency to carry out therequired tasks in managing an energy management system. At theAviva Stadium the electrical engineer, now Facilities Manager, waschosen to be the management representative, alongside thestadium’s maintenance officer who is also responsible for theoperation of the EnMS. However, as both people have otherresponsibilities (primary roles), the implementation of the ISO50001 standard was of a secondary focus compared to theongoing maintenance of the facility and the hosting of large scaleevents. International matches dictated how much time could beallocated to the implementation process, thereby elongating theestimated time-frame required for final certification.

3.2 Identify

Once the commitment to the EnMS has been established, a reviewof the activities which may affect the energy performance must be undertaken. This is known as “The Energy Review”. During this energy review several things need to be identified: currentenergy sources, past and present energy consumption, significantenergy users (SEUs), their relevant variables and energyperformance indicators (EnPIs) and opportunities for improvingenergy performance.

By analysing the stadium’s energy consumption data, trends andpatterns in energy use can be identified and a profile of energy usecan be created for the stadium and from that, a baseline can be set.This baseline then becomes the benchmark for measuring changesin energy performance (UBMi, 2013). For example, the AvivaStadium currently uses 2012’s energy consumption as its baselineas it is a more accurate depiction of the stadium’s current energyuse. This is due to some major changes which were made sinceopening. Once this analysis of energy consumption has beencompleted, the areas of most significant energy usage can then be identified.

This SEU identification process was found to be profoundly

challenging. This was primarily related to the fact that AvivaStadium’s original design did not include any sub-metering forthermal or electrical loads. Due to this fact, the ‘Bottom Up’approach was applied during the initial SEU identification process.Tabulated information was gathered including plant schedules andequipment name plates, to quantify the energy consumptionrelating to each particular process or system. An example of thiswas an Excel spreadsheet created to tabulate the energyconsumption of all HVAC plant within the stadium. However, theaccuracy of this method proved relatively poor. As the purpose ofidentifying SEUs is to prioritise the allocation of resources whenreducing the consumption of significant areas of energy use, shouldthe identified areas of significant energy use be incorrect (due to inaccurate information) the allocation of resources may bewasted. Because of this fact the Aviva Stadium installed a verycomprehensive sub-metering system which consists of over 150electrical meters, 3 gas sub-meters, 6 thermal heat meters, and aweb-based monitoring system. The initial cost of this installation isin the region of 5 – 10% of the stadium’s average annual energyspend. This system has allowed them to identify their mostsignificant energy users more accurately, and easily. This hasresulted in less time spent on identifying these SEUs, and a moreefficient allocation of resources (i.e. money, time, skills etc.).

Not every energy user identified by sub-metering should bedeemed significant. Wooding, G and Oung, K 2013 believe theterm significant energy use is a subjective determination by theorganisation, so long as it meets at least one of the two followingcriteria:

i. The energy consumption is large in proportion to otherareas of energy use.

ii. The energy use offers significant opportunities for energyperformance improvement.

For example in Figure 4, the HVAC system consumed significantlymore energy than any other system in the stadium, thereforemaking it the top SEU. On the other hand the pitch “grow lights” consumed over 1,200,000 kWh of electricity, but weredeemed not be an SEU as they did not offer any significantopportunity for energy performance improvement (unless evennewer lighting rigs are purchased), but this is not feasible at thistime.

The Pareto 80/20 rule can also be utilised by organisations as ameans of identifying their significant energy users (SEUs). Byidentifying 80 per cent of the energy consumed (beginning withthe largest loads) as significant, the systems, plant or equipmentwhich are responsible for this energy use can be identified as thesite’s SEUs (see Aviva Stadium’s SEU Pareto chart in Figure 4).

The Pareto chart shown was created using a mixture of meteredand tabulated data, therefore its accuracy is not absolute. This iscurrently being corrected by staff at the Aviva, and the recentinstallation of heat meters will yield more specific data over thecoming heating session (2014). Also, the baseload SEU is expectedto be made redundant next year due to increased electrical metered data.

SDAR Journal 2014

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Relevant variables must then be identified for each SEU as it is ofvital importance that all external factors that have a significantimpact on their energy consumption be identified. This particularexercise proved to be almost impossible during the initial stages of the implementation at Aviva Stadium through a lack of sub-metering as they could not differentiate between the manyseparate loads which were amalgamated together. Therefore noone variable or driver could be identified as being a significantfactor in the overall consumption of energy.

Energy Performance Indicators (EnPIs) are crucial in the monitoringand measurement of the energy performance of each SEU, andthey should be used as a means of identifying significant deviationsin energy performance. They should be tightly related to therelevant variables which affect each SEU. EnPIs are essential in thedesign of measures which identify opportunities to reduce energyconsumption and improve energy efficiency Eccleston (2012). Thisprocess of constructing effective EnPIs to monitor the energyperformance of these SEUs still proves to be quite difficult and timeconsuming at the Aviva Stadium. One such example of an actualEnPI used by the Aviva Stadium, (which was alluded to previouslyin this paper) is the measure of external temperature versus theamount of energy consumed by the heating system:

Where

– kWh, is the energy consumption (i.e. gas);

– HDD, are the heating degree days using 15°C as the base temperature;

For example, in November 2013, 1,336,298 kWh of gas wasconsumed with 270 HDD. This equates to a ratio of 4949 kWh/HDD. During the previous November only 879,712 kWh of gas wasconsumed despite having 272 HDD, and therefore a lower ratio of3232 kWh/HDD. This then identified a significant deviation in gasconsumption for that month. A similar EnPI can also be utilised forstadia which also have an under-pitch heating system. In this casethe HDD base temperature used is around 10°C. This is becausegrass is expected to grow at, and above 10°C, and will help toidentify if the heating system is under control.

Once EnPIs are established and monitored opportunities forimprovement in energy performance should be prioritised andrecorded (UBMi, 2013). These opportunities for improvement

(OFIs) should be aimed towards energy technologies and sourcesubstitutions including material substitution, renewables, selectivesystem component replacement, electronic control systems, and other logistical considerations. A register of OFIs should bemaintained for further development later-on in the planning stages,Eccleston (2012).

One of the most significant opportunities for improvementimplemented by the Aviva Stadium was the re-programming of the Building Management System (BMS). This allowed them tochange which items of plant came on with each space time-zoneand only cost the Aviva €2000. As the designers primary designbrief was large pitch events, this resulted in far too much plantbeing called to run by the BMS when each space was in use. Insome cases it was found that air handling units and fans wererunning despite having no effect on certain event spaces. This newre-programmable matrix has allowed the technical staff at the AvivaStadium to correct this issue. After making this change to the BMSa regression analysis was completed the following year whichshowed that R2 value greater than 0.9 was achieved for the heatingsystem which showed a strong relationship between its gasconsumption and external temperature (the heating degree daysversus the gas consumed). Prior to this change in 2011 this wasnot the case as the R2 value was 0.7. This showed that the heatingsystem was not adequately controlled.

3.3 Plan

The true planning stage begins when an organisation establishes,implements, and maintains documented energy objectives andtargets (International Organisation for Standardisation, 2011). TheU.S Department of Energy (2012) describes these objectives andtargets as instruments to meet the commitments made in theenergy policy. Wooding & Oung (2013) urge that these objectivesand targets be measurable, realistic and achievable within a settime frame, or as Welch 2011 referred to as SMART objectives:Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic, Time-Bound.

It is important that these objectives and targets be approved by topmanagement and communicated to those who may have animpact on them. They must also be reviewed on a regular basis andduring the annual management review. Eccleston et al. (2012) alsosuggests that when establishing and reviewing these objectives and targets, the following should be considered: legal and otherrequirements, significant energy users, and opportunities forimprovement which were identified during the energy review. It iscritical that sports stadia management bear in mind theirobligations to governing sporting bodies when reviewing theirother requirements.

For example, the Aviva Stadium is required to provide 2,500 Lux ofvertical illuminance on the pitch for broadcasting purposes,therefore the sports (flood) lights may be required even during the middle of the day. This may seem like a waste of energy, but it is defined as a requirement for the event.

In most cases objectives and targets may be set by topmanagement. For example, reduce energy consumption by 10% in

9


Figure 4: Aviva Stadium’s SEU Pareto chart 2013.

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

3,500

2,500

1,500

500

SEUEU

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

MW

h

Baseloa

d

Pitch

Heatin

g

Hot Wate

r

Growlig

hts

Lighti

ng

Refrige

ration

Caterin

gHVA

C


2014. However, it is critical that such an objective be set by topmanagement so they can then allocate sufficient resources toachieve target. In other settings such as the Aviva Stadium, energytargets are established by the energy team which collates all of theopportunities for improvement (OFIs) selected for implementationthat year. The total estimated energy reduction calculated by their implementation becomes the energy reduction target forthat year.

The final part in setting these objectives and targets is theestablishment of an energy action plan which needs to bedocumented and maintained to show how these objectives andtargets will be achieved. It should also state how any improvementsin energy performance will be verified, and what method of resultverification has been used (Campbell, 2012). This energy actionplan will be the main charter for the energy management system,and great attention must be given to the allocation of resources when trying to successfully implement this energy actionplan.

An example from Aviva Stadium’s 2013 action plan was theobjective to improve the energy performance of the kiosk areas byshutting/powering them down in between events. This was to beverified by the use of electrical meters, and was also externallyverified by an external energy consultant who conducted aseparate measurement and verification plan on behalf of thestadium’s electricity supplier. This was in order to claim credits forenergy saving initiatives. This objective was achieved, and 306,124kWh was saved in 2013.

3.4 Take action

Not only is the “Take Action” stage about implementing the energyaction plan, it is also about implementing what the NSAI (2012)refers to as the six elements of the implementation and operationsection of the standard. These correspond directly with sub-section4.5 and include: competence, communication, documentation,operational control, design, procurement of energy services,products, equipment and energy.

Eccleston et al. (2012) describe competence in respect to energymanagement as ensuring that any person or persons working foror on behalf of an organisation, who are related to significantenergy uses, are competent on the basis of appropriate education,training and skills, or experience. Following on from this, Wooding& Oung (2013) discuss the requirement as per the standard, that anorganisation carry out a training needs analysis to ensure that thenecessary skills and competencies are properly identified andrecorded. Any gaps identified by this analysis should be filled withrelevant training, work experience or education. During theimplementation at the Aviva Stadium a training needs analysis was undertaken for all persons who have an effect on the stadium’s significant energy users. A list of the required trainingand competencies was compiled and a training register created.This register identified the training needs of each person, andwhich standard operating procedure (SOP) to be followed. Energyawareness plays a huge role in the success of any energymanagement system. Welch (2011) discusses the importance of

awareness training with respect to the energy policy, role ofemployees, and the potential consequences of staff failing tofollow procedures which may lead to significant deviations inenergy performance.

Awareness can be increased using several different communicationmethods including energy awareness campaigns, flyers, newslettersetc. It is advised that any awareness campaign be initiated by adirect communication from a stadium’s director, as this adds asignificant weight to the topic being discussed. Staff are more likelyto pay heed to their “boss” versus their colleague who may be the management representative/energy manager. This was then the approach taken by the Aviva Stadium during their energyawareness campaign where the stadium’s director introduced thetopic of energy awareness, ISO 50001 to all full-time internal staffbefore handing over to the other speakers. The main author of thispaper spoke about energy awareness in the home initially to helppeople understand the benefits of energy awareness. Themanagement representative then spoke about energy awareness atwork and the ISO 50001 system.

Documentation is a key component of any EnMS. As (Wooding& Oung 2013) explain, it is the process of establishing,implementing and maintaining procedures to control the EnMSdocumentation. It must ensure that these documents are approved,reviewed, updated, and any changes or revisions be clearlyidentifiable. Controlled documents must be legible and readilyavailable, and the unintended use of obsolete documentsprevented.

The energy team at the Aviva often found that the vast amounts ofdocumentation required (due in part to third-party certification)often hampered any “actual” energy management progress duringthe initial implementation phase. In particular, keeping thedocument control register and the legal requirement register up todate required a significant investment of staff time.

Operational control requires organisations to identify and plantheir operation and maintenance activities which are related to theirSEUs, and ensure that they are carried out under specific conditions(Campbell, 2012). Eccleston et al. 2012 suggests using the lean/six sigma implementation tools for the planning of theseoperations, as those methodologies are geared towards operationalprocess improvement i.e. reducing energy costs, improving energyefficiency, and improving overall energy performance.

Design requires that energy performance and improvements inenergy performance be considered when designing new, modified,and renovated facilities, plant, equipment, systems, and processeswhich may have a significant impact on energy performance.

Procurement of energy services, products, equipment andenergy also requires an organisation to consider energyperformance and efficiency when procuring these products orservices. It is imperative that a controlled purchasing specificationbe developed and documented for these services (Wooding, 2013).It is suggested that reference be made to energy criteria during anyrequests for quotations, proposals, other communication withsuppliers, and also in any procurement justifications made by theorganisation. An example of this at the Aviva Stadium was when

SDAR Journal 2014

10


they were replacing the filters in their air handling unit (AHUs), they made it abundantly clear to the supplier that energyperformance/efficiency was of critical importance. As a result, thesupplier proposed the installation of an alternative fibre-glass bagfilter to replace the existing synthetic bag and panel filters whichwere considerably more expensive but much more efficient. Theyalso eliminated the need for the panel filter which reduced thepressure drop across the AHUs, therefore allowing the frequency ofthe variable speed drives (VSD) to be reduced, thus saving aconsiderable amount of electrical energy.

3.5 Review

The Review stage of any EnMS can be divided into two separateparts i.e. Checking and the Management review which are bothclearly defined in the ISO 50001 standard.

The purpose of the checking section is to ensure that key characteristics which determine energy performance aremonitored, measured and analysed at planned intervals which canbe annual, bi-annual, quarterly, monthly etc. The ISO 50001standard describes the term key characteristics as the followingitems to be reviewed by the energy measurement plan – theoutputs from the energy review, relationship between SEUs andtheir relevant variables and EnPIs, and the effectiveness of theenergy action plans in achieving the set objectives and targets.

The measurement levels for each key characteristic should beappropriate to the size and complexity of the organisation. Theaccuracy and repeatability of the data used is vital, so calibration ofall monitoring and measurement equipment must be undertaken.Wooding & Oung (2013) describe this process as being the use ofenergy monitoring, measurement and analysis to validate, correctand/or improve its energy planning process.

As part of the Aviva Stadium’s EnMS, SEUs are reviewed on amonthly basis by inputting metered data for each energy user intoa Pareto chart. This gives both the monthly SEU breakdown as wellas the year-to-date status.

The relationships between SEUs and their relevant variables arereviewed at different intervals depending on the SEU. For instance, the relationship between the previously-mentionedheating degree days and the HVAC system are constantlymonitored using a weekly CUSUM and deviation spreadsheet. Thisspreadsheet identifies any deviations to the expected consumptionlevels (based on the heating degree days) and a separate monthlyregression analysis is also completed to identify the actualrelationship between gas consumption and the external weather.

The US Department of Energy’s eGuide for ISO 50001 (2012)highlights the importance of monitoring and measurement datafor the above key characteristics when identifying significantdeviations in energy performance and defines these significantdeviations as:

A deviation may be identified by a specific level of variation or can be evaluated by knowledgeable personnel to determine if it is significant and if action is required.

These deviations should be recorded and maintained in a deviationlog, and in Aviva Stadium’s case, any deviation either 20% aboveor below expected levels are recorded in its deviation log book,resulting in further investigation, corrective and preventative action.

The next part of the checking section is to evaluate the compliancewith both legal and other requirements as was previouslymentioned in Section 3.3. The organisation must establish aprocess to evaluate its compliance with legal and otherrequirements. This process should enable management to monitor progress against planned milestones relating to theserequirements, which may not only consist of the EnMS’s technicaland economic performance, but may also avoid potential violationsof laws and regulations, as well as lawsuits. One such milestone atthe Aviva was the obligation to obtain a Display Energy Cert (DEC).This was identified through the Pegasus Legal Register whichmanages their compliance with all legislation relating to energy,health and safety, and corporate law by completing a series ofquestionnaires. It also tracks the progress of all outstandingrequirements.

Sub-section 4.6.3 Internal audit of the EnMS requires anorganisation to “carry out and record internal audits at plannedintervals” (Wooding, 2013), so as to ensure that the EnMSconforms to the ISO 50001 standard, and activities necessary to improve the EnMS are carried out at planned intervals and are effective in improving the EnMS’s ability to improve its energy performance.

All internal audit conformance results must be recorded. Thedifference between compliance and conformance to the EnMSstandard is that the internal audit shall evaluate the ability of anorganisation’s EnMS to conform to the standard, while complianceis to meet the commitments made by the energy policy, and toachieve the objectives and targets set out during the energy actionplan. The result of the internal audit will be a non-conformities,correction, corrective action and preventative action plan NSAI(2012) where the cause of all non-conformities, or potential non-conformities can be determined, and whether corrective orpreventative action is required.

Section 4.7 Management review requires that top managementreview and record the current status of the organisation’s EnMS todetermine if it is suitable, adequate and effective in managing theorganisations energy performance Wooding (2013). Eccleston etal. (2012) surmises this as a systematic review by top managementof the organisation’s energy-related information, the evaluation ofthis information, the allocation of resources, and the direction ofimprovement actions where necessary.

Welch (2011) believes that this management review should be heldat least once a year and should include the current energy policy,energy review, internal audit report and the status of the NC, CAPAplan. This can be an intense process, but is vital in the successfulcompletion of the EnMS cycle. It closes the loop, allowing the cycleto repeat with renewed commitment from top management to theenergy management process.


11


4. BenefitsThe following benefits were found to be associated with AvivaStadium’s implementation of the ISO 50001 Energy ManagementSystem.

4.1 Energy Costs

As outlined in Figure 2, the stadium’s annual energy consumptionhas steadily declined since implementation began back in early2011. In the first year it was calculated that over 7,758 MWh ofelectricity and 6,317 MWh of gas was saved over this three-yearperiod following the initial implementation of ISO 50001.

Despite this steady decrease in energy consumption the constantupward trend in the market price, or Average Unit Price (AUP) ofenergy over the last number of years which can be seen in Figure5, has offset much of the potential financial savings at Aviva Stadium.

Even though some savings were curbed by the constant rise inenergy prices, had energy consumption at Aviva Stadium stayed at 2010 levels (through the lack of energy management), thepotential energy costs encountered by Aviva Stadium would havebeen significantly higher.

Therefore the potential savings (or costs avoided) as a result ofimplementing the ISO 50001 Energy Management System can becalculated by multiplying the average unit price of both gas andelectricity for each year (2011 – 2013) by the energy consumptionin 2010.

As a result the energy costs avoided by Aviva Stadium over thecourse of their ISO 50001 implementation were calculated to be€1,088,244 thus far.

4.2 Operational Efficiency and Costs

Other economic benefits related to the implementation of ISO50001 at Aviva Stadium were in relation to operational efficiencies achieved through the elimination of costs associated with externalauditor assistance which was required for their existing SustainableManagement System BS 8901 (now ISO 20121). By implementingISO 50001 the internal auditing process of both managementsystems was improved by allowing the operators of each system to audit the other. This eliminated the need for external auditor’sassistance when conducting thorough and unbiased audits, thus avoiding costs. Additionally, this correlation between bothmanagement systems meant that the training required for the staffconducting internal audits could be packaged together by thechosen service provider, who could then deliver on-site trainingtailored specifically for the internal auditing of both the ISO 50001 and ISO 20121 management systems. This resulted in asignificant reduction in the overall training cost as opposed tosending each system operator away separately to attend off-site training.

4.3 Reputation and Market Share Protection

The reputation of Aviva Stadium is deemed second to none withregard to the implementation of ISO 50001 as it was the firststadium in the world to achieve third-party certification to thestandard. This was confirmed by a Senior Scientific Officer onEnvironmental Management for the Federal Environment Agency inGermany (equivalent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)in America). This official was also part of the ISO/TC 242 EnergyManagement technical committee which was set up to create theISO 50001, who explained that there is no centralised databasetracking third-party certifications around the world. However, aninformal list of certifications is maintained on behalf of the

SDAR Journal 2014

12

MWh 2010 2011 2012 2013Elec 9,370 7,724 6,203 6,425Gas 10,088 8,718 6,505 8,724Elec saved 1,646 3,167 2,945 7,759Gas saved 1,370 3,584 1,364 6,317

Table 1 – Aviva Stadium's Energy Savings

Total Savings(MWh)

2010 2011 2012 2013Elec 9,370 7,724 6,203 6,425Gas 10,088 8,718 6,505 8,724Elec 852,747 688,221 628,384 726,116

Gas 286,947 306,354 305,510 456,722Elec 91 89 101 113Gas 28 35 47 52

Table 2 – Actual Energy Consumptions and Costs

Figure 5: Aviva Stadium’s annual energy costs.

MWh

€

€ / MWh

2011 2012 2013Elec 834,900 949,210 1,059,004Gas 354,490 473,832 528,115

Table 3 – Estimated Costs

€

2011 2012 2013 Sub totalElec 146,679 320,826 332,888 €800,393Gas 48,136 168,322 71,393 €287,851

Total €1,088,244

Table 4 – Estimated Savings / Costs Avoided

€

€/M

Wh

€1,1400,000

€1,1200,000

€1,1000,000

€800,000

€600,000

€400,000

€200,000

€120

€100

€80

€60

€40

€20

€€

Gas2010 2011 2012 2013

Elec Gas (AUP) Elec (AUP)



13

German government. This list is the closest thing to a centraliseddatabase that could be found and based on that information, AvivaStadium is the first stadium in the world to achieve third partycertification to the standard.

The implementation of ISO 50001 has improved Aviva Stadium’s status with its own key shareholders. The FAI and IRFU finance thestadium’s energy cost evenly between them. Certification to ISO50001 exhibits to both organisations that the use of energy withinthe stadium is being managed to an internationally recognisedstandard.

Achieving third-party certification to ISO 50001 standard is alsocurrently deemed to be a competitive and market share advantageto Aviva Stadium, but the sporting sector is slowly shifting towardsthese certifications being prerequisites when tendering for majorsporting events or tournaments. When the FAI and Dublin CityCouncil bid to host a package of games during the EURO 2020Football Championship, UEFA had a requirement that a minimumof 50% of energy used by the host stadium should come fromrenewable energy sources. Because the Aviva Stadium is certified toboth the ISO 50001 and BS 8901 standards, this was a positivefactor in the success of the bid.

5. Discussion

The aim of this paper was to act as a guide for other stadia whowish to implement the ISO 50001 standard using Aviva Stadium’srecent implementation, whilst also identifying the potentialchallenges and benefits of implementing ISO 50001. These resultsand conclusions are summarised as follows;

• When implementing ISO 50001 it is of vital importance thatmanagement give their full commitment to its implementation,and not just pay lip service to it.

• One of the main challenges faced during the Aviva Stadium’simplementation was the balancing act the energy team had toplay between implementing ISO 50001 and their other primaryduties/roles i.e. the ongoing maintenance of the facility and thehosting of large scale events. This is a specific challenge facingany stadia that wishes to implement the standard using in-houseresources.

• Identifying significant energy users and their relevantvariables is crucial, but it was the greatest difficulty encounteredby the Aviva Stadium due to their initial lack of sub-metering. Itis recommended that future stadia include a sub-meteringsystem as part of the original construction, and for existing stadiathat do not already have sub-metering, it is recommended that5-10% of a year’s energy consumption be allocated to theinstallation of sub-metering.

• Aviva Stadium’s current SEUs are the HVAC system, theirelectrical baseload, the under-pitch heating system, and theirdomestic hot water system.

• Creating useful EnPIs continues to be a difficult process forthe Aviva Stadium and the most useful EnPI is kWh/HDD for theheating system and under-pitch heating system.

• One of the most significant opportunity for improvement

implemented by the Aviva Stadium to date was the alteration totheir BMS which gave them finer control over their HVACsystem.

• By shutting down levels 1 and 5 between events, over300,000 kWh of electricity was saved in 2013.

• It is estimated that the Aviva Stadium has avoided over€1,088,244 in potential energy costs since implementing theISO 50001.

Acknowledgements

The main author would like to acknowledge the contribution of hiscolleague Eamon Williams who co-implemented the ISO 50001standard with him at the Aviva Stadium, and would like to thank hisco-authors Dr Martin Barrett and Richard Kelly of DIT for theircontribution and support.

ReferencesCampbell, C., (2012). Practical Guidance for ISO 50001Implementation. Houston: LRQA.

Eccleston, F. M. T. C., (2012). Inside Energy: Developing andManaging an ISO 50001 Energy Management System. s.l.:CRC Press.

Wooding, K. O., (2013). Implementing and Improving an EnergyManagement System. London: BSI.

International Organisation for Standardisation, (2011). ISO50001:2011. s.l.:s.n.

NSAI, (2012). ISO 50001 Energy Management System: DetailedGuide. [Online] Available at:http://www.nsai.ie/NSAI/files/bd/bd0f95ec-74d0-4c04-a990-76f3343a6f7d.pdf

U.S Department of Energy, (2012). DOE eGuide for ISO 50001.[Online] Available at: http://ecenter.ee.doe.gov/EM/SPM/Pages/Step1.aspx

UBMi, (2013). A Barbour Guide: Energy Management Systems BSISO 50001:2011. s.l.:UBMi.

Welch, T. E., (2011). Implementing ISO 50001: While integratingwith your environmental management system. Florida: TriMark Press.


The Irish Lighter and Young

Lighter Awards are annual

applied research events

promoted jointly by CIBSE

and the School of Electrical

& Electronic Engineering

in DIT Kevin St. They are

open to all building services

professionals, with SLL and

ILP members particularly

encouraged to participate.

THE IRISHLIGHTER/ YOUNG LIGHTER COMPETITIONS

Projects must be located in Ireland, and submissionscan also be made which are based on lighting research.Best abstracts are selected by a distinguishedinternational panel of assessors and a shortlist ofentrants is then invited to submit full papers.

For the Irish Lighter Award, entries are encouraged fromexperienced lighting designers, or engineers who canpresent a paper about a finished project.

• There may be post-occupancy evaluationevidence that is analysed critically and providesinsight for the professional lighting community;

• There may be an innovative and/or sustainable design that is at the industry cutting edge;

• Or it may be something worth publishing thatwill be of interest, and benefit, to theprofessional community.

The Irish Young Lighter competition began in DIT in2003 when the first students on the programme inElectrical Services Engineering graduated. Ken Winterswas the inaugural overall winner and he then went onto represent Ireland at the international Young Lighterin London in 2004, where he won the Best Presentation.

Published research papers by winners of both the IrishLighter and Young Lighter competitions may alsofeature in the SDAR Journal.

Who to contact

[email protected] or

[email protected]

BuildingBuildingServicesServicesnews

Irish Lighter Advert:Layout 1 17/11/2014 08:25 Page 1

A new approach tointerior lighting design:early stage research in Ireland

James DuffARUP AND

DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

[email protected]

Kevin KellyDUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY



Duff, Kelly SDAR paper:Layout 1 12/11/2014 19:00 Page 15

Abstract

Current standards for interior lighting design are

discussed and an alternative design methodology

proposed. Cuttle has previously suggested a new

criterion be defined as perceived adequacy of

illumination (PAI), and that the metric for specifying

minimum illumination standards becomes mean

room surface exitance (MRSE). This metric specifies

the overall brightness of illumination, enabling its

distribution to be planned in terms of target/

ambient illuminance ratio (TAIR). This new

methodology is explained, analysed and discussed

along with on-going research at the Dublin Institute

of Technology.

IntroductionLighting designers exercise their creativity against a backdrop ofcodes1,2,3, standards4, and recommended practice documents5, eachspecifying a range of lighting parameters for compliance. Foremostamong this is a schedule of minimum illuminance values related tovarious indoor activities. While it is accepted that standards arenecessary for general lighting practice, it has been quite commonin the past for experienced lighting designers to sometimesdisregard these standards as being irrelevant to their work. Thatattitude has become untenable due to the growth of regulations6

governing energy efficiency and sustainability. The practice ofspecifying indoor illumination in terms of workplane illuminancehas been firmly established by the Commission internationale del'éclairage (CIE) and the engineering-based lighting societies, andthe energy regulators have followed this practice pretty strictly.

This paper will discuss current standards and their relevance,introduce a new methodology for designing lighting withininteriors, and briefly describe some ongoing research that isexamining the suitability of the newly-proposed method.

Illumination schedulesAlthough specifying bodies have added various lighting qualitycriteria to their pronouncements7,8, the central factor remains theworkplane illuminance, and it is claimed that this quantity isdetermined primarily by the category of the visual task. The IESNALighting Handbook1 states that “Changes in visual performance asa function of task contrast and size, background reflectance, andobserver age can be calculated precisely”. Cuttle has previously9

applied the referenced procedure10 to examine how the illuminancerequired for a high standard of visual performance relates to variousreading tasks.

Figure 1 shows that, for the typical reading task of 12-pt type onwhite paper, it requires just 20 lux to provide for the relative visualperformance criterion of RVP=0.98, this value being generallyaccepted as the highest practical RVP level for lighting applications.It can be seen that the font size would have to be reduced to 6-ptfor the required illuminance to exceed 100 lux, or alternatively,reduced to 10-pt but printed onto dark-coloured paper, which hasthe double effect of reducing the background luminance and thetask contrast.

SDAR Journal 2014

16

Figure 1: As previously applied by Cuttle, the illuminance necessary for highlevels of RVP under varying illuminance levels, text size and backgroundcontrast.

10

100

1000

6 8 10 12 14

Illu

min

ance

(lu

x)

Point size (Pt)

Lightbackground

Mediumbackground

Darkbackground


A new approach to interior lighting design: early stage research in Ireland

17

However, this value of 100 lux falls far short of the levelsconventionally provided for applications where reading tasks areprevalent, and which typically fall within the range 300 to 500 lux.It is argued that such levels can be justified on the basis of visualperformance only by presuming that either the users are partiallyvisually defective, or that they are persistently required to read verysmall print with very low contrast on low reflectance backgrounds.

If this is not enough, we should not lose sight of the fact thatindoor spaces in which reading tasks (or tasks of similar visualdifficulty) are prevalent are not the universal norm. There are farmore spaces that we pass through, or in which we engage in socialor recreational activities, where our visual needs are much moresimple, and often comprise nothing more than the ability to be ableto navigate through a furnished space freely and safely. How muchlight do we need to do this? In a study11 of emergency egress frombuildings, Boyce conditioned subjects to 500 lux in an open-planoffice before plunging them into low, or very low, illuminancelevels, with the instruction that they were to find their way out. Aswell as timing them, he had installed infra-red cameras so he couldmonitor their progress, and he concluded: “At a mean illuminanceof 1.0 lux on the escape route people are able to move smoothlyand steadily through the space at a speed very little different fromthat achieved under normal room lighting.”

From the previous paragraphs, it is evident that within indoorspaces where reading tasks are prevalent, such as offices,classrooms and libraries, we commonly provide illuminance levelsthat are between 15 and 25 times as much as people actually needfor high levels of visual performance. As for spaces where findingone’s way is the foremost demand on our visual faculties, such asshopping malls interiors and airport terminals, we over-provide by several hundred fold. There are colossal differences between the illuminance levels required for the visual performance criteriathat standards are claimed to ensure, and the levels that thestandards specify.

Lighting for human satisfaction, or something else?The Illuminating Engineer published by the IES of Great Britain in October 191112 over 100 years ago includes a report titledIllumination requirements for various purposes. Contained withinis a table listing 34 activities along with corresponding illuminancevalues based on several field surveys. Regarding the aforementionedtasks, reading (ordinary print) is listed at 30 lux; and schoolroomsare also at 30 lux; commercial offices are 40 lux; and libraries rangefrom general, 15 lux, to bookshelves, 25 lux and reading tables 50lux. Admittedly, none of the indoor activities go as low as the 1 luxfinding from the emergency egress research, but broadly, ifallowance is made for the fact that these field-measured valuesprecede not only photocopiers and laser printers but also any visualperformance studies, it can be seen that general lighting practiceof 100 years ago showed substantial agreement with the datapresented in Figure 1.

This begs the questions, why are the levels demanded for current

lighting practice so substantially in excess of those levels? No serious proposition could be mounted on the basis ofdeteriorating human visual abilities, or on increasing difficulty ofvisual tasks. The answer is rather obvious. If any modern buildingswere illuminated to such low levels, people would choose to avoidthem. If such lighting was to be imposed upon employees, or someother captive group, there would likely be outrage. Public opinionwould be united that nobody should have to tolerate such dismal,gloomy conditions. This is the main point of the matter. It is nothing to do with the speed and accuracy with which people are able to detect the critical detail of visual tasks. Rather, it is about meeting people’s expectations that, here in the 21st century,the variety of spaces that we all pass through, occupy and engagein for recreational, social and work activities, should appear to be adequately illuminated. During the past 60 years we have madethe transition from providing for visual needs to meeting humanexpectations.

Perceived adequacy of illuminationDo the elevated illuminance levels of current practice mean thatthe standards have adapted to changing expectations and that thepresent situation is quite satisfactory? The current standards specifylighting quantity in terms of visual task illuminance and, as we haveseen, this is generally interpreted as the average illuminance of thehorizontal workplane. It follows that for lighting to be efficient,economical and purposeful, the lamp lumens must be directedonto the workplane with high optical efficiency.

Furthermore, to direct light onto walls, ceilings or other featuresthat might catch the eye is deemed inefficient and wasteful. Theevidence of this rationale is all around us in general lightingpractice, and lighting designers can expect to encounter increasingpressure to follow this trend as providing a specified workplaneilluminance with minimal lighting power density is widelyrecognised as pursuing the holy grail of sustainability.

As has been mentioned, there has been a recent tendency amongspecifying bodies to add lighting-quality criteria to theirstipulations, but this is not enough. What is needed is afundamental re-evaluation of whether or not the users of a spaceare likely to judge it to appear adequately illuminated, or to put itanother way, what is the photometric correlate to the perceivedadequacy of illumination?9,13

Mean room surface exitanceCuttle has previously introduced the concept of mean room surfaceexitance (MRSE) as a metric that serves as an indicator of typicalassessment of the brightness of illumination of an indoor space14,15.To understand the concept of exitance, keep in mind that whileilluminance is concerned with the density of luminous flux incidenton a surface, exitance concerns the flux exiting, or emerging from,a surface. MRSE is, within the volume of the room, the averagedensity of lumens emerging from all of the surrounding roomsurfaces. Within an enclosed space, this is flux available for vision,and so MRSE could be measured at the eye and includes only lightthat has undergone at least one reflection (i.e. direct light is


excluded). It may be thought of as an indicator of the level of the

light that brightens the view of indoor surroundings, and which is

independent of any effects of bright luminaires or windows.

It has been proposed by Cuttle that MRSE may be applied as an

indicator for perceived adequacy of illumination (PAI) which is a

binary assessment, that is to say, in a given situation, the

illumination may be perceived as either adequate or inadequate,

so that PAI would be specified by a single MRSE value. However, it

is logical that an MRSE level that might be judged adequate in a

waiting room or an elevator lobby might be considered inadequate

in a workplace or a fast food outlet.

Designing for appearanceWhile the PAI criterion is concerned with providing adequate

quantities of reflected flux, an illumination hierarchy focuses

on how direct flux from luminaires is distributed to create a pattern

of illumination brightness. Creating an illumination hierarchy

involves devising distributions of illumination to express the

visual significance of the contents of the space. Cuttle has

previously suggested13 that it be specified in terms of target/

ambient illuminance ratio (TAIR) being the ratio of local illuminance

on a target to the ambient illumination, indicated by the MRSE.

This may direct attention to functional activities or create artistic

SDAR Journal 2014

18

Figure 2e – The derived illumination hierarchy

Figure 2c – Spots provide 200 lux on the artwork

Figure 2f – Reflected flux creates ambient illumination (MRSE)

Figure 2d – Wallwash provides 300 lux on the walls

Figure 2a – Meeting room Figure 2b –Downlight provide 300 lux on the table


effects. The designer will select target surfaces and designate values of TAIR based on the desired level of illumination differencerequired.

Figures 2a – 2f walk through a typical design process for a meetingroom. Initially the designer will select an amount of ambientillumination he/she believes will be appropriate. This will be givenby the MRSE, which in the future may be taken from standards orpersonal experience, but for this example, 100lm/m2 is used.Following this, objects or surfaces of significance within the spaceare identified and consideration given to how much brighter, ordarker, relative to the ambient illumination the designer would likethese to be.

Three objects of significance are the table, the side walls and theartwork on the end wall. All three surfaces should be brighter thanthe ambient illumination. A simple solution might be to place asingle downlight in the ceiling to provide 300 lux on the table (aTAIR value of 3), use ceiling spots to give 200 lux on the artwork (aTAIR value of 2), and wash the walls to 250 lux (a TAIR value of2.5). Each of these is illustrated in Figures 2b, 2c and 2drespectively. Once this is complete, an illumination hierarchy hasbeen established (Figure 2e). The quantity of light reflected fromthe highlighted surfaces will then determine the ambientillumination (Figure 2f) and is quantifiable through calculation ofMRSE. Once MRSE is calculated for the current arrangement, it canbe compared with the design intent of 100lm/m2 and additionalmodifications made as required.

Barriers to implementationSince its introduction, the approach described has received both positive and negative feedback from the lighting community.Some believe that this proposition is doomed to failure due to lack of information available at design stage16,17. While this mayhold true, Boyce points out that in the face of such ignorance, it is unreasonable to expect that good-quality lighting will be theoutcome of any design method18. Many agree that current codesand standards are long overdue a transformation19,20,21 and indeedsome currently choose to ignore them22.

Brandston criticises current codes and building regulations fordemanding an excessive quantity of illuminance on the task,leaving little remaining power density to light the space22. Othershave noted that senior directors within notable building servicesfirms refuse to deviate from standards and codes for the fear thattheir professional indemnity insurance will be affected23. Thisdemonstrates that current lighting standards are placing substantialrestrictions on designing for appearance, thus limiting creativedesign and potentially impeding good-quality lighting. Loecomments24 that subjects he has studied25 prefer environments thatare visually bright and visually interesting.

While MRSE may never provide this, it is a fair assumption to state that the IH criterion might produce a visually bright andvisually interesting space. Macrae believes the procedure to be“fundamentally flawed” as to apply the methodology correctlyrequires a good understanding of light and lighting17; but should

this not be mandatory for those involved in lighting? If good-qualitylighting is the desired outcome, then the answer must be yes.

Critics of Cuttle’s earlier paper16,26,27, based solely on MRSE, voicedconcerns that there may be enough light arriving at the observer’seye, but insufficient illuminance upon a task. If applied correctlyand with due thought, the IH criterion would designate strenuousvisual tasks with a TAIR of above three and this should, combinedwith a sensible MRSE, quite comfortably provide adequateilluminance levels for optimum visual performance.

Boyce agrees28 that visual tasks have become easier over time, butquestions if what people really care about is the perceivedbrightness of a space. Boyce points out that MRSE is a crudemeasure of brightness and the range of luminances in the field ofview, combined with source spectrum, will also be important28. Thisraises an important point; producing a simple metric thatincorporates all of these variables is a daunting task and wouldalmost certainly go beyond the scope of what lighting standardsare expected to do. Raynham states26 that MRSE cannot becomethe “be-all and end-all of lighting design”, but this statement wasmade before the introduction of the IH criterion, which adds anadditional dimension to MRSE-based design.

Despite the initial criticism, there was a substantial amount ofpositive support. In a more recent publication19, Boyce promotesMRSE and TAIR together as a methodology that shows potentialto improve the quality of lighting, so it would appear that asCuttle’s design theories have progressed to include illuminationhierarchies, Boyce has become convinced that this method showsconsiderable potential. Boyce states that by adopting MRSE-baseddesigns, “light distributions that illuminate the walls and ceilingthen become much more energy efficient than those thatconcentrate their output onto the horizontal working plane”19. Loeagrees with designing for ambience24. Shaw states that “this is oneof those blindingly-obvious ideas that we have all missed”21.Poulton points out that codes and standards are “archaic andshould be revised” and that Cuttle’s way of thinking is “longoverdue”20.

Hogget believes that the proposition is what talented lightingdesigners have intuitively been doing for years when using a mathematical technique to quantify the task/ambient ratio.Mansfield states that Cuttle’s suggestion to use MRSE as anexploratory tool to define illumination adequacy is a good one andwelcomes further dissemination of it as a tool for teaching and asa device to re-align lighting design practice30.

Brandston states that the approach is in line with his own.Brandston initially lights the space and then pays attention to thetasks22. Wilde agrees that dumping lumens on a working plane isfraught with problems23. Wilde believes that it is time to changefrom visibility to appearance and goes on to state that “it must bewelcomed by the discerning designer”23. Boyce describes theMRSE/TAIR procedure as “all-encompassing”19 and highlights thatthe first step towards implementation would be the modification ofcurrent software, or development of appropria new software19. This

19



sentiment is supported by Wilde23. While the importance of thishas been recognised, there are other concerns that need to beaddressed before this can take place.

The first step should be systematically proving that MRSE relates tooccupant assessments of illumination adequacy and in turn, devisinga range of MRSE values that will relate to PAI for spaces that housevarious activities. The second step is measurement. QuantifyingMRSE in-field is not an easy task. A grid of luminance values can berecorded on each surface of a space and converted to exitance toestimate the total MRSE, but this method is cumbersome and time-consuming. High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging has beenproposed, but this will need to be modified so pixels within thecamera field of view that contain direct luminance can be excluded.

If these two steps can be overcome, it is argued that this newmethodology shows much potential to improve the quality oflighting within general installations. It directs attention away fromthe working plane and places emphasis upon the appearance of aspace; it pays due attention to levels of brightness and illuminationhierarchies; and, with some slight modifications, it could be readilyimplemented through software, which is how all lighting design isdone today.

ResearchAt the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) ongoing research isattempting to better understand the relationship between MRSEand PAI, in addition to devising an accurate and robustmethodology to measure MRSE in-field. The following brieflyoutlines the methods and expected outcomes of each.

Measurement of MRSE

MRSE can currently be measured by recording luminance values ona grid of points on all major room surfaces. Each luminance valueis then converted to exitance and the average of all values withina space is representative of the MRSE. This method is slow toimplement and its accuracy is limited, and influenced, by thenumber of grid points that are used. Almost all spaces contain largevariations in brightness located over short distances and using agrid with too few points will skew results to an unknown degree.

An alternative method is being developed using High DynamicRange imaging (HDRi). HDRi is a set of techniques used inphotography to produce a wider dynamic range of luminosity thanis typically possible using standard digital imaging orphotographing techniques. Essentially, HDRi uses multipleexposures of the same scene to produce images that betterrepresent the perceived luminous environment. At present this canbe applied to produce luminance-calibrated (but not exitance)images of the lit environment31,32.

This procedure has been utilised in conjunction with RADIANCEand MATLAB to produce estimates of MRSE. For any standard HDRimage the written script can be applied which removes direct fluxand simultaneously spits out a numerical value for the quantity ofindirect flux incident on that camera view (Figures 3a and 3b). Theaverage of multiple views of the same scene can then be used to

estimate the MRSE. The accuracy of this technique is currentlybeing tested against real world measurement and also triangulatedagainst simulation data produced in RADIANCE. Early results havesometimes produced percentage errors close to 20% compared toreal world measurements. The script is currently undergoingmodification with various options being tested. The intention is toimprove accuracy such that results within a 10% error margin canbe guaranteed.

The relationship between mean room surface exitanceand perceived adequacy of illumination

Two pilot studies have been conducted that examined therelationship between MRSE and PAI. The first of these studies useda scale lighting booth (approx. 2m x 1m x 1m) and the second alarger real-world space (approx. 5m x 3m x 3m). Despite being twoseparate studies, both used matching methodologies and identicalsubject groups.

In each experiment subjects viewed a range of light scenes. Eachscene varied the reflectance of surfaces, the light distribution andthe quantity of MRSE. When subjects viewed each scene, they werequestioned about brightness and whether they believed thelighting was adequate or inadequate. Figures 4a – 4f show genericrepresentations of the typical light distributions subjects wereexposed to and subjects also viewed these distributions over anumber of levels of surface reflectance and MRSE.

These results are presently being analysed to provide a betterunderstanding of the relationship between MRSE and PAI. It is

SDAR Journal 2014

20

Figure 3a – Standard HDR capture

Figure 3b – Modified image with direct flux removed


expected that indications of which variables influence subjectiveassessments under certain conditions will emerge. This is critical toadvancing this research and allowing this new method of lightingdesign to progress. Findings from this work will enable furtherstudies to examine the quantity of MRSE that people believe isappropriate for a range of situations and space usages.

ConclusionA new design methodology for general interior lighting practicehas been explained and critically examined. It has received positiveand negative feedback from the lighting community, but the

majority now appear to be in favour of a move away from wherelighting standards are currently at and towards a method that paysgreater attention to the appearance of a space. The methoddiscussed here is seen to show promise because it directs attentionaway from the working plane, it defines levels of brightness and,if adopted, it could be readily implemented through software.

Two barriers to implementing this method in standards are:

– How MRSE is measured in-field;

– Understanding the relationship between MRSE and PAI.

Both of these items are being addressed at the Dublin Institute ofTechnology and will be reported further in future research papers.


21

Figure 4e – a non-uniform [email protected]

Figure 4c – A uniform mixed distribution

Figure 4f – A non-uniform mixed distribution

Figure 4d – A non-uniform downlight distribution

Figure 4a – A uniform downlight distribution Figure 4b – A uniform uplight distribution


References1 Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, The IESNA

Lighting Handbook, 10th Edition, New York: IESNA.2 The Society of Light and Lighting (SLL). 2009. The SLL Code for

Lighting. ISBN-978-906846-07-7. London: SLL.3 Society of Light and Lighting. 2012. The SLL Code for Lighting.

CIBSE. Page Bros. Norwich.4 Committee of European Standards. 2011. EN 12464-1:2011. Light

and Lighting - Lighting of workplaces. Part 1: Indoor Workplaces.London: CEN.

5 Society of Light and Lighting, The SLL Lighting Handbook, 2009,London; CIBSE.

6 Committee of European Standards. 2006. EN 15193:2006. Energyperformance of buildings — Energy requirements for lighting.London: CEN.

7 Duff, JT (2012) "The 2012 SLL Code for Lighting: the Impact onDesign and Commissioning," Journal of Sustainable EngineeringDesign: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 4.

8 Duff JT and Kelly K. In-field measurement of cylindrical illuminanceand the impact of room surface reflectance on the visualenvironment. Proceedings of the SLL and CIBSE IrelandInternational Lighting Conference, Dublin, Dublin, 12 April 2013,www.ile2013.com (accessed 16 May 2013).

9 Cuttle C. Perceived adequacy of illumination: A new basis forlighting practice: Proceedings of the 3rd Professional LightingDesign Convention, Professional Lighting Designers Association,Madrid, 2011.

10 Rea, M.S., and M.J. Ouellette, 1991. Relative visual performance:A basis for application. Lighting Research & Technology,23(3): 135-144.

11 Boyce P.R., 1985. Movement under emergency lighting: The effectof illuminance. Lighting Research & Technology,17: 51-71

12 Loe, D.L. and McIntosh, R. 2009. Reflections on the last OneHundred Years of Lighting in Great Britain. The Society of Lightand Lighting as part of CIBSE. Page Bros. Norwich.

13 Cuttle, C. “A new direction for general lighting practice”, LightingResearch and Technology, February 2013; vol. 45, 1: pp. 22-39.

14 Cuttle, C. Lighting by Design, 2nd edition, Oxford, ArchitecturalPress, 2008.

15 Cuttle, C. “Towards the third stage of the lighting profession”,Lighting Research and Technology, March 2010; vol. 42, 1: pp. 73-93.

16 Venning B. Cuttle’s Theory, the profession responds. SLLNewsletter. Vol3, Iss 1. Jan/Feb 2010. pp 7.

17 Macrae, I. Comment 1: A new direction for general lightingpractice, Lighting Research and Technology, February 2013; vol.45, 1: pp. 22-39.

18 Boyce P. R. Lighting Quality: The Unanswered Questions.Proceedings of the first CIE symposium on lighting quality, Ottawa1998.

19 Boyce, P.R., “Lighting Quality for All?”, Proceedings of the SLLInternational Lighting Conference, Dublin, April 2013.

20 Poulton, K. Cuttle’s Theory, the profession responds. SLLNewsletter. Vol3, Iss 1. Jan/Feb 2010. pp 7.

21 Shaw, K. Cuttle’s Theory, the profession responds. SLL Newsletter.Vol3, Iss 1. Jan/Feb 2010. pp 7.

22 Brandston, HM. Comment 3: Towards the third stage of thelighting profession, Lighting Research and Technology, March2010; vol. 42, 1: pp. 73-93.

23 Wilde, MB. Comment 2: A new direction for general lighting

practice, Lighting Research and Technology, February 2013; vol.45, 1: pp. 22-39.

24 Loe, DL. Cuttle’s Theory, the profession responds. SLL Newsletter.Vol3, Iss 1. Jan/Feb 2010. pp 7.

25 Loe, DL. “Brightness, lightness, and providing a preconceivedappearance to the interior”, Lighting Research and Technology,September 2004; vol. 36, 3: pp. 215.

26 Raynham, P. Cuttle’s Theory, the profession responds. SLLNewsletter. Vol3, Iss 1. Jan/Feb 2010. pp 7.

27 Bedocs, L. Comment 1: Towards the third stage of the lightingprofession, Lighting Research and Technology, March 2010; vol.42, 1: pp. 73-93.

28 Boyce, PR. Cuttle’s Theory, the profession responds. SLLNewsletter. Vol3, Iss 1. Jan/Feb 2010. pp 7.

29 Hoggett, N. Cuttle’s Theory, the profession responds. SLLNewsletter. Vol3, Iss 1. Jan/Feb 2010. pp 8.

30 Mansfield, KP. Comment 2: Towards the third stage of the lightingprofession, Lighting Research and Technology, March 2010; vol.42, 1: pp. 73-93.

31 MN Inanici. Evaluation of high dynamic range photography as aluminance data acquisition system. Lighting Research andTechnology, June 2006; vol. 38, 2: pp. 123-134.

32 J. Mardaljevic, B. Painter, and M. Andersen. Transmissionilluminance proxy HDR imaging: A new technique to quantifyluminous flux. Lighting Research and Technology, March 2009; vol.41, 1: pp. 27-49.

SDAR Journal 2014

22


Leveraging Lean inconstruction: A case studyof a BIM-based HVACmanufacturing process



Colin ConwaySCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING, [email protected]

Colin KeaneMERCURY ENGINEERING

Sean McCarthyMERCURY ENGINEERING

Ciara AhernSCHOOL OF MECHANICAL AND DESIGN ENGINEERING, DIT

Avril BehanSCHOOL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY TECHNOLOGIES, DIT

Ciara SDAR paper:Layout 1 13/11/2014 12:03 Page 235

Abstract

The impetus towards efficiency in the AECO

(Architecture, Engineering, Construction &

Operations) sector is driving the implementation of

Lean practices. BIM technologies and BIM processes

provide methods by which this can be achieved.

Major clients of building services contractors have

begun to mandate the use of BIM and some are using

BIM preparedness/experience as pre-tender

qualification criteria. In this case study, an initial

review has been conducted of the achievements of a

major Irish M&E contractor in implementing BIM. The

firm purpose-built a facility for the off-site

manufacture of building services components. The

operations of the plant are efficient and quality-

assured through the use of an appropriately skilled

workforce at all stages of manufacture, and tracking

software that has developed as the knowledge of the

contractor grew. Standardised processes have been

developed which have resulted in greater efficiencies

and lower costs for the contractor as a result of fewer

requirements for onsite modifications (such as those

caused by clashes), less waste, and greater flexibility.

Despite some initial objections, the employees of the

company are now more satisfied with their working

conditions and are, as a result, more productive.

Through investment in BIM-based, Lean processes, the

contractor can now better compete when tenerding

for large-scale projects in Ireland and worldwide,

including the rapidly-increasing number where BIM

experience and preparedness is mandated.

Glossary

AECO: Architecture, Engineering, Construction and

Operations

Autodesk Navisworks: project review software that

enables AEC professionals to “holistically review

integrated models and data with stakeholders to gain

better control over project outcomes. Integration,

analysis, and communication tools help teams

coordinate disciplines, resolve conflicts, and plan

projects before construction or renovation begins.”

(Autodesk, 2014)

BIM: Building Information Modelling/Management

BIM4M2: BIM for Manufacturers and Manufacturing

BOM: Bill of Materials

CITA: Construction IT Alliance

Eida: Tracking software used to record and document

the progress of spools from time of issue to

installation

IFC: Issued for Construction (process specific) or

Industry Foundation Classes

Tool: a set of connected components carrying out the

function of routing a particular service through an

area of a building

SAP: Systems, Applications & Products in Data

Processing software for data warehousing

Spools: the subdivisions of service lines in manageable

lengths varying from a single component to a 6m

pipe-run

WBS: Work Breakdown Structure

SDAR Journal 2014

24


Leveraging Lean in construction: A case study of a BIM-based HVAC manufacturing process

1. IntroductionLarge scale manufacturing facilities, due to the nature of operationsand the processes undertaken, frequently require additional buildingservices that might include ammonia, acid waste, solvent waste,helium and argon (Gulledge et al., 2014). Design, fabrication,installation and management of these services are complexoperations. While the design of such systems has long been carriedout digitally using CAD-based software, due to inconsistencies and uncertainties in the process (Eastman et al., 2011), onsitefabrication of services prior to installation is still necessitated. Thisis, by its nature, inefficient due to, inter alia, the influence of remotestock locations, clashes with other trades, weather, etc.

Building information modelling (BIM) is a relatively new process andset of software tools that has the potential to improve the currentsituation. BIM is a shared knowledge resource for information that can be defined as “a digital representation of physical andfunctional characteristics of a facility” (National BIM Standard,2014). The advent of BIM-based design and build processes enablesthe use of off-site fabrication through the “creation of a singlesource of truth” for all parties (Saxon, 2013) where potentialclashes between services are identified and resolved in the virtualmodel and not onsite where their occurrence is much more costly.This enables more efficient work practices that leverage BIM for speed, economy, quality control, and health and safetyimprovements (Saxon, 2013).

While perhaps best-known as assisting at the design stage of aproject, the 2014 McGraw Hill Business Value of BIM report(McGraw Hill Construction, 2014) found that between 59% (UK)and 97% (Japan, Germany, France) of contractors who had

adopted BIM practices reported a positive return on investment(ROI). The variation in success was dependent on the levels ofoverall adoption of BIM in individual markets. The report alsorecommends that throughout the developed world, for contractorsto remain competitive, they must “embrace emerging uses forleveraging model data” among which are “simulation and analysisto optimise logistical planning and decision-making”. Enablingcontractors to benefit from BIM adoption is being facilitated bygroups such as BIM for Manufacturers and Manufacturing UK(BIM4M2 Task Group, 2014), who focus on the standardisation of interfaces between BIM and existing systems and processes and, in Ireland, by the Construction Information TechnologyAlliance’s Construction Technology Series, BIM-2-Win, and SmartCollaboration Challenge events (CITA, 2014).

Much of the pressure to adopt BIM processes is being applied by building owners because the improvements in operationalprocesses and the associated costs achievable through BIM havethe greatest potential for financial benefit (Azhar, 2011; Carmonaand Irwin, 2007). In America, contractors who do not use BIM toolsare no longer able to compete in tendering processes on even low-value contracts (AGC, 2010). This has changed from the situationin the mid-2000s when the use of BIM was recommended, ratherthan required, but with contractors who were not BIM-enabledhaving to add their services last during fit-out (AGC, 2006).

Thus, many owners and operators, for example Irish Water and theGrangegorman Development Agency, are requiring that the designand build of new and retrofitted facilities be implemented thoughBIM. The developers are required, as part of the final handover, todeliver a virtual building that is compatible with the PAS 1192-3

Figure 1: The Bew and Richards BIM Maturity Levels Model (Bew and Richards, 2008)

Drawings, lines, arcs, text etc. Models, objects, collabora�on Integrated, interoperable data

Level 0

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

CAD ISO BIM

BIMs

2D 3D CPIC Avan� BS 1192:2007 User guides:CPIC, Avan�, BSI

AIM

SI

M

FIM

BS

IM

BrIM

iBIM Data management

Process management

Standards for interoperability: IFC, IFD, IDM

Asse

t life

cyc

le m

anag

emen

t

Key IFC Industry Founda�on Classes IFD Interna�onal Framework Dic�onary IDM Informa�on Delivery Manual iBIM Integrated BIM CPIC Construc�on Project Informa�on

Commi�ee AIM Architectural Informa�on Model SIM Structural Informa�on Model FIM Facili�es Informa�on Model BSIM Building services Informa�on Model BrIM Bridge Informa�on Model

Moving up through the levels of technology use leads to seamless working and effec�ve data and process management

Source: Bew and Richards, 2008

25


Standard for Information Modelling for the Operational Phase ofAssets (British Standards Institute, 2014). BIM for asset and facilitiesmanagement is sometimes called 6D or 7D BIM and PAS 1192-3 isfacilitating a move towards the “integrated interoperable data”and “asset life cycle management” defined by Bew & Richards(2008) as Level 3 BIM Maturity. Major component fabricationplants are among the types of facility seeking operational BIMcompatibility upon completion of building and retrofit works.

Thus an Irish-based mechanical and electrical contracting firm hasdeveloped an off-site HVAC manufacturing facility to support theimplementation of BIM-based processes. This paper describes themanufacturing facility, its associated work practices, and the initialimpacts of implementing this new method. The optimisation andstreamlining of the processes resulting from lessons learned on twomajor building servicing campaigns are detailed in Section 2.Section 3 examines the impact of BIM-based practices on the staffand the necessity of staff “buy-in” to enable the realisation of newwork processes from the ground up. Section 3 also evaluates theassociated business benefits and Section 4 discusses the potentialof BIM-enabled off-site manufacture for the mechanical andelectrical building services sector.

2 The ProcessIn this case study, the contractor’s aim is to provide a “right-first-time” service where delivery to and installation on site is timely and defect-free. The workshop process discussed in detail in thefollowing requires that all elements of design and reworking are completed prior to issuing fabrication information from site tothe manufacturing facility. Thus, at the client’s site in the BIMcontrol and modelling facility, the designs, which include pipework,valves, meters, flanges, bends, welds, etc, are iteratively reviewedwhile being modelled in connection with existing on-sitecomponents (e.g. to main lines known as laterals). Thesecomponents were measured via high-end surveying and laserscanning techniques. The BIM-based modelling process also

leverages the abilities of the associated software, in this caseAutodesk’s Navisworks, to carry out clash detection between allplanned installations.

Although the work in the assembly line of the fabrication facilityonly begins when the design is finished at Day 28, an “earlydetailing start point” occurs just after the kick-off meeting in orderto facilitate the take-off of materials and long lead-in components.Even before the 45-day process begins in relation to the fabricationof any tool, there is a 60-day period in which all long-leadcomponents are procured. These components are specialist itemsthat would not be stored in general stock and without this 60-dayperiod delays would be unavoidable. Fabrication of all tools islimited to four weeks but, as the number of tools under fabricationat any time can vary, there is a fluctuation in the workload for theworkshop over time.

Once the on-site design review is completed, each service line issplit into “spools”, examples of which are shown in Figure 3 inmodelled form, during manufacture, and ready for transfer to site.Spools can range from a single component to a 6m pipe-run. Toavoid cutting and welding on-site, the selection of splitting pointsfor spools is crucial because if the spools are too large it may notbe possible to install them on site. By contrast, if the spools are toosmall, on-site installation work will require more effort thannecessary. The service requirements for the manufacturing “tools”are numerous. In this case study an average of 168 spools and over1000 components were used per tool totalling 67,200 spools and400,000 components for a single facility.

A number of key components and software functions are requiredin order to facilitate the BIM manufacturing process:

a. Isometrics: all fabrication takes place using 2D isometricdrawings generated directly from the 3D model as shown in Figure 4. This is an automated function and represents another advantage of using BIM software. Where an issue of interpretation arises with the isometrics, a supervisor canaccess the 3D model in Navisworks. However, this is not part of

SDAR Journal 2014

26

Figure 2: 45-Day Process to IFC (Issued for Construction)

Issue of “Work In P rogress” LS P based

on reference pack.

DESIGN START

KICK OFF MEETING

ISSUE LSP TO TRADES

Design Review

1DR

(CRITICAL LINE IFFAPPROVAL)

Design Review

2DR

Design Review

2DR/IFS TO FYI

DESIGN FINISH

IFS

DIFFERENCE FORMAPPROVAL

(LOCALIZATION OFPACK)

IFC

REVISIONS TO LSPPOST IFF ISSUE

DATE COULDHAPPEN AT ANY

TIME ?

Tool OwnerDiscretionaryChanges

Day 45Day 27Day 24Day 19Day 1

Day 17: Cut Off PointFor Change

DETAILING START

Contractor Triggerpoint to Model

CRITICAL LINES

POSTED/REVIEWSCRITICAL LINES IFF DETAILING START

TOOL

CONSTRUCTION

MODEL

TOOL MODEL IFF,

TOOL OWNER FYI

ISO/BOM

EXTRACTION FROM

MODEL

IFF

Day 28

Day 26Day 1 Day 7/12

Day 11/14

AUTO BOMFROM TOOL

MODEL ISSUEDTO

CONTRACTORPURCHASING

ISO DRAWINGSISSUED TO

WORKSHOP

“IS S UE D T O WOR K S HOP ”

FAB START POR

Continuous Activity 28 Days to IFF

45 DAY PROCESS TO IFC

AE RFI & DAILY WHITEBOARD PROCESS

Contractor Start

EARLY DETAILING START

Issue LSP tocontractor; takeoff of materials,long lead, in linecomponents etc.,

Laser Scan Assessment ?Targeted or Continuous


27

the standard process and most staff are not trained in the use ofthe software;

b. SAP software: used for stock management to ensure that allrequired components are available prior to the beginning of themanufacturing process;

c. Eida software: used for tracking the manufacturing progress ofall spools.

Figure 4 illustrates an isometric drawing of a spool manufacturedfrom 2” PVC and designed to carry acid waste water. Isometricdrawings, including all of the annotations, can be extractedautomatically from the 3D model provided that the model has beendeveloped at a sufficient level of detail. No separate redrawing isrequired. Under the cutting list section, the lengths of the sevenpipe sections are shown in millimetres. This allows cutting tocommence immediately as part of the processing steps set outbelow. This is a direct improvement on site work where the lengthof each pipe must be determined on the basis of installationconditions before being cut. The isometric also includes thefollowing information:

• Bill of materials (BOM) providing information on each componentsuch as 90o and 45o elbows, reducers and tees;

• Unique identifying and traceable scan code (QR code), tracked bythe staff using iPad minis which send live updates to the Eidatracking software;

• Date and time of receipt;

• Rework Indicator, completed on-site in case of failure.

The QA, recording and actions that form part of the workshopprocess are detailed in Figure 5 which follows on from Day 28 ofthe 45-day process presented in Figure 2.

1. Isometric drawings of all spools and a bill of materials (BOM)are issued to the workshop;

2. The BOM is cross-referenced with the previous list of long-leaditems as a QA procedure before the tool is recorded into the


Figure 3: Various components in modelled form (a), during manufacture (b)and ready for transfer to site (c).

Figure 4: An example isometric drawing showing a single spool, its associatedBill of Materials, the QR code used for scanning and populating Eida, and theRework Indicator, in case of errors at point of installation. Figure 5: Numbered workshop process at manufacturing facility

“IS S UE D T O WOR K S HOP ”

FAB START POR

BOM REVIEW BY

ENGINEER

TOOL LOADED

ONTO EIDA SYSTEM

BOM

RESERVED

AGAINST TOOL

WBS

DATA ENTERED ON

EIDA

LINE ISSUED TOPROGRAMME FOR

FABRICATION

QR SCAN TO EIDA

‘L ine A vailable’

LINE PICKED &BAGGED FORFABRICATION

QR SCAN TO EIDA

‘L ine P ic ked’

LINE FABRICATEDQR SCAN TO EIDA

‘F ab S tart’

LINE QA CHECKSQR SCAN TO EIDA

‘F ab & QA C omplete’

FAB FINISH POR

LINE STORED

LINE SPOOL

DISPATCHED TO

SITE & SIGNED FOR

QR SCAN TO EIDA

‘Dis patc h’

DATE/DOC #

ENTERED INTO EIDA

SITE SUP REQUESTS

LINE SPOOL VIA

EIDA

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Send to Site for Install 10

a

b

c


stock management software. The requirements for the tool arecompared to what is already in stock and what has already beenordered. The software then lists the required elements forcompletion of the tool. The goal is to finish fabrication with aslittle left-over stock as possible, thus creating a lean process.

The information for every spool is sent to Eida, which produces .pdffiles containing a unique QR (Quick Response) code for eachspool. This QR code is used to track the progress of the spoolduring fabrication, delivery, and installation;

3. The BOM is then reserved against the tool's WBS (WorkBreakdown Structure code) and the date is entered onto Eidaunder the "material reserved" column. As shown in Figure 6,components that are in stock become reserved specifically foran individual tool facilitating the tracking of costs;

4. The next step is another QA procedure. All isometric drawingsare reviewed by engineers to check for constructability,corruptions, omissions, etc. Once the isometric is approved bythe engineer, the QR code is scanned and the "Line Available"column in Figure 6 is populated. At this point some spools maybe identified and prioritised as more urgent than others;

5. A general operative (GO) collects and bags all items for a spool.This part of the process means that skilled tradespeople do notwaste valuable time collecting items for fabrication. Anengineering technician or experienced GO checks the bag beforeit is scanned to make sure all items are correct. Once the baghas been scanned, the "Line Picked" column in Figure 6 ispopulated and the bag is placed on a shelf ready for fabrication;

6. An engineering craftsperson selects a bag from the shelf andscans it, thus populating the "Fab Start" column. Fabricationtakes place at a workstation where all tools are readily availableand where each worker has plenty of workspace (Figure 3(b)).Once the spool is complete and the event scanned, it is passedto another table where all spools are QA checked;

7. At this point the spools are checked for accuracy of length,angles, joints, welds, etc. If any problems are identified the spoolis returned to the technician. If the spool passes QA, the QR codeis scanned and the "Fab & QA Complete" column in Figure 6 ispopulated;

8. The completed spool is “bagged and tagged” and placed in

storage for up to a month, depending on when it is needed onsite;

9. The foremen on site can order spools to be delivered once the“Fab & QA Complete” step (8) has finished. They can log intoEida and select the spools which they require and enter thedesired delivery date. This step fills in the “Load Plan Request”column in Figure 6. Due to the in-house logistics involved inloading trolleys with spools for delivery, a 48-hour turnaroundbetween order and delivery is the norm, except for urgentrequirements. The foreman decides the order in which the spoolsshould be installed and how many he wants delivered each day.The goal on site is to install spools on the day they arrive, therebyreducing the storage requirements by the contractor on theclient’s site;

10.The spools are scanned when they are dispatched and againwhen delivered on site as proof of delivery;

Each isometric drawing has a Rework Indicator checklist which ispopulated during installation on the rare occasions when a spoolis incorrect. This step provides feedback as to the source of theproblem. Issues can result from fabrication, tools not meetingwith specification, or bracket issues. Using traditional processesclashes with other new or existing services frequently but theability to carry out clash detection in the virtual world of the BIMsoftware practically eliminates that problem. Issues of this natureonly occur if the As-Built model used during design is different tothe As-Built conditions at the time of delivery.

Using the Rework Indicator checklist the source of any problemcan be identified and operational improvement can be promptlyachieved; thus enhancing the leanness of the process.

3 The Impact of New ProcessesThe significant changes in the day-to-day operations of the M&Econtractor achieved through BIM-based, Lean processes hasresulted in improvements in relation to financial returns andemployee satisfaction. However, there was a steep learning curvefor all concerned and this caused more problems for someemployees than others. This impact will now be evaluated fromboth a business point-of-view and in relation to the human andbehavioural aspects.

SDAR Journal 2014

28

Figure 6: Progress of the fabrication of individual spools from reservation of materials (Material Reserved) to delivery to site based on Isometric Number via Eidasoftware.


3.1 Business Appraisal

The Eida tracking system that is central to the fabrication processprovides a level of traceability previously impossible for thecontractor. When first used the software did not have all of thefunctions currently available but the M&E contractor’s engineers, inconjunction with the developer of the software, customised anddeveloped it to optimise the solution and to ensure that itsupported rather than hindered the workflow.

Among other items, the software records who fabricated and QAchecked each spool, and how many spools each employeefabricated daily. If a problem arises on site in relation to a faultyelement, the system can reveal the identity of the fabricator and thechecker. This acts as an incentive to improve the quality of eachindividual’s work. It also ensures that staff maintain comparablelevels of productivity and enables management to identify areas inthe pipeline where problems may be occurring and/or personnelchanges (including increases and decreases in numbers carrying outparticular tasks) may be required. The data recorded on a perpetualbasis facilitates the continuous improvement of the fabricationworkflow and associated inputs and outputs. It also supports moreaccurate cost estimation, thus impacting on operational costs.

Although there are still some occurrences of failures that requirereworking, as indicated by the fields on the Isometrics (Figure 4),the amount is significantly lower than would have occurred usingtraditional practices. During one month this year, 1311 spools weredispatched with only 26 spools needing to be remade. However, 24of these spools were required only because they were lost on sitewhile the other two had been incorrectly fabricated. Therefore, lessthan 0.2% of spools required reworking as a result of failures in thefabrication process. It should also be noted that, despite protocolsthat discourage the practice, minor issues related to fabricationmay have been fixed on site because installation engineers choseto carry out necessary works rather than return the spools to theworkshop. No statistics on these occurrences are available.

Some additional costs have been incurred by the contractor, forexample, parts are now stored in 40-foot containers external to themain building. Most containers hold a specific pipe type: highpurity, low purity, PVC etc. while a quarantine store is used toprevent parts that do not belong in any other store causing mixups. Despite this additional requirement, materials in these storesare now retained for shorter periods as a result of the just-in-timeprocess meaning that overall efficiency has improved.

3.2 Human and Behavioural Aspects

The new process has had a profound impact on the work practicesof individuals and the contractor’s workforce as a collective. Prior toimplementation of BIM-based Lean processes, tradespeople wereinvolved in many trivial tasks in relation to the acquisition andmaintenance of components and tools. Skilled workers can nowfocus solely on fabrication because they work at secure, well-equipped benches in a purpose-built facility where the componentsrequired for each fabrication task are delivered in a Quality Assuredstate.

The workshop environment is very different to the traditional onsiteconditions known to most tradespeople. Those fabricating thespools simply select a bag containing all the required parts andimmediately work on it at a bench where all tools and power areavailable. When stopping for breaks, tools and equipment can beleft unattended without fear of theft. Canteens and toilets are ofa standard expected in offices. Workshop conditions are quieterand more comfortable. Hard hats are replaced with bump capswhich are lightweight and comfortable.

Upskilling is also encouraged where staff rotate between functionsto learn new skills. This has the dual benefit of motivating staff andallowing management to re-allocate staff as necessary, dependingon requirements at different times during a project.

The tracking aspect of the process, which is considered a majorpositive from the business perspective, was initially considered to bevery invasive by some of the workers. Some fabricators thoughtthat the new processes undervalued their skills by requiring somuch QA and adherence to stringent practices. However, after ashort period these methods became embedded and accepted.

During the early stages of implementation of the process, a pointof failure was identified in the ordering of spools by the siteforemen over the phone. Each spool has a unique code but thesewere often miscommunicated via this process resulting in thewrong spools being delivered to site. This created delays on siteuntil the correct spool arrived, necessitated extra delivery runs, andserved to undermine the entire operation by reducing confidencein the system, particularly among the onsite installers. Managementresponded quickly by implementing an online spool selectionmechanism which the site foremen can access from anywhere andthis has significantly reduced these errors and resulted in acorresponding increase in confidence in the system.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that tradespeople at the fabricationfacility preferred the new conditions over site work. This favourableresponse has allowed the contractor to attract and retain the mostskilled tradespeople available on the market.

The contractor reports a significant increase in efficiency throughthe use of Lean processes when compared with a traditionalinstallation. Metrics on the value of this increase will be evaluatedin the future. The current evidence enables the firm to tender morecompetitively for new work thus providing increased stability ofemployment for its workforce.

4. Conclusions and Future DevelopmentsThe case study presented here demonstrates the results of applyingBIM on a large scale in the M&E manufacturing context for the firsttime in Ireland. It has shown that innovation and streamlining ofthe process can be achieved, particularly through working closelywith software developers and valuing your workforce.

The introduction of a BIM-based process has enabled this M&Econtractor to apply and benefit from the principles of LeanConstruction including:

• Elimination of waste;


29


• Clear identification of the elements of operation that deliverwhat the customer values, i.e. the value stream, and eliminatesall non-value-adding steps;

• Not making anything before it is needed and then making itquickly;

• Striving to achieve perfection by continuously monitoring andimproving performance (Lean Sigma 60, 2014).

The Eida tracking system that has been developed andimplemented in support of the process agrees with the Associationof General Contractors of America’s assertion that “any well-planned and well-executed BIM project should necessarily includeprocedures and protocols for creating a detailed audit trail” (AGC,2006, p. 38).

Continually reviewing operations and processes with a view toachieving improvement has become embedded within the firm’spsyche. At present, for example, the laser scanning and BIMmodelling portions of the workflow are under examination as partof a Construction IT Alliance (CITA) technology challenge.

As a result of this project, the firm has built a uniquely-skilled team,experienced in the production and installation of components usingthe Lean BIM process that was developed and improved by thecompany. It is envisaged that these factors will enable thecontractor to be successful in tendering for, and engaging in futurelarge-scale projects within and outside Ireland, both where BIMcompetence is a criterion for pre-qualification to tender (SECGROUP, 2012) and where BIM-based Lean processes provide anadvantage over competitors who have not engaged in similarupskilling. This may also result in a significant shift in operationalmethods for a large number of other contractors who will need toadopt leaner processes in order to compete in the new BIM-focussed market.

ReferencesAGC (2006) The Contractors’ Guide to Building InformationModeling, Association of General Contractors of America, Arlington,VA. Available.

AGC (2010) The Contractors’ Guide to Building InformationModeling. Available.

Autodesk (2014) Navisworks Overview [Online]. Available:http://www.autodesk.com/products/navisworks/overview [AccessedNovember]

Azhar, S (2011) Building Information Modeling (Bim): Trends,Benefits, Risks, and Challenges for the Aec Industry. Leadership andManagement in Engineering, 11(3), 241-52.

Bew, M and Richards, M. (2008). Bim Maturity Diagram Model:BuildingSmart,Construction Product Information Committee (CPIC),.

BIM4M2 Task Group (2014) Bim for Manufacturers andManufacturing [Online]. Available: http://www.bim4m2.co.uk/[Accessed November]

British Standards Institute. (2014). Pas 1192-3 Specification forInformation Management for the Operational Phase of Assets UsingBuilding Information Modelling (Bim): British Standards Institute,.

Carmona, J and Irwin, K. (2007). Bim: Who, What, How and Why:Facilitiesnet.com.

CITA (2014) Bim Events [Online]. Available:http://www.cita.ie/events.asp [Accessed November]

Eastman, C M, Teicholz, P, Sacks, R and Liston, K (2011) BimHandbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners,Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors, 2nd ed, Wiley,Hoboken, N.J.

Gulledge, C E, Conyers, R S, Poe, B M and Kibby, C M (2014) DesignBuild Manufacturing Plant. ASHRAE Journal, 56, 32-9.

Lean Sigma 60 (2014) Lean Construction [Online]. Available:http://www.leansigma.ie/education-items/lean-construction[Accessed November]

McGraw Hill Construction (2014) The Business Value of Bim forConstruction in Global Markets: How Contractors around the WorldAre Driving Innovation with Building Information Modeling, McGrawHill Construction, Bedford, MA. Available.

National BIM Standard (2014) What Is Bim? [Online]. Available:http://www.nationalbimstandard.org/faq.php#faq1 [AccessedNovember]

Saxon, R G (2013) Growth through Bim, Construction IndustryCouncil, London. Available.

SEC GROUP (2012) First Steps to Bim Competence: A Guide forSpecialist Contractors BIM Academy Ltd. . Available

SDAR Journal 2014

30


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Retrofit electrochromicglazing in a UK office

Ruth Kelly WaskettDE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY, LEICESTER, [email protected]

Birgit PainterDE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY, LEICESTER, [email protected]

John MardaljevicLOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY, LOUGHBOROUGH, [email protected]

Katherine IrvineJAMES HUTTON INSTITUTE, ABERDEEN, [email protected]



Ruth Kelly SDAR paper:Layout 1 13/11/2014 09:43 Page 33

Abstract

Electrochromic (EC) glazing is now considered a viable

alternative to fixed transmittance glazing. It has the

potential to enable occupants to control daylight

glare and solar heat gain without the use of blinds or

external shading devices, giving users more access to

daylight with all its inherent benefits. Furthermore,

EC glazing can reduce energy consumption by

decreasing cooling loads and electric lighting usage.

Most research to date has studied the effects of EC

glazing in scale models, computer simulations and

full scale test rooms, and some of these studies have

included human participants. However, there is a

general lack of understanding regarding the

performance and suitability of EC glazing in

real-world working environments.

A case study of the first UK retrofit application of EC

glazing is being conducted in two adjacent offices in

a university campus building. The offices are occupied

by administration staff and have large southeast-

facing windows. The existing double glazed units

were replaced with commercially-available EC glazed

units in 2012. Over a period of more than 18 months,

the rooms were monitored intensively to record the

effect of the EC glazing on both the physical room

environment and the occupants themselves. A large

amount of data from the monitoring programme is

currently undergoing detailed analysis. Initial findings

emerging from the installation and post-installation

period are described in this paper.

Key Words:

Electrochromic glazing, smart windows, visual

comfort, daylighting, daylight glare.

1. IntroductionBuildings with highly-glazed facades often suffer from problems of visual discomfort and solar gain. Typically, internal blinds are used to control solar ingress, but these are regularly left closed forextended periods [Van Den Wymelenberg, 2012], leading toreduced access to daylight and views for occupants. Externalshading devices are often employed as a solution to control solaroverheating as well as visual discomfort. However, a fixed shadingdevice rarely provides optimal control for solar ingress because ofthe wide extent and constant variation in sun position. A “heavy”brise soleil can be an overpowering presence in façade architecture,often appearing as an afterthought rather than an integral featureof the building design. A variable shading device is likely to performbetter than a fixed brise soleil, but these are rarely considered dueto increased cost and maintenance issues compared to static devices.

Electrochromic (EC) glass changes transmittance in response to asmall applied voltage (less than 5 volts DC). An EC window can beoperated automatically or manually to control light penetration,without compromising the view out. By providing unobtrusivedynamic shading in this way, EC glazing has significant potential toimprove daylighting and energy use in new and existing buildings.

Unsurprisingly, EC glazing has attracted significant research since its inception in the 1980s [Lampert, 1984; Svensson & Granqvist,1984]. However, most of these studies have been simulation-based[Sullivan et al, 1994; Moeck et al, 1998] or lab-based using scalemodels or full-scale rooms [Piccolo et al, 2009; Lee et al, 2006;Clear et al, 2006; Zinzi, 2006; Lee at al, 2012 and others]. Only afew of these have included a systematic assessment of theexperience of human users of the technology [Clear et al, 2006;Zinzi, 2006; Weinold, 2003]. However, those that did includehuman participants were lab-based, so that participants onlyexperienced the technology for short periods of time (i.e. hours),and not in their normal work setting.

This paper describes a case study of the retrofit application of ECglazing in an administration office of a university campus buildingin the UK. The case study has a number of novel features:

• It is the first installation of EC glazing of its kind in the UK.

• At the time of writing, it is one of only two published studiesof EC glazing that has been carried out in a real-world setting(see also Lee at al, 2012).

• It utilises high dynamic range (HDR) photography as part of thephysical monitoring of the room luminous environment.

• It employs a mixed-methods approach, designed to captureboth the subjective experience of occupants and the physicaleffects on the room environment.

2. EC glazing operationIn a double-glazed electrochromic (EC) window, a nanometers-thincoating on the inside surface of the outer pane allows the glass to

SDAR Journal 2014

34


Retrofit electrochromic glazing in a UK office

35

change transmittance in response to a small applied voltage. Theelectrochromic coating is made up of several layers that essentallyoperate like a battery, with electrons moving between layers whenthe voltage is applied, effecting a change in overall glazingtransmittance. The EC windows at the focus of this study weremanufactured by SAGE Electrochromics Inc in 2012. The visibletransmittance of the glass varies from 62% in the fully bleached(un-tinted) state to 2% in the fully tinted state, with two intermediatestates (20% and 6%).

Figure 1 illustrates the dynamic properties of EC glazing whencompared with traditional static glazing types. Many contemporaryglazing products can perform very well under certain externalconditions. However, when conditions change, other devices arenecessary to control the internal enviornment satisfactorily. Thus,the ability of EC glazing to adapt to changing external conditionswithout the use of moving parts is clearly a key advantage of thetechnology.

The control stimulus can be linked to any sensor input, dependingon the type of control desired. For example, the trigger for tintingthe window could be an increase in internal room temperature,internal light level, or, as in this case, external light level on thefaçade. The EC window is normally operated automatically, andcan also be manually controlled using the wall-mounted switchshown in Figure 2.

3. Case-study outlineThe case study is centred on two open plan offices with largesoutheast-facing windows. In 2012, the windows were replacedwith commercially-available double-glazed EC windows (describedin Section 2). The windows are made up of several panes, and thecontrol system is zoned so that individual panes (or pairs of panesin the case of the larger windows) can be controlled independently.Figure 3 shows the interior of the two rooms before and after theEC glazing installation.

Each room accommodates four people whose work is administrativein nature, and who are office-based for most of their workinghours. The two rooms share three windows between them, with apartition down the centre of the middle window. The exterior isshown in Figure 4.

The study assesses the direct impact on the visual and thermalenvironment as well as end-user experience of the technology. Aprogramme of monitoring was undertaken for over 18 months to

Figure 1: The dynamic properties of EC glazing compared with traditionalglazing types. Image reproduced with permission from SAGE Electrochromics Inc.

Figure 3: The interior of the case study rooms before and after the EC glazingretrofit. (Note that in the “after” photos the electric lighting is switched onbecause the daylight-linking control system had not yet been commissioned).

Figure 4: The exterior façade of the two case study rooms.

Figure 2: EC windowwall switch (aboveleft) and a wall signmounted in therooms explaininghow to use theswitches (right).

0.60

Reflective

Tinted

Tinted low-e

Low-e 2

Low-e 3

0.50

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.000 10

Visible Light Transmission (%)

Sola

r Hea

t Gai

n Co

-effi

cien

t

20 30 40 50 60 70 80

EC Glazing


ensure that a range of seasons and sky conditions were included.The main study participants are occupants of these rooms.

4. MethodA mixed methods approach was used to assess the impact of theEC glazing on the physical environment (non-subjective) as well asthe experience of the room occupants (subjective).

Subjective measures

The main challenge of the subjective study design was to achievea balance between minimising participant burden while capturinggood-quality information at regular enough intervals. The need tominimise intrusion to occupants is particularly important in this case due to the small number of participants. The study design islayered, with each layer having a different density of observation.This ranges from a daily but coarse-grained evaluation of thewindows (“good”, “neutral”, “bad”), to a more detailed but lessfrequent online questionnaire. In addition, a one-to-one interviewwas carried out every three months, in which a deeper explorationof the subjective narrative was possible. The subjective study designis explained in more detail in a previously published work [Kelly etal. 2012].

Each layer of observation has been carefully designed with the aimof collecting data at a useful level of depth and frequency to enablea realistic picture of the users’ experience to emerge, and so providethe basis for a meaningful analysis.

Non-subjective measures

In parallel to the subjective assessments, a set of repeatedmeausrements were made to capture the impact of EC glazing onthe physical environment of the offices.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging with a fish-eye lens was usedto capture and quantify the luminous environment. Figure 5 showsa sample HDR image taken in one of the case study rooms beforethe EC window retrofit. As it was not practical to locate the HDRcameras at the occupants’ eye position, the cameras werepositioned as close as possible to the participants head position, at seated eye height. Where possible, one camera was sharedbetween two participants, e.g. between adjacent workstations.

As well as capturing visual scene luminance via HDR, the otherphysical measurements are as follows:

1. Room temperature

2. Air conditioning status

3. Heating status

4. Interior illuminance

5. EC window status

6. EC window manual overrides

7. Blind position

8. Electric lighting energy use

9. EC window energy use

10. Weather data via a local weather station

It should be noted that, although electric lighting current has beenmonitored as part of this study, the focus is on the user experienceof EC windows, and as such the effect on electric lighting energyuse will not be investigated in depth. The potential of EC glazingto reduce electric lighting energy use, as well as cooling load, hasbeen studied previously by others, e.g. (Lee et al., 2006).

5. Initial findingsAs a result of this case study, a large and varied dataset has beenobtained, the detailed analysis of which is currently underway.Nonetheless, some findings have already emerged, and these areoutlined below.

Installation

From the point of view of installation, a key difference between ECwindows and traditional windows is the need for wiring (powerand communications). The cables are low-voltage and there isnothing particularly novel or challenging about the wiring required… it simply needs to be scheduled as part of the installationprocess. For openable windows (as they are in this case), the wiresto the EC glazing should of course be at the hinged side. For theinstallation described here, the offices have a partition wall thatdivides the central EC window frame. Despite not being the moststraightforward of scenarios for the deployment of a novel glazingtechnology, the windows were installed in two days, which seemsreasonable even for traditional double-glazed windows of the samesize. Commissioning of the control system was carried out as eachunit was installed, and was completed within the week of theinstallation. The control system ran with default settings for thefirst few months, after which time the settings were adjusted inresponse to feedback from occupants and observations of thesystem operation.

Room layout

Roller blinds were left in place after the EC window installation.They were fully retracted when the occupants moved back intotheir office after the work was completed. It was interesting to notethat the occupants in one room did not use the blinds at all untilaround the beginning of December, and then only rarely. Becauseof the orientation of the façade, at low sun angles the solar disc isvisible in the middle of the windows. For occupants facing the

SDAR Journal 2014

36

Figure 5: A test HDR image taken in one of the offices before the EC windowinstallation.


windows, this has produced some visual discomfort even with theEC windows at full tint. Under these conditions, the minimumtransmittance of 2% was not enough to control glare adequatelyfor some occupants, though the sensitivity to this may depend onindividual sensitivities. This finding supports previous studies [Lee etal, 2002] which indicated that a minimum transmittance of 1%was desirable. (It should be noted, however, that SAGE’s latestproduct achieves a minimum transmittance of 1%, which shouldprovide better glare control for occupants with a direct view of thewindow).

Occupants who sit with their backs to the windows reported fewerinstances of visual discomfort. This finding suggests that spacelayout could be optimised to avoid any requirement for blinds in anoffice with EC glazing, e.g. occupants could be positioned so thatthey are not normally facing a window, and/or that they can easilychange their position to avoid direct sun in their eyes. In any case,from a glare control point of view, it is good practice to locate officework stations perpendicular to windows where possible.

View and connectedness to outdoors

Feedback from participants suggested that they value the ability tosee through the windows continously. Theirs is an urban view,comprising a parking area, a road and nearby buildings. Duringinterviews, they commented positively about the ability to seepeople and vehicles coming and going. Before the installation ofthe EC windows, participants indicated that with the blinds drawn,the room had a tendency to feel “closed in”. Several participantsobserved that when the windows are tinted, the sky looks darkerthan it is in reality, giving the false impression that it might rain, forexample. However, the windows should not normally be tintedunder cloudy conditions, and if so, only briefly, so this may not bea significant issue for other installations.

Window tinting, daylight spectrum and colour

When questioned about their window-tint preferences ininterviews, several participants indicated that they preferred to havethe lower row of window panes (which are in their eye-line whenseated) un-tinted, except when direct sun was visible through thosepanes. There are likely to be several factors at play in this preference,including a desire for an ‘un-darkened’ view to outside, and/or aperception that daylight that is not filtered through tinted glass ismore natural.

To explore the second issue in more depth, a hypothesis was putforward: If at least one pane of the EC windows is not tinted, theresultant spectrum of daylight in the room is close to that of a roomwith completely un-tinted windows. A set of field measurementswas made of daylight spectra in the case study room under varioustint-pane combinations. This was compared with a set of theoreticallymodelled spectra, with very good agreement, thus supporting thehypothesis. This work is described in detail in a paper to bepublished by Lighting Research & Technology, Mardaljevic et al(2014).

Other implications

Latitude is obviously a key factor; in a more southerly location withhigher year-round sun angles, it seems likely that the need forblinds could be significantly reduced or completely eliminated. The

findings also indicate that EC glazing could be particularly effectivewhen used in sloped/horizontal glazed openings such as largeglazed roofs or rooflights.

6. ConclusionsA large data set has emerged from the 18-month monitoringcampaign undertaken as part of this case study. This includesqualitative and quantitative data; measured data from the physicalroom environment and self-reported data from human participants.The process of retrofitting EC glazing into a typical UK office andthe subsequent settling-in period has already highlighted severalpractical considerations which might be useful for future adoptersof the technology. Detailed analysis of the data collected duringthe monitoring period is currently being undertaken, and it isanticipated that this will increase our understanding of the effectof EC glazing on its end users.

Acknowledgements

EC windows and associated technical support provided by SAGEElectrochromics, Inc. and Saint-Gobain Recherche.

37

Retrofit electrochromic glazing in a UK office


ReferencesCR. D. Clear, V. Inkarorjrit, E.S. Lee, Subject responses toelectrochromic windows, Energy and Buildings 38 (2006) 758-779.

S. K. Deb, Optical and photoelectric properties and colour centres inthin films of tungsten oxide, Philosophical Magazine, Volume 27,Issue 4 (1973).

C. G. Granqvist, Oxide electrochromics: An introduction to devicesand materials, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 99 (2012) 1–13.

R. Kelly, J. Mardaljevic, B. Painter & K. Irvine, The long-termevaluation of electrochromic glazing in an open plan office undernormal use: project outline, Proceedings of Experiencing Light 2012,Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

C. M. Lampert, Electrochromic materials and devices for energyefficient windows, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 11, Issues 1-2, (1984) 1–27.

E.S. Lee, E.S. Claybaugh, M. LaFrance, End user impacts ofautomated electrochromic windows in a pilot retrofit application,Energy and Buildings 47(2012) 267-284.

E.S. Lee, D.L. DiBartolomeo, Application issues for large-areaelectrochromic windows in commercial buildings, Solar EnergyMaterials & Solar Cells 71 (2002) 465–491.

E.S. Lee, D.L. DiBartolomeo, S.E. Selkowitz, Daylighting controlperformance of a thin-film ceramic electrochromic window: Fieldstudy results, Energy and Buildings 38 (2006) 30-44.

J. Mardaljevic, R. Kelly Waskett, and B. Painter. Neutral daylightillumination with variable transmission glass: Theory and validation.Accepted for publication in Lighting Research and Technology in2014.

M. Moeck, E.S. Lee, M.D. Rubin, R.T. Sullivan, S.E. Selkowitz, Visualquality assessment of electrochromic and conventional glazings,Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 54 (1998) 157-164.

A. Piccolo, Thermal performance of an electrochromic smart windowtested in an environmental test cell, Energy and Buildings 42 (2010)1409–1417.

A. Piccolo, A. Pennisi, F. Simone, Daylighting performance of anelectrochromic window in a small scale test-cell, Solar Energy 83(2009) 832–844.

A. Piccolo, F. Simone, Effect of switchable glazing on discomfortglare from windows, Building and Environment 44 (2009) 1171–1180.

R. Sullivan, E.S. Lee, K. Papamichael, M. Rubin, S. Selkowitz, Effectof switching control strategies on the energy performance ofelectrochromic windows, Proceedings of SPIE InternationalSymposium on Optical Materials Technology for Energy Efficiencyand Solar Energy Conversion XIII, April 18-22, 1994 in Friedrichsbau,Freiburg, Germany.

J.S.E.M. Svensson, C.G. Granqvist, Electrochromic tungsten oxidefilms for energy efficient windows, Solar Energy Materials 11, Issues1-2, (1984) 29–34.

K. Van Den Wymelenberg, Patterns of occupant interaction withwindow blinds: A literature review, Energy and Buildings 51 (2012)165–176.

J. Wienold, Switchable façade technology: Building integration –Final report. Report number: swift-wp3-ise-jw-030616, FraunhoferInstitute for Solar Energy Systems, Heidenhofstr. 2, D-79110 Freiburg(2003).

M. Zinzi, , Building and Environment 41 (2006) 1262-1273.

SDAR Journal 2014

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20152015THE SDAR AWARDS is a jointinitiative between CIBSE Ireland andDIT, supported by Building ServicesNews, and sponsored by John Sisk & Son. The awards are unique in thatthey were devised to disseminateknowledge, encourage research insustainable design of the builtenvironment, and raise the quality of innovation and evaluation of such projects.

Entries are required to criticallyevaluate real life data, and examineboth successes and challenges withinleading-edge projects throughoutIreland or further afield. Thiscompetition is open to architects,engineers and all professionalsinvolved in construction projects.

Entries are now being sought for theSDAR Awards 2015 and, to begin theprocess, short abstracts (between 100

and 200 words max) must besubmitted by email directly to MichaelMcDonald at [email protected] and/or Kevin Kelly [email protected], to arrive no laterthan Monday, 15 December 2014,

Today more than ever, as positivesigns ripple through the builtenvironment, this unique synergybetween industry and academiaallows greater potential forintegration of modern low-carbontechnologies and low-energy design methodologies.

The SDAR Awards competitionrepresents a platform for the growthof applied research in the expandinggreen economy. Post-occupancyevaluations and similar criticalappraisal of low-energy projectsfacilities the transition fromideologically-driven innovations,

sometimes offering poor value, toevidence-based applied research thatproves value or identifies weaknessesthat the industry can learn from. Thesesuccesses and failures help inform the professional community across all the building industry disciplines.

From the abstracts submitted by theMonday, 15 December 2014 deadline,a shortlist will be selected by peerreview, and those selected will beinvited to prepare final papers forsubmission by 30 January 2015.

The presentation of the awards isscheduled for March 2015 andcandidates that present at the awardsfinal also have a chance of theirpapers being published in the SDARJournal (see http://arrow.dit.ie/sdar/).

For further information contact:[email protected] [email protected]

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A Cost-OptimalAssessment of Buildingsin Ireland Using Directive2010/31/EU of the Energy Performance of Buildings Recast

Christopher Pountney [email protected]

David Ross AECOM, UK

Sean ArmstrongDEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, IRELAND



NEW Poutney, Ross, Armstrong SDAR paper:Layout 1 13/11/2014 15:08 Page 41

Abstract

This paper describes the first cost-optimal assessment

of national energy performance standards for

buildings in Ireland undertaken in accordance with

Article 5 of the Energy Performance of Buildings

Directive (EPBD) Recast [Council Directive 2010/31/EU].

This paper focuses on new-build standards which are

set out in Part L of the Building Regulations in

Ireland. A set of representative residential and non-

residential building models were selected. The impact

on primary energy demand of a wide range of energy

efficiency measures and renewable technologies was

evaluated for each building model and the

corresponding lifecycle costs were calculated. The

results show that the new-build residential standards

in Ireland are in the cost-optimal range, while the

new-build non-residential standards deliver a greater

primary energy demand than the cost-optimal range.

Key Words:

Cost-optimal, Part L, Lifecycle cost

1. IntroductionIn Ireland energy use and CO2 emissions associated with the builtenvironment continue to be significant and measures to reducetheir impact in both new and existing buildings will continue to bean important component of Government energy and climate changepolicies. The latest data in respect of CO2 emissions estimated thata total of 12.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent was generated bythe buildings sector in Ireland in 2010 [DECLG, 2012]. In 2010, thisaccounted for 28.8% of emissions in Ireland that were not includedin the EU Emissions Trading System.

Against this background, improvements in energy efficiency withinthe buildings sector, in tandem with the increased use of renewableenergy technologies, constitute important policy measures neededto facilitate a reduction in Ireland’s energy dependency on fossilfuels and associated greenhouse gas emissions over the period to2020 and beyond. A key policy is Part L of the Building Regulationswhich sets standards for primary energy use and CO2 emissions fornew buildings (as well as setting standards for the energy efficiencyof building works on existing buildings). The domestic and non-domestic standards were last updated in 2011 and 2008 respectively.

Article 5 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)Recast assesses the suitability of national building energyperformance standards. It requires all EU member states todetermine cost-optimal standards for building energy performanceand to compare these with their national standards. Thisassessment should be conducted using the comparativemethodology framework, which is defined in the Cost-optimalRegulations (the “Regulations”) [Commission Regulation (EU)244/2012] and expanded upon in the associated Cost-optimalGuidelines [Guidelines accompanying (EU) 244/2012]. Themethodology stipulates how various building measures should beevaluated, including both energy efficiency options and renewabletechnologies, based on the primary energy benefits and theassociated lifecycle costs. Applying these rules to a range of typicalreference buildings gives an indication of the cost-optimal, minimumenergy performance which should be compared against that of thenational standards applied to the same reference buildings. Thispaper presents the first cost-optimal assessment of buildings andbuilding elements in Ireland undertaken in accordance with theframework.

For each reference building, the various building measures areplotted with primary energy on the horizontal axis and lifecyclecosts on the vertical axis. Figure 1 gives a typical example. For eachlevel of primary energy, there are likely to be many options with different lifecycle costs. For any particular primary energyconsumption, the points plotted in red are those which have thelowest lifecycle cost. These are used to determine the cost-optimalcurve. Since the cost-optimal curve may reasonably be expected tovary based on uncertainties in the input data, a range of sensitivityanalyses are undertaken. The range of minimum points from eachof these cost-optimal curves forms the cost-optimal range. The

SDAR Journal 2014

42


A cost-optimal assessment of buildings in Ireland using Directive 2010/31/EU

43

cost-optimal point is the point within the cost-optimal range withthe lowest primary energy. Applying the Part L standard to theexample reference building is also shown in Figure 1.

The final part of the assessment is a comparison of the cost-optimalpoint with the current national standards. The primary energies ofboth the cost-optimal points and the national standards are averagedover the reference buildings. The average of the national standardsshould be no greater than 15% above the average of the cost-optimal points. The member state should either give a justificationfor any exceedance or outline a plan of action to reduce the deficit.

2. MethodologyThis section describes the application of the cost-optimalmethodology in Ireland. Although the analyses of residential andnon-residential buildings were undertaken separately, most of themethodology is consistent. Both parts are presented together.

2.1 Reference buildings

For the purpose of this work, it has been assumed that thereference buildings are constructed in Dublin. The greater Dublinregion contributes to a significant proportion of newly-constructeddwellings and is also the focus of current non-residentialconstruction activities. Hence, we have used climate data forDublin, as defined within the Irish building energy assessmentprocedures, as well as initial investment cost data for Dublin asprovided by AECOM cost experts.

2.1.1 Residential buildings

The regulation stipulates that member states should definereference buildings for both single-family dwellings and eitherapartment blocks or multi-family dwellings. In this case, referencebuildings were selected for five different dwelling types –

• Bungalow

• Detached house (2-storey)

• Semi-detached house (2-storey)

• Mid-floor flat

• Top-floor flat

The reference buildings were based upon typical building models(not actual buildings) provided by the Department of theEnvironment, Community and Local Government (DECLG). Thesedwellings were based on a review undertaken of new-builddwelling construction between 2003 and 2006. Sources includedthe DECLG Annual Housing Statistics Bulletin, the Central StatisticsOffice Construction and Housing Statistics, DKM EconomicConsultants Ltd Annual Review of the Construction Industry, andSustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s Energy Consumption andCO2 Emissions in the Residential Sector. Further details of currentnew-build dwellings were supplied by OMP Architects, DTAArchitects and MosArt to confirm typical area, form, glazing ratios,and construction methods [DEHLG, 2007].

A summary of the floor areas for these buildings is shown in Table 1,where the floor areas were calculated by taking linear measurementsbetween the finished internal faces of the walls. New buildings areassumed to be of cavity wall construction as DECLG advised thatthis is the most common new-build construction type in Ireland.

2.1.2 Non-residential buildings

According to Annex 1 of the regulation, member states shouldestablish at least one reference building for office buildings, as wellas for certain other non-residential buildings for which specificenergy performance requirements exist. In Ireland, energyperformance requirements are set for all non-residential buildings.Reference buildings based on the following four building categorieswere selected –

• Office buildings

• Educational buildings

• Hotels and restaurants

• Wholesale and retail services buildings

A summary of the buildings, construction type and servicingstrategy is shown in Table 2. The office building, hotel and restaurantbuilding, and wholesale and retail services building, were based on

Figure 1: Example cost-optimal curve for a reference building.

Cost

(£/m

²)

Primary Energy (kWh/yr/m²)

All Solu�ons Op�mal Solu�ons Current Standard

Cost-Op�mal Range Cost-Op�mal Point

Building Category Reference Building Floor AreaSingle-family buildings Bungalow 104m²

Detached house 160m²Semi-detached house 126m²

Apartment blocks Mid-floor flat 54m²Top-floor flat 54m²

Table 1 – Selected residential reference building models

Building Category Construction typeCavity Wall Steel Frame

Retail (Air Conditioned) – 1250 m²Office (Natural Ventilation) 1500 m² –Office (Air Conditioned) – 1500 m²School (Primary – 2300 m² –Natural Ventilation)Hotel (Air Conditioned) 2500 m² –

Table 2 – Selected non-residential reference building models


building models used to develop building regulations for energyperformance requirements within the UK. The floor areas of thesemodels were amended to reflect the mean area of the planningpermissions granted in Ireland in 2010. The school building wasbased on an exemplar primary school building provided by theDepartment of Education and Skills [DES, 2013].

2.2 Building energy measures

A list of potential measures was compiled using the cost-optimalguidelines and design experience for both residential and non-residential buildings. Since it is impractical to evaluate everypermutation of the selected measures, the measures were groupedinto packages.

For residential buildings, three sets of packages were created (seeTable 3), representing three different components of a dwellingdesign (fabric, heating, photovoltaics (PV)). PV is selected here asthe primary renewable energy technology, since it is often one of thelowest-cost alternatives, is usually independent of building featuresand is applicable to a wide range of building forms. Selecting onepackage from each component forms a complete dwelling design.Taking account of all of the permutations, 80 alternative dwellingdesigns have been modelled in each reference dwelling.

In non-residential buildings, building services measures wereexplicitly included as a fourth component (see Table 4). In total,225 alternative building designs have been modelled in eachreference building, with the exception of air conditioned offices

where that number was doubled due to the inclusion of optionalfree-cooling as a fifth component.

The values selected for each of the measures (e.g. the fabric U-values and building services efficiencies) within the packages havebeen chosen to give a large spread of primary energies and lifecyclecosts. This helps to obtain a clear cost-optimal curve, making iteasier to identify the cost-optimum range. Some packages includesolutions that, taken together, might comprise a building designthat performs more poorly than the primary energy standard setby the current Part L regulations. This is necessary to show whetherthe current standards are already at, or beyond, cost-optimal.

It should be noted that some possible measures have been omittedfrom these packages. There are a number of reasons for this –

• Site specific measures: Various measures are particularlydependant on site constraints. For example, buildingorientation and the feasibility of wind turbines are likely todepend on the site and the surrounding context. Ourassumption is that the cost-optimal point should be basedon measures that any designer can typically adopt. If not,achieving the cost-optimal point may be unrealistic in manyreal cases.

SDAR Journal 2014

44

Fabric F1 F2 F3 F4Wall U-value (W/m²K) 0.27 0.20 0.13 0.13Roof U-value (W/m²K) 0.16 0.14 0.11 0.11Floor U-value (W/m²K) 0.20 0.18 0.13 0.13Window U-value (W/m²K) 1.6 1.4 0.9 0.9Thermal Bridging (y-value) 0.15 0.08 0.04 0.04Air Tightness 10 7 5 2(m³/m².hr @ 50 Pa)Ventilation Strategy Natural Ventilation MVHR

Heating H1 H2 H3 H4 H5Space Heating Source Condensing Gas Biomass GSHP ASHPSpace Heating Efficiency 91% 80% 396% 374%Communal option for flats? No Yes (all houses have individual

heating systems)Controls Full time and temperature Full time and

zone control, weather temperaturecompensation, modulating zone controlboiler with interlock

Emitters Radiators Underfloor HeatingElectric Immersion Heater NO NO NO YES YESSolar Hot Water NO YES NO NO NO

PV PV1 PV2 PV3 PV4PV Installation 0% 10% 20% 30%(% foundation area)`

Table 3 – Measures included in residential analysis

Fabric F1 F2 F3Wall U-value (W/m²K) 0.3 0.25 0.2Roof U-value (W/m²K) 0.25 0.2 0.15Floor U-value (W/m²K) 0.25 0.2 0.15Window U-value (W/m²K) 1.8 1.4 0.9Improved Thermal Bridging NO YES YESAir Tightness 7 5 3(m³/m².hr @ 50 Pa)

Services S1 S2 S3Lighting (llm/cW) 55 60 65Daylight Lighting Control NO YES YESOccupancy Lighting Control NO YES YESHeat Recovery NO NO 65%Chiller Efficiency (SEER) 3.5 4.5 5.5AHU SFP 2.2 2 1.8FCU SFP 0.6 0.3 0.3Demand Control Ventilation NO NO YES

Additional Services FC1 FC2Free Cooling (FC) NO YES

Heating H1 H2 H3 H4 H5Heating Source Gas boiler CHP GSHP GSHPSpace Heating Efficiency 86% 91% 45% 400% 400%Solar Hot Water NO YES NO NO NO

PV PV1 PV2 PV3 PV4 PV5PV Installation 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%(% foundation area)

Table 4 – Measures included in non-residential analysis


• Design measures: Some measures impact on designconstraints that do not affect the building primary energydemand. For example, modifying the percentage of glazingor introducing shading to optimise the primary energydemand may result in inadequate daylight levels.Furthermore, this is building-dependent – a particularpercentage of glazing may provide appropriate day lighting in one building design but not another. Therefore,such measures have not been considered in the list of packages.

• Default measures: There are other measures that are likelyto be included in new buildings by default, for example in non-residential buildings, monitoring and metering,variable speed pumps and power factor correction. Thesehave not been treated as options; they are simply added tothe base building models where appropriate. Since thesemeasures do not vary, there is no need to separatelyidentify costs for them.

2.3 Energy performance assessment

The EPBD Recast requires member states to develop a methodologyfor calculating the energy performance of buildings. There are arange of European standards recommended for the calculation ofvarious loads and energies in buildings, including EN ISO 13790 forheating and cooling. In Ireland, this methodology has beenimplemented in the Domestic Energy Assessment Procedure (DEAP)and the Non-domestic Energy Assessment Procedure (NEAP). BothDEAP and NEAP reflect the additional requirements regardingconservation of fuel and energy in Part L.

The Irish Government publishes a software implementation ofDEAP, which is available as a standalone tool and as a spreadsheettool. For this analysis, the reference dwellings were constructed inthe spreadsheet tool, so that evaluating the various packages ofmeasures could be automated.

Similarly, the NEAP is implemented in the Simplified Building EnergyModel (SBEM) calculation engine. To undertake this analysis, acustom modelling environment was developed using VB.NET toautomatically edit the SBEM building model input files to reflecteach package of measures. The energy end uses (i.e. heating,cooling, lighting, domestic hot water and auxiliary energy) wererecorded directly from the SBEM output files.

In both cases, the end-use energies were then summed for eachenergy carrier to find the delivered energy requirement. Any on-site generated energy was also determined at this stage. Theassociated primary energy for each package of measures wascalculated by multiplying the delivered energies by the appropriateprimary energy factor. The projected primary energy factors (PEFs)were averaged over the calculation period (see section 2.4).

2.4 Lifecycle calculations

The calculation of lifecycle costs was undertaken according to thedetailed procedures laid down in Annex 1 of the Regulations. Thelifecycle cost (CL) is defined in the equation below.

Following the Regulations, the calculation period was set to 30years for the residential and public buildings (i.e. the primary school)and 20 years for all other non-residential buildings.

The initial investment costs were provided by AECOM cost expertsbased on industry data. Similarly, they provided the maintenanceand replacement costs for inclusion as part of the annual costs.Asset lives were taken from IS EN 15459 [NSAI, 2007]. However,since the calculation periods are similar to or less than many of thecomponent asset lives, few replacements were required.

The annual costs also include the annual energy cost. The baselineenergy costs were taken from the Energy Trends 2009 document[European Commission, 2010] referenced in the Regulation. Thecost of biomass in the residential analysis was taken from theBioEnergy Supply Curves for Ireland report [SEAI, 2012]. Similarly,solid multi-fuel (coal assumed) costs were taken from the DECCInterdepartmental Analyst Group tables [DECC, 2013], convertedto Euros and 2013 prices.

For the societal calculation, the cost of carbon was calculated usingcarbon emission factor projections provided by DECLG. Thebaseline cost of traded carbon emissions were taken from Annex 2of the Regulation. This projection assumes the implementation ofexisting legislation, but does not account for any further futuredecarbonisation.

The residual value at the end of the calculation period was calculatedassuming a linear depreciation over the component asset life.

The lifecycle costs were evaluated from both the private investorperspective and the societal perspective. In practice, this requires aslight modification to the equation above for the private investorcalculation, since the cost of carbon is not included. Furthermore,for the private investor calculation, Value Added Tax (VAT) is alsoapplied as appropriate. From the societal perspective, taxes are notincluded in the lifecycle cost calculation.

The discount rate varied depending on the lifecycle perspective. Forthe private investor, the baseline discount rate was set at 7% andwas based on an assessment of the current financial landscape. The

45


( ) = + , ( ) ( ) + , ( ) − , ( )

where: calculation period initial investment cost , ( ) annual cost for package of measures during year

, ( ) cost of carbon for package of measures during year

, ( ) residual value of package of measures at the end of the calculation period (discounted to starting year )

( ) is the discount rate in year and is calculated as follows:

( ) = 1

1 + 100

where:

number of years from starting year the real discount rate

(1)

(2)


societal baseline discount rate was set at 4%, the value used by theIrish Government in policy-impact assessments.

A series of sensitivity analyses were undertaken on the initialinvestment cost, discount rates, energy prices and primary emissionfactors to assess the potential variation depending on reasonableuncertainty in input data.

3. ResultsThis section presents the results of the cost-optimal assessment ofthe various packages applied to each reference building.

3.1 Residential results Figure 2 provides an example Residential result. It is a societal analysisfor the Semi-Detached House. The red dashed line marks the currentstandard, which intersects the cost-optimal curve at a lower primaryenergy than the cost-optimal point.

Table 5 summarises the results for each of the residential buildings,including the range of cost-optimal energies based on the varioussensitivities. For most building types, the national standard is withinthe cost-optimal range. Over the build mix, the national standardmeets the requirement of being less than 15% above the averagecost-optimal primary energy.

An analysis was also undertaken of the technology solutions onthe cost-optimal curve:

• Heating technology: The solutions were segregated withtypically the lowest primary energies achieved using gasheating with solar hot water. Gas heating solutions appearedat greater energies, while some biomass heating solutionswere towards the right hand side of the cost-optimal curve.

• Fabric and PV: On the curve, there were several solutionsfor each heating technology with differing fabric and PVpackages. The solutions with the lowest primary energypushed the fabric to package F4 and the PV to 30%.

• Cost-optimal: From a societal perspective, the cost-optimalsolution was fabric package F2, no PV and either biomass for homes and gas for flats. From a private investorperspective, gas heating was the preferred technology for all dwelling types.

3.2 Non-residential results Figure 3 shows the results of the societal perspective analysis, using the baseline discount rate and costs, for the Naturally-Ventilated Office. The red dashed line marks the current standard,which is greater than the cost-optimal primary energy.

Table 6 summarises the results for each of the non-residentialbuildings, including the range of cost-optimal energies based onthe various sensitivities. For all building types, the national standardis above the cost-optimal range. Over the build mix, the nationalstandard is greater than 15% above the average cost-optimalprimary energy.

An analysis was also undertaken of the technology solutions onthe cost-optimal curve. This was more complex for non-residentialbuildings given the greater range of building types.

• Heating technology: Typically, the heating technology withthe lowest primary energies was GSHP heating. In the Hotel,this included the addition of solar hot water also. Thesolutions with the highest primary energies always used gasheating. CHP did not feature in the cost-optimal solutions inany of the reference buildings.

SDAR Journal 2014

46

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Mac

roec

onom

ic C

ost (

EUR/

m²)

Primary Energy (kWh/m²)

Figure 2: Semi-Detached House (Societal Perspective, 4% Discount Rate).

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Mac

roec

on

om

ic C

ost

(E

UR

/m²)

Primary Energy (kWh/m²)

Figure 3: Office (NV) (Societal Perspective, 4% Discount Rate).

Building Category National Standard Cost Optimal Sensitivity Range(kWh/m2/yr) (kWh/m2/yr) (kWh/m2/yr)

Bungalow 67 110 33-139Detached house 55 90 45-113Semi-detached house 54 89 49-110Mid-floor flat 57 79 57-94Top-floor flat 65 92 68-105

Table 5 – Residential cost-optimal primary energy values

Building Category National Standard Cost Optimal Sensitivity Range(kWh/m2/yr) (kWh/m2/yr) (kWh/m2/yr)

Retail (Air Conditioned) 726 239 227-338Office (Natural Ventilation) 247 52 35-103Office (Air Conditioned) 366 102 101-179School (Primary – Natural Ventilation) 111 55 8-80Hotel (Air Conditioned) 507 284 243-330

Table 6 – Non-residential cost-optimal primary energy values


• Fabric, Services and PV: On the curve, there were severalsolutions for each heating technology with differing fabric,services and PV packages. The solutions with the lowestprimary energy pushed the fabric to package F3, the servicesto package S3 and the PV to 40%.

• Cost-optimal: At the cost-optimal point, GSHP was theselected heating technology in most cases, although theSchool used gas heating. The fabric varied from F1 to F3 and similarly the services varied from S1 to S3. In all cases the maximum-sized PV array was selected, except for theSchool where no PV was used.

3.3 Sensitivity analysisIt is useful to review in more detail the results of the sensitivityanalysis.

Both reducing the energy prices and increasing the discount ratereduced the cost of energy over the calculation period. This tendedto have two impacts.

• It made solutions with higher primary energy demandrelatively more attractive with the cost of energy consumptionover the calculation period becoming cheaper in terms of netpresent value. Indeed, for some non-residential buildings,increasing the discount rate from 3% to 6% as much asdoubled the cost-optimal level of primary energy.

• It often changed the preferred heating technology. Inresidential buildings, gas tended to be the cost-optimalsolution for lower energy prices, while biomass was preferredat higher energy prices. It is noted that the gas and biomassenergy prices do come from different sources and this analysisassumes their comparability.

The sensitivity analysis of PEFs and the price of carbon showed littleimpact when averaged over the calculation period. In bothinstances, the sensitivity case simply increased the cost-optimalprimary energy, without changing the optimal technology for thelowest cost solution. Only in one non-residential building (Air-conditioned Office) did the cost-optimal solution change. In thiscase, a less efficient services package was selected.

No learning rates were included in this analysis and it would beexpected, for example, that PV would become more cost-effectiveover time, which would affect the cost-optimal primary energy andthe associated technology solution.

4. DiscussionThe results presented in the previous section show that the nationalstandard for residential buildings is near, or in some cases, beyondcost-optimal. The standard in non-residential buildings is far abovethe cost-optimal point in all cases. This section discusses these tworesults in further detail.

4.1 Residential buildingsAs the requirements for new dwellings are already in the cost-optimal range and are better than the cost-optimal level in manycases, there is no plan to review the current requirements for new

dwellings to achieve cost-optimal levels. These cost-optimalcalculations will be used to inform the roadmap to Nearly ZeroEnergy Buildings and associated NZEB targets as required by theEPBD Recast.

Nonetheless, this analysis does highlight an important issueregarding the role of biomass heating in Nearly Zero EnergyBuildings. The analysis shows that biomass heating has, at best,only a marginal benefit in primary energy terms. The primaryenergy factor for biomass is similar to natural gas, but the efficiencyof biomass boilers is poorer than that of equivalent natural gas boilers. No doubt biomass heating will be an importantalternative in Ireland in future, especially since the gas network isrelatively limited. However, to achieve Nearly Zero Energy Buildings,alternative heating sources or additional on-site generationtechnologies will be required.

4.2 Non-residentialPart L for non-domestic buildings was last revised in 2008 toinclude a maximum permitted whole building energy performancecoefficient and a carbon dioxide performance coefficient,calculated in comparison with a reference building. The regulationand guidance is currently undergoing a review process due forcompletion in 2014. The Department of Environment Communityand Local Government is committed to the new regulation and guidance achieving cost-optimal levels. This will be the firstmilestone on the roadmap for non-residential buildings to NearlyZero Energy Buildings, which is due for public buildings in 2018and for all buildings by 2020. While there are clearly considerableopportunities for improvement across all non-residential buildings,the revised standard will need to consider additional factors beyondcost-optimality, such as buildability, technology supply chain or therobustness of newer technologies.

Indeed, setting a cost-optimal standard in non-residential buildingsis not straightforward due to the varied energy demand profiles.For example, the Naturally-Ventilated Office and the School aresimilar in terms of servicing strategy and have a similar total primaryenergy demand at the cost-optimal point (52 kWh/m² for theNaturally-Ventilated Office and 55 kWh/m² for the School). However,in the Naturally-Ventilated Office lighting is the predominate energydemand, far exceeding the heating demand (28 kWh/m² against13 kWh/m²). The School is the opposite, with the heating energydemand three times the lighting energy demand (28 kWh/m²against 9 kWh/m²).

At the cost-optimal point, the different energy profiles have a clearimpact on the selected packages. In the Naturally-Ventilated Officethe cost-optimal point is achieved with the maximum-sized PV arrayand GSHP heating, while the selected fabric package is theminimum, package F1. In the School, the cost-optimal point doesnot require any PV, selecting gas heating and improving the fabricto package F3. This serves to illustrate the great diversity betweennon-residential buildings, since apparently similar building typesmay have quite different cost-optimal solutions.

It should also be noted that adding PV often achieves large primaryenergy reductions, while incurring very little additional lifecycle


47


cost. Adding PV was most cost-effective in the School. Beyond thecost-optimal point, increasing the PV array from 0% to 40%reduced primary energy from 52 kWh/m² to 4 kWh/m², with amacroeconomic cost increase of only 8 EUR/m². Adding PV to theAir-Conditioned Office had a similarly high cost-effectiveness,although the size of the primary energy reduction was limited bythe available roof area. The precise cost and benefits depend onthe both the estimation of long-term primary energy factors andelectricity costs, nonetheless, PV is a favourable addition whenviewed over the lifecycle calculation period.

5. ConclusionThis paper has described the first cost-optimal assessment ofbuildings in Ireland undertaken in accordance with Article 5 of theEPBD Recast. The results show that for residential buildings thecurrent national standard is within, or beyond, the cost-optimalrange. However, for non-residential buildings the current standardslie outside the cost-optimal range.

Consequently, there are various implications for future updates tothe national standard. This analysis showed that some solutions onthe cost-optimal curves in residential buildings may contain biomassheating. However, the impact of biomass heating in Nearly ZeroEnergy Buildings will be limited by the primary energy factor of thefuel and the efficiency of the boilers.

The analysis of non-residential buildings showed more variability inthe cost-optimal solution. In most cases, adding PV and selectingGSHPs was preferred, although the cost-optimal solution for theSchool maximised fabric improvements. Meanwhile, in several cases,and for very little additional lifecycle cost, significant primary energyreductions were achieved through the inclusion of the largest-sizedPV arrays.

Acknowledgements

This paper contains material taken from the full cost-optimalcalculations report [DECLG, 2014] and is reproduced with theconsent of the Department of Environment, Community and LocalGovernment.

ReferencesCommission Regulation (EU) No. 244/2012 of 16 January 2012 onthe Energy Performance of Buildings by Establishing a ComparativeMethodology Framework for Calculating Cost-Optimal Levels ofMinimum Energy Performance Requirements for Buildings andBuilding Elements.

Council Directive 2010/31/EU of 19 May 2010 on the EnergyPerformance of Buildings (Recast).

Department of Education and Skills. 2013. Exemplars and TemplateDesigns. [Online]. [Accessed: November 2013]. Available at:http://www.education.ie/en/School-Design/Exemplars-Template-Designs/Exemplars-and-Template-Designs.html.

Department of Energy and Climate Change. 2013. TheInterdepartmental Analysts’ Group (IAG) Toolkit Supporting Tables.[Online]. [Accessed: November 2013]. Available at:http://tools.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/about/ec_social_res/iag_guidance/iag_guidance.aspx.

Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government,2014. Report on the Development of cost-optimal Calculations andGap Analysis for Buildings in Ireland under Directive 2010/31/EU onthe Energy Performance of Buildings (Recast). Dublin: DECLG.

Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government,2012. Towards a New Climate Change Policy: Interim Report of theNESC Secretariat. Dublin: DECLG.

European Commission, 2010. EU Energy Trends to 2030 – Update2009. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

Guidelines accompanying Commission Regulation (EU) No. 244/2012of 16 January 2012 on the Energy Performance of Buildings byEstablishing a Comparative Methodology Framework for CalculatingCost-Optimal Levels of Minimum Energy Performance Requirementsfor Buildings and Building Elements.

National Standards Authority of Ireland. 2007. IS EN 15459:2007.Energy performance of buildings – Economic evaluation procedurefor energy systems in buildings. Dublin: NSAI.

Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, 2012. BioEnergy SupplyCurves for Ireland 2010-2030. Dublin: SEAI.

UCD Energy Research Group, 2007. Energy Efficiency Regulations forNew Dwellings and Options for Improvement. Dublin: Department ofEnvironment, Heritage and Local Government.

SDAR Journal 2014

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The School of Multidisciplinary Technologies supports and facilitates the education of engineering,built environment and technology students in the College of Engineering and the BuiltEnvironment, from undergraduate to post graduate, whole time and part-time, in amultidisciplined approach for holistic outcomes grounded in research. It promotesmultidisciplinary themes such as energy, sustainability, information technology (including BIM)and engineering/built environment educational research in the college. It also facilitates thedesign and delivery of innovative programmes (see panel below) that are attractive to students in a cost-effective way. In addition, the School bridges the gap between engineering and the builtenvironment, resulting in holistically-designed, healthy and low energy buildings for a modernsustainable world.

Contact Details:

Head of School: Dr Kevin Kelly. email: [email protected]

Assistant Head of School: Dr Avril Behan. email: [email protected]

School Admin: Jane Cullen. Tel: 01 – 402 4014. email: [email protected]

School of Multidisciplinary Technologies

Programmes:

Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Engineering (Common First Year) FT DT066

Bachelor of Technology (Ord) Computing PT DT036A

Bachelor Engineering Tec (Ord) Engineering (General Entry) FT DT097A

Master of Science Applied Computing for Technologists FT DT090

Master of Science Applied Computing for Technologists PT DT093

MSc in Applied Building Information Modelling and PT DT 9876Management (aBIMM)

Postgraduate Diploma in (Building Information Modelling) PT DT 775ABIM Technologies

Postgraduate Certificate in Collaborative BIM (Building PT DT 775Information Modelling)

Research students (Full-time) FT Contact School

Research students (Part-time) PT Contact School

Institiúd Teicneolaíochta Átha CliathDublin Institute of Technology

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College of Engineering & Built Environment

School of Architecture

School of Multidisciplinary Technologies

College of Engineering & Built EnvironmentPart time and CPD programmes in

Energy Retrofit Technology

2014-2015

· MSc in Applied Building Information Modelling & Management (aBIMM)

· Postgraduate Diploma in Collaborative BIM

· Postgraduate Certificate in BIM Technologies

· CPD Diploma in BIM Architecture

· CPD Diploma in BIM Surveying & Management

· CPD Diploma in BIM M&E Engineering

· CPD Certificate in BIM Architecture 1 (Primary Building Elements)

· CPD Certificate in BIM Construction Management

· CPD Certificate in BIM Cost & Value Management

· CPD Certificate in BIM Engineering (Mechanical & Electrical)

· CPD Certificate in BIM Geomatics Engineering (Point Cloud Science)

· CPD Certificate in BIM Collaboration

Energy Retrofit Technology programmes:

· CPD Diploma in Thermal Bridge Assessment

· CPD Diploma in Energy Analysis

· CPD Diploma in Building Environmental Assessment Methods

· Postgraduate Certificate in Digital Analysis & Energy Retrofit

· Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Analysis & Energy Retrofit

· MSc in Energy Retrofit Technology

See for more information on BIM programmes including costs, delivery,

commencement dates etc.

See for more information on Energy Retrofit Technology

programmes including costs, delivery, commencement dates etc.

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Documents

Sdar 2014 for web