BEAM

BEAM is Green...

Jan 2012 Technical Designs advocates sustainable, Green design. Not only is it good for the environment, but it enhances the Green bottom line.

The Sustainable Life-cycle

Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable design sees beyond a project's short-term bottom line to a broader payoff, delivering returns for the economy and the environment. Life-cycle costing does the long-term math so that we can maximize the life-long returns of a building.

Life-cycle costing focuses on the full costs of construction and operations, approximately 20 percent and 80 percent of a building's lifetime costs, respectively. It builds on the established practice of life-cycle assessment (LCA), which aims to quantify the environmental performance of a project's elements from harvest to salvage: raw materials harvesting through manufacturing, building, maintenance and operation, and finally demolition and disposal. Extensive analyses account for the impacts of energy consumption, water use, air quality and emissions, toxicity, natural resource depletion, and solid waste. LCA can help evaluate building designs based on any or all of these environmental measures. Technical Designs has the tools and expertise to evaluate your current situation: new projects or existing assets; and help you chart a course to understanding the entire life cycle cost of your assets.

Click here to Technical Designs skill sets and the tools we use.

Energy Efficiency, Life Cycle Costs, and Climate Change?

"While no single step can reverse the effects of Climate Change, we have a moral obligation to future generations to leave them a planet that is not polluted and damaged."

"The President's Climate Action Plan, June 2013"

(Click on this link to read the President's Plan)

Have you been asked to reduce energy operating costs or support sustainability efforts for your entity? Are you or your organization tracking greenhouse gases or concerned about climate change? Are energy costs increasing but budgets for capital maintenance or replacement decreasing? How you answer these questions will affect the final outcome in our efforts to reverse Climate Change. Those that say a change like this is not possible are usually passed by those that have already put in place a plan to succeed.

Energy Efficiency is the path to reversing climate change...

In the 2008 National Science and Technology report on "Net Zero Energy, High Performance Green Buildings", "the greenest energy is that which is not used." Technical Designs wants you to understand that when you consider energy efficiency during the evaluation of your assets, you are making a conscious effort to reverse global warming and the effects of Climate Change.

Consider for a moment that for every pound of food you consumed, you threw away 2 pounds of trash. The current legacy electric grid does just that: consumes 2 pounds of fossil fuels to deliver 1 pound of electricity. Governments and industry need to do their part to change this current method of wasteful and inefficient electrical delivery. But individuals and business can do their part by making an investment in efficiency improvements in their assets that create a return on investment and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

But Engineers and Architects always build the most efficient buildings... right?

Engineers and Architects are allocated a budget to put together a design package. Most of the time, budgets are established from historical data and possible return on investment. This "been there, done that" attitude has led to the lowest first cost available that meets minimum building codes. Owners rarely want to discuss new technologies and the ability to improve a building energy performance 25-30% over the current building energy code. With so many buildings on the market with subpar performance, Technical Designs has seen a 300% increase in our "after market" business. This after market business is based on the ability to walk into almost any building built in the last 10 years (or prior) and propose energy efficient solutions with real ROI, based on financial grade energy audits. Sadly, we know from experience that these same improvements could have been incorporated and installed originally for half of the current retrofit cost with the resulting payback in half the time. And if you stop to consider the reduced energy use and the years of greenhouse gases that would have been avoided, you begin to understand your role in reversing Climate Change.

Don't let money stand in the way of doing the right thing...

As it has been said, if the environment is not important in the types of energy you use and how you use it, try holding your breath as you count the money you saved by continuing to use fossil fuels. With support even reaching to the President of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of Energy, Technical Designs can help with an attractive turnkey option that defers payments until savings are realized, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions today. And if you are evaluating a new asset purchase, we will provide building scoring, based on buildings of similar use and type, as well as possible improvements that lead to energy savings with real payback and reduced emissions.

Technical Designs is here to help...

Do you have mandates that are not adequately funded in these areas, such as implementing renewable energy? Is your organization positioned or positioning itself to address these issues? Technical Designs is committed to help you find and track your way into a more Sustainable future.