Technical Resources

This page has been developed to provide guidance and help direct competition teams to high quality educational resources to support the development of competition submissions. General Resources & Training consists of introductions to the fundamental concepts of the competition, as well as opportunities provided by the California utility companies and AIA California. Three books are also recommended as further resources. 

The remainder of the Technical Resources page provides resources that are organized in the steps that  teams might approach the competition and their design.

California Context: Goals, Codes & Cities
Setting Goals / Targets
Passive Systems and Building Envelope
Active Systems
Integrating Renewable Energy
Modeling and Simulation
Load Shapes - why are they important?

GENERAL RESOURCES & TRAINING

The trainings below are overviews or introductions to a few topics specific to this competition:
Re-designing Good Design: High-performance Architecture for a Low-carbon World
Basics of Solar Electric Systems

The California utilities and AIA California offer a number of free simulcast, online on-demand, and in person trainings:
SCE - Energy Education Centers
PG&E - Energy Training Centers
SDG&E - Energy Innovation Center
SoCalGas - Energy Resource Center
Sacramento Municipal Utility District - Online Resources
AIA California - Climate Action Webinar Series

BOOKS:

The Green Studio Handbook, Alison Kwok, Walter Grondzik, Routledge, 2011.
Design Professional's Guide to Zero Net Energy Buildings, Charles Eley, Island Press, 2016.
Sun, Wind, and Light: Architectural Design Strategies, Mark DeKay, Wiley, 2014.

OTHER:

New Buildings Institute
Decarbonizing Buildings: A Changing Lexicon
NBI Getting to Zero Database

ASHRAE American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
Advanced Energy Design Guides for Net Zero
High Performance Buildings - Net Zero

AIA National
Framework for Design Excellence: Design for Energy
Framework for Design Excellence
AIA COTE Top Ten Award Winners

Renewable Energy
Renewable Energy Basics
Hydrogen Fuel Basics

CALIFORNIA CONTEXT: GOALS, CODES, & CITIES

Building decarbonization is a key strategy to  achieving California’s aggressive climate goals.  California must reduce GHG emissions 40% from 1990 levels by 2030.[1]

California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment[2]  highlights the potential impacts from climate change  on California. In 2020, California experienced  record-shattering wildfires with widespread smoke  and intense, dangerous heat events.

Projects designed and constructed in California  must meet certain energy use requirements in the  building code. California’s Building Energy Efficiency  Standards (Title 24) focus on reducing energy  used in new construction and existing buildings.[3]

Building energy codes are still fundamentally based on energy use predicted by energy models. The  requirements for the latest version of Title 24 for school projects, and numerous other  resources, can be found at Energy Code Ace.

An increasing number of local jurisdictions in California are enacting building energy codes that are more stringent than the state codes, encouraging decarbonization primarily through encouraging or requiring all-electric new construction.

Read

“California Puts Buildings in Energy Policy Spotlight” – Natural Resources Defense Council (February 20, 2019). https://www.nrdc.org/experts/pierre-delforge/california-puts-buildings-energy-policy-spotlight 

“CA Local Governments Take Lead on Zero-Emission Buildings” – Natural Resources Defense Council (April 29, 2019). https://www.nrdc.org/experts/pierre-delforge/ca-local-governments-take-lead-zero-emission-buildings

“What’s Changed in 2022 - Fact Sheet” - Energy Code Ace (Feb 27, 2023). https://energycodeace.com/download/63690/file_path/fieldList/2022.Whats+Changed.Nonres.pdf

Watch

“Carbon Neutrality by 2045” – Southern California Edison. https://www.edison.com/home/our-perspective/pathway-2045.html

“About Title 24” – California Building Standards Commission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5prckhLplRY&t=12s

NOTE: While this video provides a broad overview of Title 24, the Architecture at Zero Competition focuses on Title 24 Part 6 - the Energy Code.

Explore

“Ace Training: 2019 Title 24, Part 6” – Energy Code Ace.
https://energycodeace.com/ training

Local California jurisdictions that have adopted energy standards exceeding the 2022 Energy Code:

List of jurisdictions: https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-efficiency-standards/2022-building-energy-efficiency-0

Documents from jurisdictions related to reach codes and all-electric codes:
https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/Lists/DocketLog.aspx?docketnumber=19-BSTD-06

SETTING GOALS & TARGETS

Successful project teams set energy and emissions targets at the beginning of the design process. The energy target is generally the site Energy Use Intensity (EUI), or the annual energy consumption divided by conditioned floor area, and is expressed in units of kBtu/sf/yr.

To meet the EUI target, teams focus first on energy efficiency through optimizing for climate and site, resolving major design moves that improve energy performance, and then integrating and optimizing the envelope, passive strategies, and high-performance, carefully sized building active systems and equipment. Finally, the team integrates renewable energy and any energy storage. Once the project is completed, teams are increasingly tracking project performance to ensure systems perform as designed, and to adjust system performance or controls if needed.

Additional analysis is needed to determine the carbon emissions of the building during design, and later, operation. The operational carbon emissions of buildings are generally determined by multiplying the energy use by an emissions factor. The emissions factor varies by fuel, time of year, and time of day. If an hourly emissions factor by fuel type is available for the location or utility, it can be applied to the hourly energy use by fuel type and used to assess how to reduce carbon emissions for specific times of day, seasons, or on an annual basis. Carbon emissions are generally expressed in pounds or tons of carbon emitted, depending on the emissions factors and time frame.

The embodied carbon is the emissions connected to the equipment, materials, and construction practices. Certain materials or building components have more carbon than others, so some designers also have goals to reduce the embodied carbon through careful choices, or by reusing existing buildings where feasible.

The following excerpt comes from the AIA document, Design for Energy. It provides information on best practices for designs that can reduce energy use and eliminate the use and dependence on fossil fuels. The tips provided focus on energy benchmarking and goal setting, passive design features/climate responsive design, energy modeling, onsite renewables (solar, wind), Net Zero Energy/Net Zero Carbon Building, and commissioning.

Energy benchmarking and goal-setting

●     Windows are a major indicator of total building energy use. A Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR) above 40 percent will provide no additional benefit for daylighting but will cause significantly higher conditioning loads. Keeping the WWR between 30 percent and 40 percent will set the stage for both good daylighting and energy performance. (Limiting the WWR may feel like a design restriction for project teams; however, the way designers leverage constraints to their advantage is one of the key considerations of the AIA COTE® Top Ten Awards, celebrating both beauty and performance.)

●     Very efficient buildings tend to have a great percentage of the energy coming from plug loads. Like LPD, it is important to set a goal for plug loads and check them throughout the design process. Determine the typical plug load (in W/sf) for buildings with a similar program, and aim for a 25 percent to 50 percent reduction. Scheduling nonessential plug loads to turn off when not in use can be a primary strategy for reaching 50 percent reduction.[4]

Read:

“Design for Energy” – American Institute of Architects. https://www.aia.org/design-excellence/aia-framework-for-design-excellence/energy

“Zero Energy Commercial Building Targets” – New Buildings Institute (2019). https://newbuildings.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/EUI_TargetsReport2019.pdf

Advanced Energy Design Guides, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Watch:

“Designing for Energy” – Stet Sanborn, SmithGroup. Climate Action webinar series, American Institute of Architects California (2020). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QuXNX2O1uI 

Tools:

Climate Consultant – climate analysis tool from University of California, Los Angeles. https://www.sbse.org/resources/climate-consultant

CBE CLima Tool - climate analysis tool from University of California, Berkeley. https://clima.cbe.berkeley.edu/

New Construction EUI Online Interactive Tool. http://calbem-benchmarking.com/

Helps determine realistic EUI targets. NOTE: These EUIs are for code-compliant new construction, but should help develop intuition for the upper bound of EUIs, proportion by end use, and the differences across building types and climate zones.

“Benchmark you Building”, Southern California Edison (2024). https://www.sce.com/business/tools/benchmarking-how-do-i-compare

“ASHRAE Advanced Energy Design Guides” – American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/aedgs

PASSIVE SYSTEMS & BUILDING ENVELOPE

Careful design of the building envelope and building openings to optimize appropriate passive strategies for the climate can reduce heating, cooling, and lighting energy use.

The following excerpt comes from the AIA document, Design for Energy. It provides information on best practices for designs that can reduce energy use and eliminate the use and dependence on fossil fuels. The tips provided focus on energy benchmarking and goal setting, passive design features/climate responsive design, energy modeling, onsite renewables (solar, wind), Net Zero Energy/Net Zero Carbon Building, and commissioning.

Passive design features/climate responsive design

●     Indigenous and native typologies offer great clues for climate-responsive design. Prior to the advent of air conditioning and other modern technologies, materiality, massing, orientation, roof design, and penetrations were the strategies used to build comfortable and protective enclosures. Use vernacular and indigenous buildings as a guide to determine the passive strategies that are most applicable for a given region.

●     Focus on window to wall ratio, orientation of glazing, and sun shading as major passive strategies. WWR should be limited in all climates, but the location of glazing will shift depending on the latitude. In colder climates, primary glazing should be on the south, to collect beneficial solar radiation. In warmer climates, primary glazing should be on the north, to avoid harsh summer sun. For the most part, windows should be shaded on the south, east, and west in all climates

●     Envelope air tightness is just as important as insulation but often receives less attention. To ensure good air tightness, designate one layer of the assembly as the air barrier and ensure that this layer is continuous on six sides, with all seams taped, and all penetrations filled. Use a blower door test to verify the building’s air tightness, both for mockups and for the whole building.

●     Provide operable windows for all occupants so that the building can benefit from fresh outdoor air when the weather is agreeable. Arguments have been made that non operable windows provide better control for building systems and save energy. This can be true only if the building knows more about each occupant’s thermal comfort than the occupant does. This is not the case; always provide operable windows.[5]

1 - Exterior wall and ceiling interior finishes - exposed architectural cross laminated timber structure: provides insulated, thermal mass, low embodied energy, renewable material assembly

2 - Linear direct daylight dimmable LED fixture - oriented parallel to the window wall: provides high efficacy, low glare supplemental lighting

3 - Daylight vent window - fiberglass frame, manually operable, 6.5 sf open area: thermally broken, view, light, and ventilation vent 4 - Roof insulation - R-30

5 - Light shelf - (30” exterior / 18” interior projections), High Pressure Laminate - exterior grade: moderate thermal conductivity for reduced thermal bridging, high recycled content and exceptional weathering durability

6 - Operable shutter - Twin 2 panel accordion folding perforated anodized aluminum screens (75% opacity), manually operable: provides adjustable summer heat rejection, glare control, and privacy

7 - Solar thermal collector - mounted 25 degrees off of the South wall: provides heat for building low temperature thermal loop and thermal battery storage system

8 - Rain screen over 2 inches of rigid foam insulation continuous thermal break (R-14)

9 - Cross laminated timber exterior wall panels - non-structural panels (R-7.5)

10 - Natural ventilation vent - fiberglass frame, manually operable, 6.5 sf open area (R-14)

11 - Vision glazing - fiberglass frame, manually operable, provides access to the shutters

12 - Cross laminated timber floor structure (R-11) 13 - Exposed sealed pea gravel concrete topping slab with pex tubing radiant hydronic heat source placed on a 1/2 inch rubber sound mat

14 - Composite precast thin wall concrete unit-demising wall - exposed finish

15 - Sheet metal fascia integrated via self-adhered membrane to high SRI 2-ply SBS roofing

16 - Continuous exterior wall insulation and rain screen continue along underside of CLT roof panel to integrate with roof insulation

Read:

“Building Enclosure Design Principles and Strategies” – Whole Building Design Guide. https://www.wbdg.org/resources/building-enclosure-design-principles-and-strategies

 “Zero Net Energy Case Study Buildings, Volume 1” – Pacific Gas and Electric Company (2014). https://gettingtozeroforum.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/ZNE-Case-Study-Buildings-Vol1_PGandE.pdf

NOTE: See the Packard Foundation Headquarters Building, Low Energy Design Strategies, pages 7-11.

“Integrated Building Envelope, Daylighting, and Lighting” – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Stephen Selkowitz. https://sites.google.com/a/lbl.gov/green-clean-mean/key-strategies/integrated-building-envelope-daylighting-and-lighting

Watch:

Design for Zero Carbon - Three Nonresidential All-Electric Building Case Studies. AIA Los Angeles Webinar (2023). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4xXZc-MIWo

NOTE: The Youtube title of this webinar says “multifamily buildings” however this is incorrect, the presentation is on three nonresidential case studies. The second case study is a middle school building (21:00 minutes  into the webinar). The case study reports discussed in this webinar can be downloaded here: https://calbem.ibpsa.us/resources/case-study-books/

Explore:

“Daylighting Pattern Guide” – Advanced Buildings: Energy performance solutions from New Buildings Institute. http://patternguide.advancedbuildings.net/about

Tools:

2030 Palette - a database of sustainable design principles, strategies and tool http://2030palette.org/

ACTIVE SYSTEMS

There are a number of common “active” building systems that are used in low-carbon, ZNE, and high performance buildings. Optimizing the performance of the HVAC, water heating, lighting, and plug loads separately and in the building as a whole is critical to achieving the energy and carbon targets set early in the design process.

Read:

Solar Ready Buildings Planning Guide – National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/46078.pdf

Explore:

“Heat Pump Systems” – U.S. Department of Energy. https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-pump-systems

“HVAC” – California Energy Commission. https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-efficiency-standards/online-resource-center/hvac

Guidance on Specific Systems:

“Lighting Guides” – Lighting Design Lab. https://www.lightingdesignlab.com/resources

“Plug Loads and Tenant Energy Use Reduction: A guide to saving energy in tenant occupied spaces.” – Building Energy Exchange (2019). https://be-exchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/HPRT_techprimer_PlugLoadReduction-1.pdf

“Nonresidential Lighting and Electrical Power Distribution: A guide to meeting or exceeding California’s 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards” – California Lighting Technology Center, University of California, Davis (2019). https://cltc.ucdavis.edu/publication/nonresidential-lighting-electrical-power-distribution-guide-2019-building-energy

INTEGRATING RENEWABLES

Zero carbon buildings, like ZNE buildings, are grid tied, or connected to the utility grid. The “net” part of ZNE results from consuming electricity from the grid and feeding electricity into the grid that is generated at the site. Increasingly, buildings with solar PV are also including on-site batteries for energy storage in their designs.

Read:

“How a PV System Works” – Florida Solar Energy Center. http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/consumer/solar_electricity/basics/how_pv_system_works.htm

“Types of PV Systems” – Florida Solar Energy Center. https://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/consumer/solar_Electricity/basics/types_of_pv.htm#:~:text=The%20two%20principal%20classifications%20are,systems%20and%20stand%2Dalone%20systems

 Explore:

“Basics of Solar Electric Systems” – free and on-demand, Pacific Gas and Electric Company Energy Training Centers. https://pge.docebosaas.com/learn/course/internal/view/elearning/2314/basics-of-solar-electric-systems

NOTE: This training has a single-family residential focus, but the PV system principles are the same.

 Tools:

PVWatts® Calculator – National Renewable Energy Laboratory. https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/

“Estimates the energy production and cost of energy of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) energy systems, allowing easy development of estimates of the performance of potential PV installations.”

MODELING & MEASURING ENERGY (& CARBON) PERFORMANCE

Achieving low-carbon building performance requires careful modeling of the predicted performance of the building systems for decision-making during the design process. As you are modeling and reviewing model results, keep the following questions in mind:

• What does this model tell me?

• Which option is better?

• Does this result make sense?

Once the building is constructed and occupied, it is important to track the energy performance, and to review whether the building is performing as modeled. While reality is always different, due to real weather, occupant behavior, overall occupant density, or other factors, this comparison may reveal systems or controls that need commissioning to improve performance immediately, and also opportunities to improve energy performance over time.

Read:

An Architect’s Guide to Integrating Energy Modeling in the Design Process - The American Institute of Architects (2012).
http://content.aia.org/sites/default/files/2016-04/Energy-Modeling-Design-Process-Guide.pdf

Energy Modeling Guidance -Perkins + Will Research Journal. http://research.perkinswill.com/articles/energy-modeling-guidance-guidelines-for-energy-analysis-integration-into-an-architectural-environment/

Concept Energy Modeling - International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA).
https://bembook.ibpsa.us/index.php?title=Concept_Energy_Modeling

Explore:

EnergyPlus models of Residential Prototype Buildings and Commercial Prototype Buildings maintained by DOE can be used as a starting point for energy simulations. The commercial models can also be easily generated in OpenStudio.

Tools:

Many free, state-of-the-art tools that would be appropriate for this project are available. No discounts to paid tools are available through this competition.

●     eQUEST is a quick building energy simulation tool.
●     OpenStudio is a user interface for EnergyPlus, a building simulation engine supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), that uses SketchUp to build the 3-D geometry. The OpenStudio software collection includes a Parametric Analysis Tool that is built for easily comparing design alternatives.
●     Euclid is a plugin for SketchUp that allows users to quickly build EnergyPlus models from 3D geometry.
●     PVWatts Calculator estimates annual energy production and performance data for solar PV based on typical meteorological year weather data.
●     A list of available tools can be found at the Building Energy Software Tools (BEST) Directory.
●     The California Energy Commission approved a set of energy analysis computer programs that include all Alternative Calculation Methods approved for the 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards (2022 Energy Standards) in accordance with the California Code of Regulations: Title 24, Part 1, Article 1, Section 10-109.
●     EnergyPlus is a state-of-the-art hourly energy modeling program supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE). It can be used in its native, text-based form but is often wrapped with a user interface.

Other valuable resources:

Unmet Hours https://unmethours.com/questions/
Active community-supported forum for building simulation.
OneBuilding.org http://onebuilding.org/.
Active community-supported forum for building simulation.
BEMcyclopedia
http://www.bemcyclopedia.com/links
Provides a directory of resources for Building Energy Modeling (BEM) users, including design resources, video tutorials, and training seminars. 

LOAD SHAPES - WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT

The building’s load shape is the amount of energy it needs over time, the sum of all the end uses. The load shape varies over the day and year, depending on occupancy patterns, seasonal weather, and other factors. Designers and energy modelers often use the “8760” energy model results, or the hourly energy use for the whole year, for energy and emissions target analysis. To calculate the emissions from a building design, hourly energy simulation results are multiplied by an hourly emission factor. It’s important to note that these emission factors vary by season and by the time of day. Emission factors in California are the lowest in the middle of the day, when ample renewable energy generation allows for a cleaner electrical grid mix. As a result, even if energy use is high during the middle of the day, the resulting emissions may be relatively low. Shifting energy use from hours with higher emission factors to those with low emission factors can help your design meet zero carbon targets. Careful selection of building systems and technologies can result in the ability to better optimize the load shape to reduce carbon emissions. Energy storage systems also allow additional flexibility in shaping the load profile.

By shifting energy from the evening to the middle of the day, the overall emissions decrease throughout the day, particularly in morning and evening hours. The graphs on top compare the baseline data to the energy and emissions after shifting loads for the month of August. The graphs on the bottom show the same comparison for hours averaged over a year.

Read:

“Shift Demand Response: A Primer” – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2018). https://gridworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Shift-Demand-Response-Primer_Final_180227.pdf
“Heat Pump Water Heaters as Clean-Energy Batteries” – Pierre Delforge, Natural Resources Defense Council (2020). https://www.nrdc.org/bio/pierre-delforge/heat-pump-water-heaters-clean-energy-batteries

 Explore:

California ISO
http://www.caiso.com/todaysoutlook/pages/emissions.html
Energy and Emissions spreadsheet tool – Architecture at Zero. https://architecture-at-zerodev.squarespace.com/s/ArchZero_Energy-and-Emissions.xlsx
“California Investor-Owned Utility Electricity Load Shapes” – California Energy Commission (2019). https://www.energy.ca.gov/publications/2019/california-investor-owned-utility-electricity-load-shapes

Citations

1 https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/building-decarbonization
2 https://climateassessment.ca.gov/
3 https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-efficiency-standards
4 Excerpts from Design for Energy, AIA. https://www.aia.org/showcases/6076709-designing-for-energy
5  Excerpts from Design for Energy, AIA. https://www.aia.org/showcases/6076709-designing-for-energy