rch and development, plus the development of incentives to “to encourage best practices, enhancing coordination among regulatory agencies and creating more effective financing mechanisms for lighting retrofits.”
However, the near-term implementation plan — steps to be taken in 2010-2012 — include proposals to “align lighting-related codes and standards, green building rating systems and industry norms and practices with ZNE policy.”
The plan also calls for an end to existing programs encouraging Californians to swap their incandescent lamps for compact fluorescents (CFLs), and to shift incentives toward “the next generation of high-efficiency lighting.”
Beyond California, there are a number of efforts toward ZNE commercial construction underway. NEMA has been working with the Zero Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium, which hopes to make all commercial buildings in the U.S. ZNE by 2050. Created by the Zero Net Energy Commercial Buildings Initiative (CBI) as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act passed by Congress in 2007, and backed by the DOE, this public-private consortium seeks to “transform the commercial buildings sector into one that routinely builds zero-energy buildings for every type of use.”
LEED for Retail
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has been the most visible force for promotion of high-efficiency buildings through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. The USGBC has continued to revise and refine its ratings over the time since LEED's introduction in 1998.
The most recent change has been the introduction of LEED rating systems specific to retail buildings. The two “LEED 2009 for Retail” rating systems — one for new construction and major renovations and another for commercial interiors — have been in development through pilot projects since 2005, and were approved by USGBC in March.
Among LEED for Retail's requirements is to, “provide individual lighting controls for 90 percent (minimum) of retail employees in office and administrative spaces, enabling adjustments to suit individual task needs and preferences.”
Building Information Modeling (BIM)
Building information modeling (BIM) software has been around for many years now, but use of the systems has seen a surge in adoption for construction and management of all kinds of buildings. The technology holds the promise of bringing substantial improvements in efficiency, not just in the construction process but throughout the whole lifecycle of a building.
The “Real Prospects for Energy Efficiency” study mentioned earlier points out the energy-saving potential of improved information flow in the design and construction process: “The main difference between high performing buildings and conventional buildings is essentially an attention to integration, interaction, and quality control throughout the design, construction, and operation of the building.” BIM systems are a tool for making such integration possible.
The electrical industry is playing a key role in shaping the next generation of BIM applications. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has been working with the buildingSMART alliance, a council that's part of the nonprofit National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), which is working to develop open standards for data transfer among building industry software applications. The alliance's goal is “to advance open interoperability and full lifecycle implementation of building information models.”
The focus of this development is on the “Specifiers' Properties information exchange” (SPie) standards designed to improve the information used by BIM systems in the design-specification-procurement-construction process.
Through the SPie standards, NIBS hopes to make product specification sheets a thing of the past. “A new, easier way to select products, the Specifiers' Properties information exchange (SPie), is helping manufacturers to deliver product information to specifiers and designers in an easy-to-compare, digital format,” said a NIBS press release.
Among the benefits of havin