Energy management is a top priority, especially when a building’s goal is high-performance recognition. While many different building technologies can be applied to garner high-performance certification, energy and cost savings as well as sustainability and comfort are among the qualities that reveal whether or not the building is achieving the benchmarks of such recognition.
The building projects described below are diverse in many ways, but they share at least two things in common: They provide diagnosed energy savings, and each won a 2014 ASHRAE Technology Award recognizing “outstanding achievements by members who have successfully applied innovative building design in the areas of occupant comfort, IAQ, and energy conservation,” according to ASHRAE’s website. Each project also incorporates ASHRAE standards for IAQ and effective energy efficiency, said the association. This article will look at these award-winning projects, which fall into one of three edifice categories: educational, commercial, or industrial.