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Energy Reduction Goals Unlikely With Current Technology

Existing technologies can't reduce office building energy use by 50%, controversial study says.

By Noreen Seebacher | Updated on March 06, 2009

It’s impossible to expect commercial developers to reduce energy use in office buildings by 50% over the current standards–and impractical to expect even a 30% reduction. Those are the conclusions from a just released report from NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association. The study has created controversy among energy experts, who claim the results reflect a flawed analysis.

NAIOP commissioned ConSol, a consulting firm based Stockton, CA to determine the feasibility of significantly reducing energy use in commercial office buildings. The study was initiated to determine if commercial development could achieve reduction targets of 30%to 50% over the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 standard, the benchmark often cited in legislation and other calls for mandatory reductions.

But the study found that cutting energy consumption by 30% over the benchmark is impractical and that a 50% reduction is unworkable.

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