The King County Housing Authority’s (KCHA) new office was a complete interior renovation of a former big box retail store into a typical modern office. The project goals were to create an affordable energy efficient “Net Zero Energy Ready” building. The design team delivered on this goal within an aggressive schedule and tight budget. The project was completed on time for a total cost of $95/sf using careful design and readily available off- the-shelf technology including: Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) with EC motors, a Variable Capacity Heat Pump (VCHP) system with 50-zones, dimming lighting controls, low lighting power design (0.7 W/sf), occupancy controls on all lights in rooms with doors and low flow plumbing fixtures.
The project is achieving an annual Energy Use Index (EUI) of 26 kBtu/sf-yr based on the first year of full occupancy. This is 70% less than the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) 2003 national average for office buildings of 93 kBtu/sf-yr.
A complete case study appears as the featured article in the ASHRAE Journal, November 2014.