Energy Controls at USGBC Headquarters

Washington, DC

Prepared by Dane Sanders, Clanton & Associates, for Convia, a Herman Miller Company

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General Lighting Controls Description
Lighting Control for a Comfortable, High-Performance Workplace
Lighting Control for Aggressive Energy Efficiency
Comparing Energy Use: Headquarters vs. ASHRAE 90.1 Baseline
Layered Lighting
What’s next?

General Lighting Controls Description

As the leading organization in the green building movement, the U.S. Green Building Council set very high goals for their new office headquarters. Since lighting consumes approximately 40% of the energy in a typical office building, the lighting control system was instrumental in achieving USGBC’s lofty goals. The target energy use was set at 50% below ASHRAE 90.1 2004. In addition to aggressive energy reduction, the lighting system must also provide comfortable, high quality lighting and manual lighting control for small groups and individuals. The lighting controls had to integrate automated energy saving strategies with intuitive, easy-to-use manual controls. The system had to be capable of displaying continual energy use data for educational and verification purposes, integrated control for HVAC set-backs and plug load shedding based on occupancy. Only a few lighting control systems were capable of meeting these demanding goals. Convia was chosen for their ability to meet all of the technical requirements, and for their responsiveness and dedicated service to the project.

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Lighting Control for a Comfortable, High-Performance Workplace

Layers of Light: Multiple layers of light create a visually comfortable and stimulating office environment. Controlling ambient, task and accent lighting layers independently allows for variety and multiple lighting moods. Combining low-glare daylight with soft direct / indirect ambient lighting provides a bright and comfortable workplace. Task lights located at each desk allows individual control and adjustment of localized light. Accent lighting on graphics and walls adds vibrancy and balances brightness from the windows.

Personal Interaction: Some people prefer bright lighting, while others prefer darker areas. Individual lighting control can improve employee satisfaction and may even reduceinstances of migraine headaches.

Time of Day: The cycle of daylight provides variation of brightness and color throughout the day. These changes in light provide visual signals that give people a sense of time and reset their biological circadian cycle. Daylight dimming that slowly and almost imperceptibly adjusts along with the daylight reinforces the natural rhythm of light.

Extended Night Views: At night, most occupancy sensor controls would turn off all lighting, isolating an occupied office in an island of light surrounded by darkness and creating an uncomfortable atmosphere with limited view. With the Convia control system, at night occupancy sensors can illuminate an adjacent open office area and the interior walls, thereby extending views and creating an improved sense of security.

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Lighting Control for Aggressive Energy Efficiency

Occupancy Sensors: In the Convia system, sensors can trigger multiple devices or events. Sharing occupancy data on the control network enables integration with HVAC and security systems and allows the occupancy response to change depending on time of day. When offices are unoccupied, lights turn off automatically and the thermostat set-point automatically changes to reduce heating and cooling energy. During the day the lighting responds with manual-on / auto-off operation to encourage users to keep lights off when there is enough daylight. At night, lighting in open office areas turns on automatically to provide an illuminated path when there is no daylight.

Daylight Dimming: Convia provides adjustable daylight dimming response to create a smooth dimming transition as daylight changes throughout the day which is essential to avoid distracting employees. An override for daylight dimming is programmed to give users ultimate control of their space.

Lumen Maintenance Dimming: Using the photo sensors at night to provide the target light level allows a new lighting system to be dimmed, and will automatically balance the light level throughout the lifetime of the lighting system.

Load Shedding: More and more utilities are providing, or are considering, Demand Side Management programs that offer rebates for shedding loads during peak demand events. With Convia, priorities can be assigned to dim lighting in low priority areas during peak load events. These Demand Side Management programs can result in significant reduction of energy bills, putting money back in the Owner’s pocket.

Energy Dashboard: A graphical, interactive display in the lobby provides real-time energy use feedback for employees, visitors, and facility managers to learn how and where the energy is being used in the building. This will help educate the users on how they can play an active role in saving energy and will highlight areas that need improvement.

Plug Load Control: Each office space has one outlet that is controlled by an occupancy sensor for controlling personal plug loads, such as task lights, laptop computers, and other electronics with stand-by power or transformers with trickle power. The resulting energy reduction of this strategy at the USGBC Headquarters will be evaluated in a follow-up case study.

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Comparing Energy Use: Headquarters vs. ASHRAE 90.1 Baseline

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» Download the full USGBC case study

Layered Lighting

Accent Light: Translucent images of nature glow with backlight from the ambient lighting and daylight, providing brightness and visual interest with no additional lighting.

 

 

 

Task Light: LED task lights at each workstation provide individualized lighting control:

• 6 watts
• 75 Footcandles
• Fully adjustable and dimmable

 

Ambient Light: Illuminating the bright white ceiling creates a bright workspace with soft, low-glare light. The direct, downward light provides brightness and clarity to the workstations.

• 25-30 Footcandles on desks
• .45 Watts/square foot

 

Daylight: Light colored carpet around the perimeter reflects sunlight to the ceiling, providing a soft brightness to the open offices. Mesh roller shades automatically adjust to shade sunlight from the workstations.

 

 

 

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What’s next?

Convia is offering a series of seminars to showcase the USGBC installation. These presentations may be live or on the Web. To attend, or for more information, please provide the following information (*required):

*First Name: *Last Name: *Email Address: Company: Phone Number: City: State: Are you interested in: Webinar? On Site Demonstration?

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