Metro Park 7
ENERGY AUDIT CASE STUDY
At Metro Park 7, a multi-tenanted commercial office property, located on a beautiful 37-acre campus in Alexandria, Virginia, an energy audit identified opportunities to achieve a nearly 12% reduction in energy usage and a similar savings in direct energy costs. The ASHRAE Level I energy audit was performed by Global Facility Solutions as part of a corporate level sustainability initiative by Beacon Capital Partners, the owner and manager of the property. The audit identified avenues for savings on energy cost and greenhouse gas emissions, which ownership and property staff can utilize to inform targeted decision-making toward investment planning and to achieve energy reduction goals.
BACKGROUND
The review found that the building, which uses electricity to power all onsite systems, generally is operating well within industry standard best practices for maximizing energy efficiency. The facility is relatively new, with construction completed in 2004, and in compliance with relevant energy code requirements. The evaluation focused on identifying opportunities to maximize efficiency.
FINDINGS & SAVINGS OPPORTUNITIES
- The audit identified an area of the building eligible for reclassification in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. This profile correction immediately resulted in a score increase from 66 to 75, allowing the property to be ENERGY STAR Certified.
- The audit identified energy saving projects to achieve an additional 11.9% reduction annually in energy usage compared to 2022 usage levels, and 11.8% annual direct energy cost savings. These projects include: adjusting thermostat setpoints, reducing outside air intakes provide to the AC units, and implementing lighting upgrades.
- The audit identified opportunities to reduce building direct GHG emissions by 140,390 kgCO2e per year. With implementation of the audit identified projects and profile adjustments, the building can increase the ENERGY STAR baseline score from 75 to 84, if all ECM’s are implemented. The Metro Park 7 property management team has been working with GFS to monitor weekly energy performance through the utility metering platform used by Beacon Capital Partners at all properties. The property team has modified building operations to improve performance which has provided a positive impact to the ENERGY STAR score.
“GFS has been an instrumental part of our constant evaluation of operating efficiencies and has played a key role in helping us to ensure that the profile and utility data we’re entering into the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is vetted and accurate. We appreciate their industry experience and guidance.” —David Langol, Property General Manager
IMPLEMENTATION
- The profile adjustments that Global Facility Solutions identified as a result of the onsite inspection thereby allowed for the reclassification of approximately 1,000 square feet of tenant-occupied space to the appropriate use type. Furthermore, the adjustment allowed the building to pursue ENERGY STAR Certification for the first time in three years.
- The report’s utility analysis section used ENERGY STAR reporting tools to extrapolate data for the property to easily trend important historical property performance indicators over time, including the property’s EUI, GHG Emissions Intensity, and ENERGY STAR Score. The property can use similar metrics to track energy use savings as the audit identified projects are implemented.
- As part of the audit process, the property was notified of financical energy incentives offered through local utility provider Dominion Energy to reduce upfront costs on implementing possible energy saving projects.
