Upcoming Webinar
New York State Climate Impacts Assessment: understanding and preparing for our changing climate
Carrie will be speaking on a webinar hosted by NYSERDA and AIA New York State as part of the effort to promote and disseminate findings in the recently released New York State Climate Impacts Assessment.
The webinar will share the process that guided the New York State Climate Impacts Assessment and how it can guide statewide initiatives. Speakers will discuss how the impacts of climate change may impact New York’s society and economy and these impacts are related to the health, safety, and welfare of all New York residents. Participants will be introduced to adaptation and resilience strategies for a wide array of building types.
Wednesday, May 1 | 12:00-1:00 PM EST
The Future of Weather Files for Building Performance Simulation in New York State
We are excited to share that RR’s paper submitted to IBPSA’s Building Simulation 2023 conference last September has been published. Read the final paper in the Proceedings of Building Simulation 2023: 18th Conference of IBPSA: https://publications.ibpsa.org/conference/paper/?id=bs2023_1384
If you’d like to know more about this project, you can find the full NYSERDA report here: Assessment of Future Typical Meteorological Year Data Files Final Report (pdf download).
The authors:
Carrie Brown, Resource Refocus LLC
Nicholas Rajkovich, The University at Buffalo Department of Architecture
Elizabeth Gilman, formerly Resource Refocus LLC, now EHDD
Anna LaRue, Resource Refocus LLC
Jessica Keast, Resource Refocus LLC
Paper abstract: Weather data has a wide range of applications in the built environment such as the analysis of energy efficiency measures, life cycle cost, and emissions. For the past 50 years, building simulation efforts have typically relied on typical meteorological year (TMY) or reference year data (Crawley, 2015), but recently some applications have switched to alternate weather files, such as actual meteorological year (AMY), extreme meteorological year (XMY), and future typical meteorological year (FTMY) data. This study explored the impact of switching from existing TMY datasets to more recent or future-looking datasets through a literature review, stakeholder interviews, weather file analysis, and a modeling exercise. The study summarized the current state of weather file availability and usage, data variation among available formats, impacts on projected energy use and peak demand, challenges to switching to new formats, and the implications for program and code development protocols for a state agency.
ASHRAE
Standard Method for Calculation of Building Operational Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Rhys Davis was selected as a member of the committee to develop ASHRAE standard 242p: Standard Method for Calculation of Building Operational Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The kick-off committee meeting took place March 28th and 29th at ASHRAE HQ in Atlanta, GA. The committee will continue to convene over the next 18 months to develop GHG factors for building operational energy use and determine appropriate calculations, sources, and methodology for different ASHRAE standards that will reference 242p.
ASHRAE NYC Earth Day 2024
Along with ASHRAE President, Ginger Scoggins, and other invited speakers, Carrie Brown recently presented at the ASHRAE NYC chapter’s Earth Day 2024 event. The event’s theme was “Challenge Accepted, Tackling the Climate Crisis.”
Carrie provided an overview of ASHRAE’s Task Force for Building Decarbonization, which is currently transitioning to the Center of Excellence for Building Decarbonization. Working with over 100 volunteers from around the world, the TFBD priority projects include decarbonization guides, educational seminars and courses, website material, and collaboration with industry partners.
She also summarized NYSERDA’s recently released New York State Climate Impacts Assessment which assessed climate impacts across eight sectors: agriculture, buildings, ecosystems, energy, human health and safety, society and economy, transportation, and water resources. Dr. Brown and Dr. Rajovich co-chaired the Buildings Sector chapter, which evaluated how climate change will affect New York State and how we can build a more resilient future. Examining the short- and long-term impacts of climate change on New York State’s 5.3 million buildings, the chapter summarized key climate hazards, equity and climate justice, adaptation strategies and opportunities for positive change, and emerging research needs in the buildings sector.
Center of Excellence in Building Decarbonization
ASHRAE’s Task Force for Building Decarbonization (TFBD) will be transitioning to a permanent group, the Center of Excellence for Building Decarbonization (CEBD). After working with the TFBD since 2021, Carrie has been named as an inaugural CEBD member. The members will provide strategic direction for ASHRAE building decarbonization activities and work with the Planning Committee to incorporate appropriate goals into the Society strategic plan. They will also monitor future issues and trends and publicize ASHRAE’s decarbonization work globally to establish ASHRAE’s leadership position, in partnership with Marketing.
New York State Association of Towns
Rhys attended the New York State Association of Towns Annual Meeting in NYC February 18th to 20th to kick-off the project with the International Codes Council developing compliance support for small jurisdictions in New York. Rhys met with ICC and other local team members on the project to discuss how to best engage with NY towns and develop a plan for improving code compliance across the state using tools such as permitting digitization and additional jurisdictional support specifically for energy code compliance. The conference also included sessions on implementing sections of the energy and uniform code that Resource Refocus is in the process of updating as part of our separate work with NYSERDA on codes and standards.
Architecture at zero
Image Credit: AIA California
The Architecture at Zero 2024 Competition website is live! This year’s competition will be to design a classroom building for a school in East Los Angeles. This will be a completely new climate zone for the competition. Nate Heckman, Anna LaRue, and Carrie Brown are on the competition planning team.
Mentoring
Anna is in her second year as a mentor with the New Buildings Institute Next Gen Program, which is “designed to foster the next generation of diverse buildings industry leaders.
Special Recognition
We are pleased to note that Sheila Naby has recently earned a certificate from the National University of Singapore in Data Science for Construction, Architecture, and Engineering.