Nuveen Real Estate: 801 Brickell

Background

Nuveen Real Estate identified a series of low-cost and no-cost strategies to reduce utility consumption at 801 Brickell. Nuveen Real Estate’s decision to further improve the energy performance of 801 Brickell, an already efficient urban office building, reflects its ongoing effort to identify and capture energy savings opportunities across its portfolio of real estate.

Reducing energy use is an important part of Nuveen Real Estate's Global Real Estate Sustainability Initiative, which includes goals of reducing tenant occupancy costs, increasing asset value, and demonstrating environmental and corporate responsibility. Between 2007 and 2014, Nuveen Real Estate reduced its office portfolio energy usage by over 20%.

Solutions

Working with their sustainability consultant, and the property team, Nuveen Real Estate identified no-cost/low-cost and capital measures to enhance building HVAC controls, perform water balancing for the HVAC system, install and adjust VFDs, and implement lighting retrofits. The projects yielded an overall payback period of 2.7 year and an ROI of 37%.

Nuveen Real Estate completed the following energy efficiency measures at 801 Brickell over the course of four years:

Upgraded the building’s energy management system (EMS) including central plant controls, a central communications network system, and conversion of VAV box controls from pneumatic to direct digital control (DDC)
Replaced three of four garage exhaust fans with high efficiency fans and removed the fourth fan from operation, reducing garage fan energy use by 25%
Performed a water balance on chilled and condenser water systems
Adjusted supply and return fan sequence of operations and variable frequency drives to prevent over-pressurization of return/supply plenum and maintain slightly positive building pressure
Programmed the new energy management system (EMS) to enable air handling unit (AHU) optimum start/stop, coasting at end of day, condenser and chilled water automatic temperature reset, delayed operation of exhaust fans (to start after building’s pre-cooling period), and calibration of supply and exhaust fan VFD controls
Adjusted new VAV box DDC controls to decrease tenant space temperature set point by 1°F
Retrofitted approximately (250) 32-watt T8 lamps in building's two stairwells with 25-watt T8 lamps
Finished retrofitting approximately 50% of tenant space 32-watt T8 lamps with 28-watt T8 lamps and high-efficiency electronic ballasts
Replaced 150-watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS) garage lights with new fixtures with 54-watt high-output T5 lamps
Retrofitted approximately (30) 150-watt HPS trellis lamps with 40-watt induction lamps

ANNUAL ENERGY USE

(Source EUI)

ANNUAL ENERGY COST

ANNUAL WATER USE

ANNUAL WATER COST

ANNUAL PLANT ELECTRICITY USE

ANNUAL PLANT ELECTRICITY COST

IN BUILDING ENERGY USE

IN BUILDING ENERGY COST

ACROSS NETWORK USE

ACROSS NETWORK COST

ANNUAL EMISSIONS

USE

COST

801 Brickell

801 Brickell

801 Brickell

Nuveen Real Estate: 801 Brickell

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