With the District of Columbia’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) as law, and decarbonization efforts increasingly a priority, it is more important than ever that building owners and design teams understand how to design a building for optimal performance. BEPS set minimum thresholds for energy performance for existing buildings. These standards are based on and measured against a building’s demonstrated energy performance, as shown in the building’s benchmarking data. Noncompliance with BEPS targets may not only result in mandated improvements but also a loss of property’s competitiveness. In addition, decisions made today will affect performance under all future cycles of BEPS. Recognizing this, building owners and design teams, both architectural and engineering, should target improved energy performance in new construction and major renovation projects now. This guide outlines how to design for various BEPS-related metrics, including site energy use intensity (site EUI) and ENERGY STAR score.
This resource provides:
- Technical guidance for the early design phases, pre-design, and conceptual design, which are the most critical for understanding how to optimize building performance.
- A general description of how energy modeling can be used to optimize, maintain, and verify energy performance targets throughout the project phases.
- Resources for a design team to reference to support high-performance building design.
