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Plug and process loads in commercial buildings account for 5% of U.S. primary energy consumption. Minimizing these loads is a primary challenge in the design and operation of an energy-efficient building.

This presentation describes how the designers, owners, and occupants can take advantage of opportunities to reduce plug loads in the Research Support Facility.

The Research Support Facility complex (RSF, RSF II, parking garage, and associated site lighting) was designed to produce more on-site renewable energy than it uses over the course of a typical weather year, when accounted for at the site. To date, the end use performance monitoring and verification suggests that when the RSF complex is fully built out, we will meet the annual energy use goals. Continued performance monitoring and occupant education are required to ensure annual energy use goals will continue to be met.

This presentation Session I from the RSF Workshop discusses the unique energy efficiency features and performance of the Research Support Facility.

Older, inefficient commercial rooftop unit (RTU) air conditioning systems are common and can waste from $1,000 to $3,700 per unit annually, depending on the building size and type. By replacing or retrofitting them, you can save money, improve your energy efficiency, make your building more comfortable, and help the environment. The Advanced RTU Campaign (ARC) encourages commercial building owners and operators to replace their old RTUs with more efficient units or to retrofit their RTUs with advanced controls in order to take advantage of these benefits. This website shows updates to the campaign including resources and progress towards the campaign's goal.

Presentation slides from Introduction to NREL's Large Scale Net Zero Office Building: The Research Support Facility presentation given at the NASA Net-Zero Energy workshop June 5-6, 2012.

Presentation slides from "A Definition Framework for Net Zero Energy" presentation given at the NASA Net-Zero Energy workshop June 5-6, 2012.

Presentation slides from Reducing Plug and Process Loads for a Large Scale, Low Energy Office Building: NREL's Research Support Facility presentation given at the NASA Net-Zero Energy workshop June 5-6, 2012.

A recast of a presentation done for the Fairfax Chapter of Association of Energy Engineers in November of 2013. Presentation focuses on the the Advanced Energy Design Guides published by ASHRAE with association of AIA, USGBC, and IES with funding and technical support from DOE, NREL, and PNNL. In addition, the DOE Advanced Retrofit Guides are also discussed. Both sets of guides are available for download from this resource database.

A presentation by Shanti Pless, Senior Energy Efficiency Research Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, given at the greengov symposium September 25, 2012.