Welcome to Solutions, the newsletter from Commissioning & Green Building Solutions, Inc. (CxGBS), a commissioning and green building consulting firm that helps clients build environmentally friendly, top performing, healthy buildings.

Please visit our updated website at www.cxgbs.com to learn more about our services, including sustainable design consulting, Holistic Commissioning™, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification and forensic investigation. You can also read about high-value solutions for better performing commercial buildings, including offices, laboratories, government, education, recreation and cultural facilities.

How to move beyond the “first-cost mentality”

Often a project’s first cost is a barrier to implementing environmentally friendly or energy savings concepts that provide real life-cycle benefits. H.J. Enck, president and founder of CxGBS, and Tom Lawrence, principal, recently co-authored an article in SOLAR TODAY that helps owners understand and overcome barriers to installing energy-efficient systems.

Read article: http://www.cxgbs.com/pPress-news.htm (Republished courtesy of SOLAR TODAY, the award-winning magazine published by the American Solar Energy Society and dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.)

Highlights:

If the energy efficiency of commercial buildings’ primary systems were improved just five percent nationally, the nation would see the equivalent of $15 billion in savings per year.

Decision makers often focus on the initial cost of energy-saving equipment, ignoring the long-term operational savings possible.

Reducing energy costs by decreasing the percentage of total costs due to energy helps stabilize cost variability for the business as a whole.

Commissioning Certification

The University of Wisconsin College of Engineering, Department of Engineering Professional Development offers comprehensive learning and certification courses for the commissioning process. H. Jay Enck is the instructor for The LEED Additional / Enhanced Commissioning Credit course offered quarterly. More information is available www.epd.engr.wisc.edu/webH070.

Green theater satisfies patrons, protects environment

The Balzer Theater at Herren’s, the first free-standing theatrical facility in the U.S. to receive Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, is a model of environmentally sound construction with healthy air and minimum impact on the environment. It is the first rainwater collection system in the City of Atlanta that reduces stormwater runoff and replaces fresh water for flushing toilets. CxGBS led the certification effort and provided Holistic Commissioning™ and energy modeling.

Read more about The Balzer Theater at Herren’s, http://www.cxgbs.com/pPress-release.htm and at www.BDCnetwork.com, BUILDING DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION, issue 07-06, page 53.

Energy modeling helps identify optimized thermal storage operation

Ice thermal energy storage is one method for reducing daytime peak energy consumption and cost. CxGBS recently completed the building energy modeling for an elementary school in South Carolina. As part of this study, an engineering evaluation of an ice thermal storage system was performed to demonstrate peak electrical load reductions. CxGBS also completed a detailed analysis to identify the optimal timing of the chiller / ice storage operation to minimize operating costs to the owner maximizing usage of off-peak electrical energy.

Energy and Daylight Modeling is a tool that can help identify and quantify energy savings and occupant comfort in projects, even during the preliminary design stages. It also is a key part of identifying daylight and views, and energy savings for LEED evaluations. The professionals at CxGBS have helped a number of clients through building energy and daylight simulation modeling. We welcome your inquiries about energy or other building modeling tasks, such as daylighting and air distribution analysis.

Will Gossett joins CxGBS

CxGBS is pleased to announce that William F. Gossett has recently joined the firm. As a Registered Architect, Gossett has over 35 years’ experience covering many building types, including new and renovated educational facilities, hospital renovations, new and renovated medical office buildings, new and renovated financial facilities in North and South America, new and renovated country clubs and other recreational facilities, and a variety of large commercial and residential projects. Will is responsible for construction management and building envelope review.

CxGBS is proud to welcome the following new clients:

Cherokee County Administration Building and Conference Center, Canton, GA – CxGBS will provide Holistic Commissioning™ and LEED-New Construction (NC) for an $18 million, 50,000-SF County Administration Building plus 20,000-SF Conference Center to serve the County Board of Commissioners and the administrative office needs of various county departments. Holistic Commissioning™ is our proprietary process for ensuring that owners receive a building that meets project requirements as well as provides good long-term value through energy savings and an environmentally friendly design.

Mississippi State Department of Public Services, Biloxi, MS – CxGBS will provide Holistic Commissioning for a new Public Service Campus to replace facilities lost to Hurricane Katrina. The campus is a $17.21 million project comprised of three buildings housing the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Narcotics, The Mississippi Highway Patrol and Drivers License Division and the Mississippi Crime Lab.

Suwanee City Hall, Suwanee, GA – CxGBS will provide sustainable design consulting and serve as LEED Certification facilitator for a new three-story 20,000-SF facility including a City Council Chamber, administrative offices and service areas for the city of Suwanee.

MAHARAM, Atlanta, GA – CxGBS will provide Holistic Commissioning and LEED-Commercial Interiors (CI) for a 6,000-SF Atlanta Showroom for MAHARAM, a 100-year-old family-owned to-the-trade textile manufacturer with showrooms in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Daybright, Capri, Omega (DCO), Tupelo, MS – Services include LEED-CI for a 10,000-SF lighting showroom that will be certified as a LEED Commercial Interiors project. The showroom will exhibit the company’s lighting line as well as educate designers about various lighting systems and strategies available to lower energy usage.

Jefferson County Bessemer Courthouse, AL – Services include sustainable development consulting and Holistic Commissioning for a 135,000-SF expansion of the county courthouse to include courtrooms, holding cells, judges chambers, administrative offices and service areas.

General Services Administration (GSA) – CxGBS will provide commissioning and LEED consulting as a member of the M.E. Group Team, which provides commissioning, construction management, LEED and sustainable development consulting, assessment of existing buildings and preliminary design development services as assigned for national GSA facilities.

CxGBS
4420 South Lee Street
Buford, Ga. 30518

On the web: www.cxgbs.com
e-mail: HJEnck@cxgbs.com

Tel: 770-831-7661
Fax: 770-831-6761

Commissioning and Green Building Solutions, Inc. (CxGBS) is a nationally recognized commissioning and green building consulting firm that helps clients build environmentally friendly, top performing, healthy buildings. The firm’s professionals work with project teams to apply sustainable development principles that lower the total cost of ownership and create healthy conditions for occupants. Headquartered in Atlanta, CxGBS offers a comprehensive suite of services including sustainable design consulting, Holistic Commissioning™, LEED Certification and forensic investigation. The company pioneered Green Operations™, an innovative set of design and building commissioning models, to reduce costs and maximize performance.

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