Abundance Blog
News and ideas from Paladino's team of industry leaders.
What role does Commissioning play in Net Zero Energy for new and existing buildings?
By Darren Bruce
This post highlights the important role that building commissioning must play in any Net Zero Energy strategy. A Net Zero Energy project is a building or group of buildings with significantly reduced energy loads, such that 100% or more of…
Elevated Energy Performance Standards in Washington DC’s Existing Buildings
By Darren Bruce
Between the Omnibus Act and the Net Zero effort, Washington DC is taking a leadership role in energy performance and regulation. A few of the changes in energy performance for existing buildings requirements that are causing building owners, operators, and…
What property owners should do now that ENERGY STAR may have pulled back
By Darren Bruce
When the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last August that it was going to update its ENERGY STAR rating system, the reaction was positive overall. After all, the 26-year-old rating system, which generates scores of one to 100 to…
Multifamily ventilation - help buildings breathe
By Darren Bruce
There’s a debate within the multifamily building community as to the best way to ventilate residential buildings. There are three competing design options that can be implemented in residential design: natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation, and a hybrid approach. What’s the…
Energy Conservation Measures : a story from the field
By Darren Bruce
While performing a retro-commissioning process for an 870,000 ft2 outpatient hospital in the southeastern United States, dozens of Energy Conservation Measures were identified and presented to the facility managers. The facility manager had a modest budget to address these ECMs,…
Five strategies to improve energy performance in existing buildings
By Darren Bruce
Anyone who owns or operates an existing building should be scheduling energy audits and/or retro-commissioning. Here’s why: Improving building energy performance reduces costs, lowers strain on shared community resources, and demonstrates a commitment to environmental stewardship. Local jurisdictions nationwide are…