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Best Practice Guide |
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Commercial Office Buildings |
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Case StudyArden Realty and next>edgeProperty Name: 5200 W Century Boulevard Website: Arden Realty www.ardenrealty.com and next>edge www.next-edge.com
Arden Realty, Inc., a real estate investment trust, is the largest landlord of office buildings in Southern California. Arden's portfolio includes 120 properties consisting of 193 buildings and approximately 18.2 million net rentable square feet. In 1996, Arden acquired a number of new properties. At the same time, Arden realized that changes in California's energy markets were driving costs up. In response, Arden convened a "swat" team of its best and brightest managers and engineers to develop best practices for operations at its buildings and a comprehensive energy strategy for the entire portfolio. The team also developed a proprietary methodology to assess each building. The results were so tremendous, Arden decided to formalize the role of this team, creating the wholly owned subsidiary next>edge, a turnkey provider of fully integrated energy efficiency and power generation solutions for commercial facilities. By the time the energy crisis hit California in 2000, all of Arden's properties had been through the next>edge assessment. This greatly minimized the impact of price spikes, to the benefit of Arden's tenants. Arden's commercial tenants have since become increasingly savvy about energy costs. Because investment in energy efficiency was done in advance of the crisis, Arden was able to firmly establish itself as a first-class property manager and owner.
Arden quickly became recognized as a leader in energy efficiency, winning the EPA's prestigious Commercial Real Estate Partner of the Year for three consecutive years. Today, Arden properties represent anout 50 percent of all ENERGY STAR labeled buildings in California. The net benefit of Arden's energy program equals the effect of removing 6,130 cars from California's roads each year, planting 8,397 acres of trees annually, or powering 4,086 homes for a year. Programs Implemented by next>edge:
One example of a next>edge energy project occurred at an Arden property in Los Angeles. Air conditioning capacity at 5200 W Century could no longer meet the building's cooling loads. The building, designed and constructed in 1982, suffered from undersized main supply airshafts as well as undersized chillers. It was impractical to enlarge the main airshafts, so tenant equipment was curtailed and the air conditioning system was operated for extended hours to "catch up." As tenant requirements for office equipment rose, the HVAC system reached a critical point. Prospective high tech tenants could not even consider leasing space because of severe constraints on equipment densities. Existing tenants were disturbed by discomfort due to the inadequate cooling, and many were considering departure. next>edge addressed the problem through a three-pronged approach: a full lighting retrofit, mechanical upgrades to HVAC equipment, and commissioning of automated building systems. Optimization of the chiller and air handling equipment resulted in enhanced capacity that met cooling loads while improving system efficiencies to less than 0.75 kW/ton-about half that of a typical HVAC system. The commissioning, on the other hand, accounted for more than 50 percent of the energy savings for the entire project. Because of these upgrades, 5200 W Century earned an ENERGY STAR label, scoring 97 out of a possible 100 points. |