While many new-wave technologies are emerging that have potential to help commercial property executives reduce building energy consumption in coming years, some older mechanisms are seeing a revival. One such alternative is exterior insulation and finish systems, or EIFS.

EIFS is a method of installing so-called continuous insulation, a relatively air-tight barrier minimizing energy leakage through uninsulated “thermal bridges” such as metal framing, wood studs, Z-clips and window frames. With so many older commercial buildings featuring cavity-type (“between-the-studs”) insulation, a considerable amount of air can flow from exteriors to interiors through these channels, putting extra pressure on heating and cooling plants.

Applied mostly in residential applications for several decades running, EIFS wraps continuous insulation outside structural members, and finishes the job with a wide-varying selection of façade skins. Updated building and energy codes are boosting utilization of EIFS for both new commercial construction and retrofits. Indeed, more energy-conscious codes are prompting lots of commercial landlords to tap EIFS technologies as they strive to keep properties competitive, noted Roger Barton, a LEED-accredited exteriors specialist with L&W Supply.

“It’s already affecting our activities pretty dramatically,” added Barton, who until last year had overseen EIFS installations almost exclusively in new construction applications. Suppliers including Sto Corp., Dryvit Systems, BASF/Senergy and TEIFS/Parex have developed their own proprietary systems, materials and processes. They generally combine layers of rigid foam insulation, reinforcing mesh and an exterior finish material with the latest “drainage”-type models that include moisture barriers and water-flow channels.

As scientific analysis and recent real-world case studies illustrate, EIFS retrofit installations under a variety of commercial building configurations and environments can be quite effective at minimizing energy leakage. For many marginally performing commercial properties, it is not unreasonable to expect 20 to 30 percent reductions in heating and cooling energy consumption with just a couple inches of the insulation, according to veteran LEED-accredited architect Bob Dazel, who now markets Dryvit’s EIFS products.

Skeptical building owners facing strong competition from high-performance properties —not to mention rising energy costs—might want to consider what engineering consultancy Morrison Hershfield discovered when it modeled likely energy-efficiency gains from retrofits utilizing Sto Corp.’s StoTherm NExT EIFS.

The study modeled retrofits of 53,600-squarefoot, three-story buildings in Dallas, Seattle and Toronto, featuring steel-stud-framed exterior walls, brick-veneer skins and windows covering one-third of façade areas. The models met minimum requirements of ASHRAE 90.1-2004 energy efficiency standards, with between-the-stud insulation assumed for the Dallas and Seattle buildings, continuous insulation for Toronto.

The study concluded that retrofitting with this Sto product would likely reduce annual heating and cooling energy consumption by 34 percent in the Seattle building, 37 percent in Toronto and 21 percent in Dallas.

Dazel stressed that EIFS installations are also relatively lightweight at one to 1.5 pounds per square foot and can substantially improve R-values (thermal resistance properties) by increasing the thickness of an existing wall assembly as little as two inches. “And we can easily add another two to four inches for even higher R-values with minimal additional cost—or weight.”

A key driver of surging EIFS retrofit activity is this year’s update of the International Energy Conservation Code. The update boosts insulation requirements for construction projects generally in most climate zones, allowing for either continuous insulation on the outside of frames in framed construction or significantly heavier between-the-studs insulation.

EIFS prospects were already helped when the International Code Council in 2008 announced it would be accepting EIFS products into the 2009 versions of the International Building Code and International Residential Code. EIFS is the most viable method of complying with the new construction codes “without reinventing the wheel,” Barton related.

Boosting Efficiency

The product is also attracting more attention from energy-conscious owners of existing commercial properties as more and more owners and operators realize they will need to boost operating efficiencies in order to remain competitive with properties built to the tougher new codes, Barton noted. Retrofits were but a minuscule portion of L&W’s EIFS activities until last year. Now, they account for about one-third of the company’s EIFS installations. Granted, some sustainability specialists remain wary of complications that can arise with these multiple-layer assemblages, particularly when applied to structures that were not designed and engineered with external insulation in mind. In urban settings, lot lines and adjacent obstacles might even become issues, as an owner might not have enough space to work with—or even room for crews to work.

“You need to consider a long list of issues” when assessing prospects for improving an existing structure’s insulation, emphasized architect and building envelope consultant Rob Kistler, principal of The Façade Group. In addition to the existing insulation method and skin material, a structure’s use, configuration, orientation, location, climate and numerous other characteristics can impact how effective an EIFS retrofit might be relative to alternative insulation strategies, he added.

Nevertheless, in addition to applicability in new construction, devotees point to perhaps thousands of loosely insulated U.S. commercial structures for which EIFS installations might significantly boost R-values. They also point out that the latest drainage EIFS models eliminate the water-vapor intrusion experienced mostly in residential applications in past decades. And as long-term occupants of net-leased properties seek operational efficiencies, property owners that invest in EIFS have a leg up on the poorer-performing competition, Dazel added. “A lot of tenants will be willing to pay a bit higher rent if they know they’ll pay hundreds of thousands less in energy bills over the term.”

But as EIFS veterans are also quick to acknowledge, EIFS is not exactly a cheap solution for improving wall-assembly R-values alone. Overall installation expenses vary according to a building’s existing skin material and configuration, local labor rates, the particular finish and drainage approach selected, along with other factors. But generally speaking, installation costs to owners using union labor or subject to prevailing-wage requirements will run in the range of $10 to $12 per square foot, specified Craig Nelson, vice president of construction with one of Dryvit’s sister companies, WTI Services. With non-union labor, owners can expect costs to run more like $7 to $9 per foot.

Add it all up and energy-related savings alone in most commercial retrofit applications are not likely to cover installation costs within the three-to-fi ve-year payback periods real estate investors tend to prefer with efficiency-improving upgrades. While the retrofit Barton is managing at a previously uninsulated Mesa, Ariz., hospital will likely pay for itself in five to seven years, Dazel and Nelson noted that eight to 12 years is a more reasonable expectation.

But if tired facades are hurting a property’s competitiveness in the tenant marketplace then the upgrade to a spiffy new EIFS skin can make the cost-effectiveness factor quite attractive, Dazel and others stressed.

Indeed, an owner interested in upgrading a building’s exterior appearance as well as improving energy efficiency is a particularly strong candidate for an EIFS installation. The latest offerings include a wide variety of colored and textured finishes, imitating appearances of brick, stone, metal panels, siding, stucco or strategic combinations thereof.

And the improved R-factor might even make it unnecessary to invest further in HVAC system upgrades. Sealing and coating windows in conjunction with an EIFS upgrade creates a highly effective overall air barrier in addition to the continuous insulation, Nelson noted, especially for buildings with higher ratios of glass-to-opaque-façade surfaces.

Too much glass, though, renders them less of a solution. Generally speaking, an air-tightening investment such as EIFS generates the most savings with buildings for which opaque wall surfaces comprise half or more of the entire envelope, Dazel noted. Structures with glass-heavy curtain walls are not strong candidates; nor are low-rise buildings with flat ceilings that account for 90 percent of the envelope. But that still leaves a whole lot of U.S. commercial buildings that could benefit from an EIFS retrofit. “We like to think demand for EIFS in retrofit applications willonly increase going forward,” Dazel said. “There’s no question we will be busier.”

For case studies detailing IEFS successes, turn to “New Life for EIFS Retrofits.”

Exterior insulation and finish systems, or EIFS, has long been applied to residential properties but is now catching on as an insulation solution in the commercial sector. The following case studies illustrate different applications that have produced energy cost reductions.

Resort

Initial indications are that the 184 unit owners at the historic Lido Beach Towers resort on Long Island are seeing substantial reductions in energy consumption after a $5 million installation of Sto Corp.’s StoTherm Premier NExT drainage IEFS product.

The 1929-vintage hotel, which was converted to condo ownership in 1981, had suffered from countless thermal and water leaks in its stucco-on-terracotta block walls. The homeowners board had aimed to tackle problems through various short-term (and costly) cosmetic Band-Aid-type repairs, recalled Sto building scientist John Edgar.

The board engaged Jordan Ruzz, principal of P.E. Consulting Engineers, who recommended the Sto system providing three-plus inches of insulation as well as a far more attractive new finish.

A sampling of energy consumption at units on four separate floors, during the hottest months of the first post-application summer, factored to an average reduction of 32.5 percent. Installing a modern solar array covering the resort’s entire rooftop would not come close to producing the amount of energy owners are saving due to the EIFS installation, Edgar noted.

Medical Center

After exploring means of reducing high cooling costs at its uninsulated Banner Desert Medical Center in the scorching Phoenix suburb of Mesa, decision-makers at the Banner Health system opted for a two-inch Dryvit Outsulation installation.

Sophisticated modeling determined the upgrade, expected to cost around $2.5 million, should reduce cooling costs by about 20 percent, noted L&W Supply’s Roger Barton, who is coordinating the installation. As coolers have traditionally run non-stop at the approximately 500,000-square-foot facility during the hot months, the expectation is that savings will cover the EIFS installation costs in five to seven years, Barton estimated.

Banner is gaining a considerable aesthetic benefit, as well, as the steel-stud-framed hospital constructed in various phases with different methodologies over 30-some years has a none-too-attractive stucco exterior. The metallic pink finish matches Banner’s adjacent children’s hospital and hence helps “unify branding,” Barton noted.

He added that it is a pretty quick and quiet process to install the system, which weighs barely one pound per square foot.

Office Headquarters

When the sustainability-minded brain trust at building products and services firm Tremco Inc. opted to pursue a comprehensive $5.5 million energy retrofit at its 1969-vintage, slate-skinned headquarters building, it logically looked to sister company Dryvit Systems’ EIFS offerings.

Thanks to the new exterior insulation (not to mention the sharp new cladding), as well as numerous other green-minded upgrades, the three-story, 46,000-square-foot headquarters is now something of a showcase for sustainable solutions that helps market the company’s capabilities, noted Craig Nelson of another sister company (and co-occupant of the building), WTI Services, who oversaw the retrofit.

Contributing to the property’s new LEED Gold certification, Dryvit’s Outsulation Plus MD drainage EIFS provided a continuous insulation that sealed up leaky thermal bridges. The overall retrofit resulted in an 84 percent reduction in natural gas consumption, along with a 43 percent cut in electricity consumption, Nelson specified.

And while the retrofit’s overall payback period will likely end up closer to 15 years, Nelson projects the EIFS installation will pay for itself in savings within the typical eight to 12 years.

The Tremco case study was part of a fuller discussion of EIFS, “New Life for EIFS Retrofits,” which appeared in the March 2012 issue of CPE.

CPE: How effective do you find most green—or as you call them, “high performance”—elements that are tending to be incorporated into buildings?

IZZO: I think the reason we embrace, at Syska, the term “high performance” probably more so than just “green” or “LEED” (is) it feels like not all but some are very focused on the point system to achieve LEED. And they’re missing the point. They’re focused on the wrong point. The point is to have a high-performance environment, and the outcome is a LEED score rating that gets you to Silver, Gold, Platinum even, and have a strategy around the design, the construction and the operations to deliver a high-performance environment—for the tenants, for the occupants. I think some people work backwards: How do I get to that point? Oh, I need to do X, Y and Z. That’s not really a holistic solution. That’s probably not giving the ultimate owner or occupant the benefit that we’re talking about today. The people who are going to be very successful … really embrace the overall concept and then tune the systems to behave, not just focus on, “What decision do I need to make today to get that point in the future, when we fill out the paperwork?”

CPE: What specific kinds of green characteristics are you most recommending to clients?

IZZO: We’ve definitely done a lot of work around water and how to reuse water, and I think it is wonderful to watch many of the owners really be focused on that and figure out creative ways of being able to redeploy water usage.

BRENNEN: And which probably doesn’t get enough market recognition just yet. … Green kind of gets back to (a) holistic process (whereby) first you’ve got to reduce the load, so that when you add something green or renewable it has a bigger impact. How do I shrink my load? First, through good design, and engineer the architecture, and then begin to do things we’ve seen work really well. Displacement ventilation, (where) you bring in air down low, at a higher temperature, and because you do that, you actually get more hours of free cooling from the outside air in most environments you’re in around the country. …

Certainly, photovoltaics are becoming more and more cost effective. You still need the government rebates to help that, but the price is coming down. But, again, you want to put those at kind of step five. You want to go through four steps of reduce, reduce, reduce, reduce and then add photovoltaics, and then do things like displacement ventilation.

We also see use of under-floor air, although it kind of got a bit of a black mark, because people didn’t know how to detail it. GSA even started backing away from putting in under-floor air, because they forgot how to seal the floor. Contractors didn’t know. Little details matter when you’re doing these kinds of things. So, under-floor air is a great strategy, but if you execute it wrong, it’s really bad. There have been some cases where that hasn’t gone well for people.

IZZO: I think the last piece is raising the set point temperatures. … These temperatures are written right into leases. And these are long-term leases. People have to evolve with these changes. Seventy-two degrees and a wet bulb of this or that—I think those are almost archaic. But if you look at a lease today, I guarantee you it’ll have the same specs.

BRENNEN: The other technology we see (is) geoexchange, which is a way of using the earth as a heat sink. … You’re not pumping. You’re not using chillers. You’re using the earth as a heat exchanger. But you also save water, because you’re not using cooling towers, which actually blow off and evaporate millions of gallons of water a year. So geoexchange, we think, has some significant upside. It’s not happening on a lot of projects just yet, because it is costly. So you have to do the lifecycle, and you have to be in it for the long run. But over time I think you’ll see more and more opportunity for geoexchange … probably not an urban environment like New York City. But when you get out where you have a little more land, that could be an interesting opportunity for clients.

IZZO: Interestingly enough, even here in New York, there are some pretty well-known installations that have had some high levels of success.

CPE: What do you see the next generation of high-performance or sustainable design looking like?

IZZO: These tools that continue to evolve and need to get refined will continue to help push the envelope. But I do think the next generation of system types really will be dependent on—and I hate to go back to it—but will be dependent on where we end up or what path we start heading down with the energy discussion. I think that’s really going to be a key driver in the next generation of these systems, how they start to take shape. … To get to the next plateau, it’s a different conversation. And energy will be a key part of that conversation.

BRENNEN: The other thing I’d say about the future of high performance is one of the words might be “transparency,” which is, I think, this idea of energy and impact on the environment. Your tenants will know and everybody will know; it’ll be transparent, through energy labeling or EnergyStar, or the building design might be transparent, where you can see in and see out. I don’t think there’ll be any more secrets. You’re going to know exactly how your building performs. And your tenants will know how your building performs. And you’ll be held to kind of a higher standard, almost, in the future because of that transparency.

CPE: Is there anything else that you see coming?

IZZO: I think the only other thing—and I’m far from an expert on this—it’ll be interesting, in the future, how projects get financed. … A lot of our owners today—government owners, corporate entities, educational facilities—continue to struggle in raising capital. So I think that conversation is evolving as well, with regard to P3 opportunities versus private equity versus foreign investment. With the current state of the economy, I think that will become more of a topic than ever before.

BRENNEN: I think P3 is really interesting. … We’re doing Long Beach Courthouse, which is the first P3 building of its kind in the U.S. We’ve seen P3 in infrastructure, like toll roads, but this is the first building being financed and built and operated by the—call it “developer”; it’s really an investor partnership.

IZZO: Even here in New York, I think the first half a dozen or so P3—and mostly around transportation—projects have been released, and it’ll be intriguing to see the response.

Gary Brennen (left) and Cyrus Izzo, co-presidents of Syska Hennessy Group.

CPE: What do you consider to have been the greatest improvements in real estate design in the past 10 years?

Brennen: What we’ve seen really being pressed by our clients—developers, landlords, government agencies—is this idea of high-performance—or green—design. We like the term “high performance” better, because it paints the picture about how design matters in how buildings take their shape and how they operate. That’s true for the landlord as well as the occupants. How do you create these high-performance environments—pretty creative spaces—that have positive energy but reduce their energy and carbon footprint at the same time?

Izzo: To Gary’s point, in order to bring these concepts to life, some of the tools that are available to the design community are really cutting edge. If you look back 10 years, or even five years, to the current day, tools like building information modeling, energy simulation tools and really being able to put forth a model that owners, developers, contractors and designers can all weigh in on and change before anybody really gets out into the field and puts a shovel in the ground has been amazing.

CPE: Tell me more about how you approach new construction today and what’s different about your approach from what it used to be.

Brennen: One of those (differences) now in the approach is how collaborative we have to be. The way to make that impactful is the use of the tools Cyrus just talked about. How do we bring forth our ideas in ways — through 3D modeling or the parametrics we use, in real time — that help our clients make predictive decisions early during — we call it the opportunity phase. When you’re visioning your project, how do you create the ideas that people understand and then predict the outcomes by using BIM and energy modeling tools, daylighting strategies and tools, so that you make the right decisions at the front end of a job that create these dynamic spaces people really need in the marketplace, to either market to tenants or market to their user groups or market, in some cases, to the neighborhoods? … It’s a way of creating an approach that helps the entitlement process by having low-energy, low-water, low-carbon- type facilities that show maybe it’s actually a positive to have construction.

Izzo: I think the other real game-changer in the industry is … collaboration with the owner, the design team and the contractors, as well as the folks who will operate the facility. In lieu of them being in various corners, kind of staking their claim and watching just their areas of interest, it really is, from the beginning of a project, a team approach to developing a truly successful outcome for the owner, so that all of these different stakeholders work together, hand-in-hand, from the project commencement right through to commissioning, completion and occupancy.

And then there’s some feedback that might occur just to see how these systems and the building are performing, and the KPIs against that. If they’re set up-front, it’s great to have an owner who’s willing to measure those KPIs as the building continues to evolve.

As engineer of record, Syska Hennessy collaborated with IBE Engineers to make the Cooper Union Academic and Science Lab Building in New York City technologically advanced, sustainable and flexibly designed. Photo by Iwan Baan Photography.

CPE: Is there anything in your experience that you think developers are just not focusing enough on now or could be addressing better?

Brennen: One of the challenges we see with developers and owners is that they need to be engaged early on in the decision-making and design process, in terms of making key decisions about how the building will operate, not just what it looks like. Sometimes you get trapped with the aesthetic, but performance matters in these high-performance, sustainable buildings. And (you can’t just say), “Let’s have the engineer create a high-efficiency mechanical system.” That’s not going to be good enough anymore; you’ve got to have a high-efficiency building design (from) the beginning.

I think owners have to learn and be engaged up front in that dialogue. How is the building massed? How is it oriented? What’s the glass and daylight condition? How do I keep solar gain out but good daylight in? It’s almost, “How do you engineer the architecture,” which drives the architect nuts a little bit, but you’ve got to tune the design from day one, and then … continue to tune the building after you occupy it to get the kind of results you want—and probably your tenants want, too.

Izzo: I don’t like to generalize, but the one big topic that I think everyone talks about but I don’t know that, as an industry—owners, architects, engineers, contractors—we’ve quite figured out is the future of energy. What does that look like? How does that impact the decisions we’re making today and the buildings that we’re designing and building today? I don’t know that there’s a clear-cut answer just yet. But I don’t believe people are focusing as much as we all should be on what the future of energy will be like in this country five, 10, 20 years from now. It’ll be very different, and we just want to make sure we’re mindful of what might occur, because the decisions we make today may not make sense with the changing landscape of energy.

CPE: Are you incorporating that into your thinking now?

Izzo: We’re addressing it probably as much as anyone else. However, I don’t know that owners have embraced that conversation too readily. Everyone wants to talk about green energy. When people see the current payback scenarios, et cetera, et cetera, that conversation typically ends pretty quickly. As an industry, we probably want to make better decisions. And … probably some more R&D is required of what decisions we should be making today, since energy will continue to be a challenge for the next 20 years.

Brennen: Essentially, all our resources: energy and water. … We certainly see the federal government beginning to push again, with their idea of carbon neutrality by 2030. It’s a very ambitious goal for the federal sector, to be carbon-neutral in their whole portfolio by 2030. I don’t know how you get there from here, but it certainly means you’ve got to start rethinking how you design buildings, as we talked about, with all our modeling tools and rethinking the skin, the massing and the orientation. And you might even have to have renewable energy sources in your building, so that you’re almost energy positive, if you’re really going to get there—whether that’s solar, fuel cells, co-generation or wind.

CPE: How much redevelopment do you need to do in order to incorporate some of this?

Brennen: When you think about your existing buildings, as landlord or developer, you have to reposition them not just for their looks and finishes but how they perform in this new kind of energy environment or regulatory environment we’re all going to be in. How do you improve the performance of the building and its systems, not just its look and feel?

Izzo: That has everything to do with the owner’s bottom line. The performance of those buildings will either make or break how competitive they are in attracting tenants, and also attracting a favorable bottom line. And it all comes down to: What is the return on those dollars that they invest? If those systems are not performing well, they will not be competitive with the building next door, and they will have a tougher time attracting and retaining quality tenants and charging market rents.

CPE: What do you see as the next evolution of commercial buildings?

Izzo: Sticking to the energy topic, sticking to the highly collaborative spaces, sticking to the high-performance solutions so that the employees are productive, the buildings operate well, I think you’ll find that things like IPD, BIM and these tools will continue to be refined so that commercial office buildings in the future remain very efficient, not just to construct but to finance and operate. In the past, there might have been more investment dollars available (for) proper- ties, and people were willing to potentially tolerate lower efficiencies. I think that’ll be off the table in the not-so-distant future.

Brennen: The U.S. practice usually was to overcome the environment that they fit in— so overcome the solar gain, overcome the cold temperature outside. Now buildings’ design needs to engage. You know, architects talk a lot about this: “of its place and of its time.” Well, now the building itself needs to respond to and engage with the sun. What are the opportunities to have daylighting or solar PVs? What’s the opportunity to naturally ventilate transitional spaces, where you may not have to use mechanical cooling. …The building needs to engage the outdoor environment it’s sitting in.

And then the occupants will live in that space, and you’ll have this much brighter, day-lit, comfortable environment for them to be productive in. That’s really an area that still continues to evolve, because we’re so used to just overcoming it by adding in chillers and mechanical systems and all that stuff.

CPE: What are some examples?

Izzo: If you look at people who have really studied their environment and figured out ways of leveraging their environment, whether it’s using river water for cooling or figuring out new and exciting ways of using geothermal systems, although at first glance they may not have had the best short-term ROI, I think people with a longer-term view understand that that will pay dividends—maybe not in three years but over the life of the facility. It’ll be very potent and very measurable for their investors.

Brennen: Longer term, corporate clients are definitely thinking along these lines … talking about building LEED Platinum. … GE (wanted a) LEED Platinum data center, because that was important to them, for their employees but also as a message to the marketplace. We see it in RFPs coming out now for Intuit—LEED Platinum for their new building up in Mountain View. They’re beginning to take a longer-term view about the environment and its impact on their local workforce, but also the community at large and how good a neighbor they need to be.

The government kind of started this process, but now we see it in our corporate clients. You’re going to see it (expand) to the more savvy developers, who have to cater to these kinds of corporate clients. It’s almost a three-step process. The smart developers, Hines or Durst, they get it. They know they’ve got to get out in front of this.

CPE: What do you see as the biggest prob- lems with or drags on building operation today?

Izzo: It’s probably around training. These buildings continue to become quite complicated in how they’re designed, and, most important, how they’re operated. Now, with some of the systems, everything is riding on technology. I think people have to really spend time training their teams to be able to operate these buildings and tune these buildings, because it’s not just set the thermostats once and walk away for the next 30 years. You have to really continue to monitor these measurements that you get back in the system. And then how do you proactively manage those systems to take advantage of some of the data points you get back?

As a building evolves and matures, you need a very robust operations team, who’s highly trained, highly technical; who can take advantage of a building and tune its systems to be able to wring the most efficiency out of all of the systems that are designed and installed. And that’s not really static; that’s a very dynamic process.

CPE: That means a different kind of team.

Brennen: A little more sophisticated, and I think Cyrus’ key word there is “proactive.” Traditionally, the building engineers were probably very good reaction-wise; this is a different mindset. How do you think ahead? How do you learn from what the building’s systems are doing and then continually improve them through (being) proactive, using your BMS systems smartly, understanding … how you can tweak set points. It goes on and on and on. But it’s a different … mindset and culture that these buildings are going to demand over time.

For further discussion of sustainable, or “high-performance,” practices, turn to “Sustainable Solutions.”

Over more than a decade, commercial property executives in Germany and other European nations have come to rely on an energy-conserving mechanism that has yet to catch on in the United States: exterior sun-shading devices.

But as domestic developers gear up for the next round of activity and strive to minimize solar heat gain amid rising mechanical cooling costs, it appears many of America’s future commercial facades will be adorned with a variety of static or motorized shading systems.

In fact, while it may not be obvious to the casual observer, millions of dollars worth of intricately engineered devices are already deflecting direct sunlight (and consequent heat) from the facades of sustainability-leader Hines’ latest U.S. mega-developments.

Often made from extruded aluminum and tinted glass, these shelves, fins, tubes and the like are affixed in varying combinations to the new Hines-developed high-rises 300 N. LaSalle in Chicago, BG Group Place in Houston and the Devon Energy headquarters in Oklahoma City—and will likewise highlight the big project set for launch at Tysons Corner Center in Northern Virginia.

And these are no small-scale experiments with energy-efficiency strategies: The four projects alone will comprise some 5.5 million square feet of Class A space, representing hundreds of millions of dollars in invested capital. While to the untrained eye these proper- ties’ shading devices may appear to be add- on architectural articulations—and technically, they are—critical functional benefits will ultimately cover their construction costs, stressed Jerry Lea, Hines’ vice president of conceptual construction.

But do not expect the quick three- or even five-year payback periods profit-minded developers seek with most efficiency-enhancing upgrades. Modern high-rise shading devices require considerable engineering and design effort and expense to optimize and integrate their primary benefits, and also to minimize any unwanted collateral effects, Lea explained. As a result, with corporate and institutional buildings, payback might take 10 to 15 years.

On the positive side, many users feel that is fast enough to justify the up-front costs, and so-called life-cycle financial assessments favored by some institutional and public-sector occupants might consider benefits realized over three or four decades.

There are also collateral cost benefits. Their fundamental function is to deflect direct sunlight away from glazing and other façade surfaces, thereby substantially reducing solar heat gain as well as pesky interior glare. Some reports suggest the most effective such devices can reduce heat gain 80 percent or more as they deflect sunshine from as much as 40 or 50 percent of a given façade’s surface during the highest-exposure hours.

The lower the heat gain, the less expenditure required for mechanical cooling—not to mention the improved productivity of glare-free workspaces. “So if you can reduce that solar heat gain, you won’t have to spend as much on your HVAC mechanical plant,” explained Rob Kistler, founding principal of specialty consultant The Façade Group.

Indeed, Hines’ detailed energy-use analyses confirm that shading systems boost project bottom lines, as less costly cooling systems are required to keep occupants comfortable, Lea concurred.

Of course, designers and engineers are challenged to minimize detrimental impacts on revenue-boosting views, and on desired day- lighting effects, as well. “It’s certainly a challenge to provide all that ‘vision glass’ that tenants want, along with natural daylighting and a comfortable room temperature, and still be exceptionally energy efficient,” Lea is quick to acknowledge.

Those high-demand westerly and southerly view spaces can cost a lot to cool on bright summer afternoons, added Mark Perepelitza, associate partner with sustainability-minded Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, who has studied European shading strategies. Not to mention the blinding glare that motivates occupants to engage internal shades that block those coveted vistas. But the latest insightfully designed shading devices can be extremely effective in reducing cooling costs and glare, while still maintaining those great views and daylighting benefits.

An analytical strategy that helps profit- minded players like Hines and its partners justify shading-system costs entails assessing their impacts as aesthetic as well as functional features. The “double-duty” enhancements of both architectural distinctiveness and energy performance help justify the lengthier financial payback, Lea noted.

To wit, shading systems incorporated into some of Hines’ latest projects can be quite striking visually. For instance, with the 50-story Devon tower’s symmetrical triangular shape, the design team—including Pickard Chilton as lead architect—created a regular series of vertical glass fins and horizontal tubes running along windows throughout the periphery, rather than just on the facades subject to heavy solar heat gain.

The effect promotes artistic consistency in addition to the primary motivation of energy efficiency, Lea explained. Indeed, such shading systems can communicate cultural statements about projects’ designers, developers and occupants, he continued. “They show you’re thinking about sustainability and energy efficiency.”

Limited Retrofits

While designing shading devices into original construction plans can pencil out over a reasonable payback period, attaching them to existing structures in conjunction with energy retrofit programs is a trickier matter. To a great extent, financial viability depends on whether the façade is strong enough to handle the additional weight—and support window washers, as well, Lea related.

Due to the costly bracing or other reinforcement required to accommodate the greater weight load, shading-device installations are not likely to pencil out in retrofits of larger commercial properties absent a comprehensive re-skinning, Perepelitza agreed. But at least one substantial example of such a project is underway in ZGF’s headquarters city of Portland.

The extensive retrofitting of downtown’s 516,360-square-foot Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building—tapping $133 million in federal economic stimulus funds—does indeed entail radically revised facades, as well as one of the more visually striking shading devices ever devised. And it is slated to become one of the GSA’s most energy-efficient office buildings, with ambitious targets of 40 percent beyond-code energy-efficiency, a 97 EnergyStar score and a LEED Platinum rating.

The GSA engaged SERA Architects and Cutler Anderson Architects to help design the 18-story tower’s retrofit—including creative solutions for shading a west-facing façade subjected to considerable “late, low afternoon sun,” noted SERA senior project manager Jennifer Taylor.

Team members value-engineered a number solutions, including a mechanical shading device, ultimately opting for a varied series of fixed extruded-aluminum “reeds” hung from six columns of steel armatures.

The device now nearing completion achieves the client’s goal of shading half the façade at critical times while also preserving excellent views, Taylor continued. And the “repeatable randomized pattern” staggering reed widths, lengths and placements helps avoid any connotations of a barred barrier, she added. “I think we’ve worked it out pretty effectively.”

With the south and east facades, more traditional horizontal shelf-type devices above and below windows will provide the bulk of the needed shading, assisted by a few vertical reeds.

Taylor also emphasized that the shading system is designed to operate in tandem with the building’s highly efficient new radiant hydronic heating and cooling system—which taps outside air for ventilation and hence tolerates very little solar heat gain on warm and sunny days. “Once we choose a radiant system for a building like this, the shading becomes integral” to achieving energy-efficiency goals, she explained. “We really couldn’t have one without the other.”

The GSA’s required life-cycle cost analysis considers financial, environmental and other impacts over 40 years. The building achieves its goals within that generous time period with flying colors: Calculations project “dramatic” energy savings all around for the Green/Wyatt retrofit, Taylor noted.

For more details on the merits of dynamic versus static systems, see “Dynamic or Static?“

Exterior sun-shading devices, long popular in Europe, are just starting to attract a following in the United States. They carry a number of benefits, although their long-term payback period remains a deterrent to adoption.

Those pursuing them, among them sustainability leader Hines, may choose from a couple of different options. One is the fixed shading devices that appear poised for increasing popularity among the next generation of U.S. high-rises; the other a modern motorized, or “dynamic,” alternative.

A meaningful benefit of motorized systems is that they adjust movable parts to maximize daylighting on cloudy days—or pretty much any time the sun isn’t shining directly onto the corresponding façade.

But while retractable operable shading elements such as louvers and rollers tend to be quite effective minimizing heat gain in low-rise buildings, their applicability is limited for now because high winds become a daunting challenge above five stories or so, related Mark Perepelitza, associate partner with Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects.

More new low-rise commercial developments will likely see combinations of fixed and dynamic systems—as is the case at First Western Development’s four-story The Terry Thomas in central Seattle’s South Lake Union district. The property’s automated louvers and blinds and fixed shading devices are coordinated with operable windows and various other design and operational strategies allowing for passive cooling via natural ventilation.

Accordingly, the Weber Thompson-designed project doesn’t need a mechanical cooling component whatsoever, a fact that also provides space for higher ceilings that help with ventilation as well as tenant marketing. Likewise, its fixed glass shades are strategically tinted, installed and angled outside certain windows to help retain views while minimizing heat gain and glare.

For his part, Jerry Lea, Hines’ vice president of conceptual construction, expects U.S. developers to opt for more motorized models going forward as subcontractors here become accustomed to installing sophisticated systems that have become popular in Europe.

And Rob Kistler, founding principal of The Façade Group, suggested the shading-system discipline generally is bound to see even more innovation in coming years as it adapts to quite an array of high-tech energy-efficient and even energy-generating glazing systems that are about to take hold in commercial buildings.

Shading device developers in fact already have all manner of as-yet-unrevealed cool and futuristic systems in the works based on client input, he added—but purposefully avoid showing their hands to competitors before initial installations.

For more on the benefits of these shading systems, see “Aid in the Shade,” which appeared in the January 2012 issue of Commercial Property Executive (available in the digital edition).

Deutsche Bank’s Americas headquarters is about to get a little greener, as the investment firm has just completed the installation of 122.4 kW solar photovoltaic array on the roof of its New York City office. The array is set to reduce the company’s electricity consumption and will decrease carbon emissions by 100 metric tons per year.

Calling the project the next step in the “goal to neutralize the bank’s global CO2 emissions by 2013,” Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank in the Americas, discussed his firm’s commitment to energy reduction. “This project is one part of a comprehensive global program to reduce the bank’s consumption of fossil fuels and shift to more renewable sources of energy.”

Large-scale solar installations are starting to spring up around the country. In December, San Mateo, Calif.-based SolarCity partnered with Bank of America Merrill Lynch on a $1 billion project to install photovoltaic arrays in privatized U.S. military housing communities over the next five years. The project, which is slated to be the largest residential solar installation in the country, could ultimately create up to 300 megawatts of power.

The bank’s headquarters, located at 60 Wall St., is a 50-story skyscraper, occupied solely by Deutsche Bank.  The photovoltaic system, which is located on the inclined south and east portions of the roof, is the largest solar array in Manhattan and is currently the highest elevated solar flat-panel array in the world, topping off at 737 feet above the ground.

The 60 Wall St. initiative is the third solar project in North America completed by Deutsche Bank, including the two-phase installation of a 1.27 megawatt solar PV system at its Piscataway, N.J., office.  Deutsche Bank’s Piscataway solar electric system completed in 2011, has delivered a net-zero electric building.  A fourth project of a 1.5-megawatt system is underway at Deutsche Bank’s Parsippany, N.J. facility with planned completion later this year.

The Urban Land Institute has taken over “the activities and assets” of the Greenprint Foundation and transferred them into the new ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance, the two organizations announced late last week. The Greenprint Foundation, based in New York, will not continue as a separate entity, Trisha Riggs, ULI vice president for communications, told Commercial Property Executive. “Greenprint’s activities will now be part of ULI.”

The ULI Greenprint Center will become part of ULI’s Climate, Land Use and Energy initiative, where it will continue the Greenprint Foundation’s mission. That mission is “to lead the global real estate community in the use of greenhouse gas reduction strategies that support the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change goals for global greenhouse gas stabilization by 2030.”

Greenprint Foundation president & CEO — and ULI trustee — Charles Leitner III will chair the ULI Greenprint Center and also serve as co-chairman of the advisory board for ULI’s CLUE initiative.

The measurable aspect of the Foundation’s, and Center’s, goal is a 50 percent reduction in building emissions by 2030. According to ULI, the energy used in buildings represents one-third of all current global energy consumption. Measurement has been central to the Greenprint Foundation, which is best known for its Greenprint Performance Report, which incorporates the Greenprint Carbon Index, a tool used by foundation members to gauge relative progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The report’s second annual volume, issued in 2011, had results for more than 1,600 properties in the Americas, Europe and Asia 334 million square feet of commercial space. The report showed a 0.6 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the previous year on the like-for-like portfolio of submitted properties.

The report’s international scope and size “make it one of the real estate industry’s largest, most verifiable, transparent and comprehensive energy benchmarking tools,” according to the ULI.

Carbon-equivalent emissions are measured in kilograms per square meter of space per year, and the analysis is conducted for each building or group of buildings, and then reported in the aggregate for each property asset type: office, industrial, retail, multifamily and hotels.

The Greenprint Foundation was founded in 2009 by longtime ULI member Ronald Weidner, who will serve on the ULI Greenprint Center’s advisory board. With ULI’s resources, Weidner said, “the ULI Greenprint Center will lead the global property markets in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in a meaningful and measurable way. More important, it can help change the behavior of the population at large.”

The Greenprint Foundation’s member organizations are Aetos Capital, AvalonBay, Beacon Capital Partners, Blackstone Group, DEXUS Property Group, Douglas Emmett, Equity Office Properties, GE Capital Real Estate, GLL Real Estate Partners; Hines, Jones Lang LaSalle, LaSalle Investment Management, Paramount Group, PATRIZIA Immobilien, Prologis, Prudential Real Estate Investors, RREEF, Sonae Sierra and TIAA-CREF.

Taken as a whole, 2011 was something of a tumultuous year: There was a rally in the summer when the economy looked to get back on track, then the events of the fall–after a debt crisis in Europe as well as re-rising unemployment and the Congressional debt debate domestically–slowed that train. Either way, it was an interesting time for commercial real estate. Here are our top 11 stories from 2011:

Highland Fairview Breaks Ground on Future Skechers Home
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger presided over the groundbreaking of Highland Fairview Corporate Park in Rancho Belago, Calif., which developer Highland Fairview says will be the largest green building of its kind in the United States.

Revel Secures $1.2B for Stalled Casino Project
The entertainment firm has closed on a financing package for the 6.2 million-square-foot Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Money issues brought most construction activity at the $2.4 billion beachfront entertainment resort to a halt in January 2009, leaving the project half finished.

Philadelphia’s High-Rise Drought Eased by 34-Story Apartment Project
The $104 million project would be the first high-rise in any property category to get underway in the city since the 2008 opening of Comcast Center.

Renaissance Man: As Starwood Capital Turns 20, Founder Barry Sternlicht Explores New Paths
If the commercial real estate industry held a decathlon for executives, Barry Sternlicht would be a serious threat to run off with the trophy, and not just because Starwood Capital Group’s chairman & CEO looks as fit as the tennis player he was at Brown University 30 years ago.

Behind PNC’s Acquisition of RBC Bank USA
RBC has been a major player in the commercial real estate lending sector, and the transaction will now add to PNC’s commercial real estate portfolio.

Facebook Leases New 1 MSF HQ
The nine-building campus, located at 1601 Willow Road about 30 miles south of San Francisco in San Mateo County, materialized over a two-year period commencing in 1993. Oracle came into possession of the asset in January 2010, when it officially completed its $7.4 billion buyout of Sun Microsystems.

Grubb & Ellis in Exclusive Talks with C-III Capital & Colony Capital
The service firm is getting a major infusion of capital from two new stakeholders in a move that could point to a sale or other large strategic investment.

Why Blackstone’s $1.1B Bet Goes Against the Grain
The Blackstone Group’s $1.1 billion acquisition last week of a suburban office portfolio from Duke Realty Corp. challenges conventional wisdom on multiple fronts–and departs from the standard approach of grabbing core office product in a handful of markets.

Health Care REIT Buys Genesis for $2.4B
The sales transaction frenzy in the healthcare real estate sector continues as JER Partners and Formation Capital sign on to sell the company, which comes to the table with a portfolio of 147 properties in 11 states.

CoStar Amps Up Offerings with LoopNet Acquisition
The deal comes as no surprise to those who keep an eye on the ins and outs of the industry. B. Riley & Co. director of research Ian Corydon said, “It has made sense for a long, long time.”

Fannie Mae Reveals Top Multi-Family Lenders
Performance hit a higher level in 2010, with each of the 10 lender partners each contributing a minimum of $870 million in loan volume, compared to 2009’s minimum of $700 million.

Hines is getting greener and greener. The international real estate company has achieved LEED-EB, or LEED for Existing Buildings, certification for its 896,500-square-foot office building at 321 North Clark at Riverfront Plaza in Chicago. Hines took it up a notch. LEED Silver certification just wouldn’t do; the 35-story tower won the Gold.

The glass and stainless steel high-rise has hovered over the Chicago River since making its debut in 1987. Hines came into ownership of the asset in 2006 when Hines Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. snapped up the property.

Sustainable development is practically de rigueur, but transforming an existing structure into a green marvel is more of a challenge. However, it’s a challenge Hines does not hesitate to face. At 321 North Clark, the company incorporated a series of features to achieve the LEED Gold stamp, including low-flow aerators and water closets; efficient LED lighting in the lobby; and high-performing green cleaning services. Additionally, the building provides the option for tenants to minimize HVAC usage on weekends when space is not being occupied.

The tower stands above the rest, but not necessarily for its height. 321 North Clark also has an Energy Star rating of 83, which means it is 32 percent more energy efficient than the typical office building in the U.S.

“Achieving LEED Gold certification validates the diligent efforts by the on-site team to generate significant cost savings and environmental improvements for the long-term benefit of the tenants, owners and the city of Chicago,” Gary Holtzer, global sustainability officer with Hines, said.

The Chicago high-rise is hardly Hines’ first time at the rodeo. In December alone, the company’s Gateway Oaks I and IV office structures encompassing 204,700 square feet in Sacramento earned LEED-EB Gold certification, as did the 92,900-square-foot office building at 5820 Canoga Ave. in suburban Los Angeles.

Some of the best-known buildings in the country are taking the lead, so to speak, in the trend of transforming from less-than-efficient into shining examples of sustainability. The Empire State Building, benefiting from a $550 million rebuilding program that includes an energy retrofit, won LEED-EB Gold certification in September. The 2.9 million-square-foot, 1930s-era skyscraper is just one of a handful of National Historic Landmarks to earn the designation. In 2009, the owner of the Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower, announced a $350 million sustainable modernization program for the 4.5 million square-foot office property, which is the tallest office building in the Western Hemisphere.