Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
A Texas A&M architecture Ph.D. student is evaluating an approach used to certify the environmental friendliness, or sustainability, of commercial buildings with the help of a $10,000 grant from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
In her study, Hyojin Kim will evaluate current building performance measurement protocols, and based on that evaluation, she will suggest a new single-figure merit rating that utilizes the established protocols.
The current building sustainability evaluation procedures were developed by ASHRAE, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers and the U.S. Green Building Council.
Focusing on a typical office building in central Texas, Kim’s study will use established guidelines to measure energy use, water use and indoor environmental quality, while noting problems encountered in the process.
Then, based on her evaluation of the applicability of the protocols, she will suggest alternative approaches for improving evaluation procedures and more accurately rating building performance. The new methodology, allowing protocol users to rate a building’s overall performance in a single figure of merit, she said, will contribute to the verification of green building technologies and practices.
Kim’s study, "Methodology for Rating a Building’s Overall Performance Based on the ASHRAE/CIBSE/USGBC Performance Measurement Protocols for Commercial Buildings," will be funded by ASHRAE during the 2010-11 academic year.
- Posted: March 29, 2010 -
Hyojin Kim
