4. High Performance Development as Distributed Generation

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 250278-6648/09/$26.00 © 2009 IEEE

Are we headed toward a global

energy crisis? Absolutely! I think

the better question is what form

will the crisis come in: skyrocketing

natural gas and oil prices? Generation

shortfalls and siting issues for transmis-

sion and distribution systems? Emissions

regulations forcing the shutdown of con-

ventional fossil plants, or more likely,

huge price spikes? Frequent transmission

and distribution system failures leading

to more blackouts? Unfortunately, all

are likely scenarios in the near future,

and many power engineers know all

too well the inability of regulations and

energy policies to control markets that

are complex and based on technologies

and concepts that began over 100 years

ago. The intelligent grid that all power

engineers dream about will take a long

time to design and build, not to mention

the cost. Additionally, the current popu-

lar fossil fuels used for electric power

generation are subject to varying and in-

creasing market risks.

This is not a discussion of distributed

generation versus central generation—

both have advantages and disadvantages—

but we should consider that our future

electric infrastructure may require both

forms to ensure a reliable and sustain-

able power grid. We have come to un-

charted territory when it comes to our

ability to meet growing demand and en-

vironmental concerns. There are many

alternatives that must all be used in co-

ordination with existing electric infra-

structure in order to meet future energy

needs. The largest unknown of these

future energy needs are the increase in

electric and fuel availability to huge rural

populations in India and China, which

contain roughly one third of the global

population. Why aren’t buildings de-

signed and constructed to be electrically

self sufficient through the use onsite

power production? Is this complete mad-

ness or is there some justification?

High performance development as distributed generation

While the global population contin-

ues to grow and consume vast amounts

of resources, designers of urban infra-

structure and developments must con-

sider sustainable strategies for materials

and energy; one possible strategy is

high-performance development as dis-

tributed generation (HPDADG). In fun-

damental form, by using specific design,

construction and operational strategies

to minimize energy usage and maxi-

mize onsite electric energy production,

high-performance developments can

provide distributed generation and at

the same time serve their intended de-

velopmental purpose.

High performance development can

mean many things to many people but

namely it is building methods that

MATTHEW B. NISSEN

High performancedevelopmentas distributedgeneration

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2009.934893

©DIGITAL STOCK, DIGITAL VISION, ARRAY IMAGE COURTESY OF US AIR FORCE

26 IEEE POTENTIALS

incorporate the principles of sustainable

development, defined as “development

that meets the needs of the present with-

out compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own needs.”

Facilities designed and constructed

under these principles (dubbed “green

buildings”) are long lasting, energy

efficient, and environmentally friendly.

There has been huge growth in this type

of construction both locally and globally.

The majority of commercial and institu-

tional projects in the United States use

the Leadership in Energy and Environ-

mental Design (LEED) rating system.

The New York Times recently published

the article, “How Green Is Your Tower?”

as a testament to this popular yet not-

quite mainstream design practice and

implementation. Homebuilders have

yet to come to a consensus on what a

green home is, and the U.S. Green

Building Council is working to create a

LEED-Homes rating system. The core

elements to reducing facility energy

needs are well known to sustain-

able designers:

effective solar orientation to reduce 1)

summer cooling loads and winter heat-

ing loads

maximum use of thermal insula-2)

tion in the building envelope to reduce

all air conditioning loads, including size

of equipment and energy needed to

maintain normal temperatures

use of efficient appliances (com-3)

pact fluorescents, Energy Star)

occupancy-based usage via auto-4)

matic controls or the ability to turn

lights and appliances off when not in

use (occupancy sensors, timers, digital

programmed thermostats, demand

response, or occupant discretion via

price incentives).

The stereotypes that surround sustain-

able developments are that they have

higher capital costs and are difficult to

design and build. These may be true in

many circumstances (documented pre-

miums of 10% increased capital costs);

however there are many documented

instances where designers have reduced

capital costs due to decreased equipment

and the prime goal: reduced life-cycle

energy costs by 30–60%. Add itionally,

office and business facilities have poten-

tial productivity gains of up to 15%,

according to Douglas Durst. Here it is

important to truly distinguish high-per-

formance development from the norm:

the focus is on reducing facility life-cycle

energy and material consumption. One

of the biggest difficulties is to encourage

developers and owners to choose, pro-

mote, and invest in sustainable strategies

because they pass on these life-cycle

costs to tenants and would not benefit

from the savings. Marketing and educa-

tion help, but we need to enlighten the

entire developed world about the limited

resources available and the looming

explosive growth in resource demand.

Additionally, where developers are also

owner-operators and have a vested

interest—they are more inclined to con-

sider sustainable strategies.

Renewable sources are often used as

distributed generation, but one of the

largest obstacles to wide acceptance has

been intermittent operation and the time-

gap between renewable electric power

production and peak electric demand.

Photovoltaic arrays typically reach maxi-

mum power production (during midday)

when demand is the greatest and gener-

ate continuously in sunlight, which is

ideal (until cloud cover or storms). Wind

turbines, though having greater produc-

tion potential, are less consistent and

tend to reach maximum or continuous

power production during times of low

demand (winter and nights).

Cogeneration plants, having the larg-

est stationary power potential with large-

scale building systems, typically produce

the most power during peak heating

seasons and periods of consistent hot

water demand; these are not in synch

with periods of peak electric demand

but are likely just before and after. Fig-

ures 3 and 4 show the approximate daily

renewable energy production of a single

family home with 5 kW of the three main

renewable energy technologies (RETs)

installed. The typical single family home

in the United States uses 34 kWh daily

according to Department of Energy

(DoE) statistics. During a day where all

RETs are producing (random outputs

used according to hypothetical climate

conditions) the RETs’ combined output

is shown as 43.9 kWh, having a net-ben-

efit of 9.9 kWh on this day. Of course this

Roof Area Needed in Square Feet (Shown in Bold Type)

PV Module

Efficiency (%)PV Capacity Rating (W)

4

100

30

15

10

8

250

75

38

25

20

500

150

75

50

40

1,000

300

150

100

80

2,000

600

300

200

160

4,000

1,200

600

400

320

10,000

3,000

1,500

1,000

800

8

12

16

For example, to generate 2,000 W from a 12%-efficient system, you need

200 square feet of roof area.

Fig. 1 Typical solar array chart.

Retscreen Power Equipment Type Typical Installed Cost ($/kw)

Reciprocating engine

Gas turbine

Gas turbine-combined cycle

Steam turbine

Geothermal system

Fuel cell

Wind turbine

Hydro turbine

Photovoltaic module

Note: Typical installed cost values in Canadian dollars as of January 1, 2005.

Approximate exchange rate at time was 1CAD = 0.81 USD and 1CAD = 0.62 EUR.

700–2,000

550–2,500

700–1,500

500–1,500

1,800–2,100

4,000–7,700

1,000–3,000

550–4,500

8,000–12,000

Fig. 2 Typical installed cost range.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 27

is not indicative of every day of the year,

but one possibility of the potential appli-

cation of these concepts on a single

family home under good climate condi-

tions for these RETs to operate. The

graph in Fig. 4 also indicates that under

favorable conditions the cumulative

power produced onsite doesn’t have the

typical power spikes typically associated

with RETs, causing less stress on cen-

tral plants and transmission and distri-

bution infrastructure.

TechnologiesMaximizing onsite power production

is the focus of several journals and

magazines. The technologies are avail-

able and progressing every day by engi-

neers and scientists around the world.

The core technologies that can hypo-

thetically be implemented on all devel-

opments are:

building augmented wind-turbines1)

building integrated photovoltaics2)

cogeneration systems3)

building automation systems.4)

These renewable energy technolo-

gies would be combined and integrated

into facilities and managed by a build-

ing automation system and regulated

according to utility interconnection

requirements. Complying with utility

requirements can be difficult for some

systems, but modern power electronics

make this technically possible. The

question is one of scale and cost. Small

cogeneration and wind systems have

not progressed in the market suffi-

ciently for this to be easily accom-

plished at a low price.

Building augmented wind turbines

There are numerous wind propo-

nents around the world, including ven-

dors such as Vestas, GE, Enercon, and

Gamesa (the four largest manufactur-

ers), and of course the Dutch and German

governments. As stated by Sander Mer-

tens of the Delft University Wind Energy

Research Institute, “Vertical axis wind

turbines (VAWTs) are to be preferred

for operation in a complex wind envi-

ronment as is found on top of a roof.”

While the more common horizontal axis

wind turbines (HAWTs) are used exten-

sively in wind farms today, they are not

suited for urban or building integrated

applications. HAWTs have significant en-

vironmental considerations due to the

speed and size of their blades, and re-

quire clearances that are difficult to

obtain in urban settings. The major

advantages for VAWTs are small blade

sizes for large machines and the rela-

tively high power produced at slower

wind speeds when compared to HAWTs.

The large weight (many tons) of these

machines and structures must be taken

into account when designing the struc-

tural systems and foundation of the

building. Clearly, as stated by Steven

Peace of Eurowind, “Due to the stress-

es, I would have serious reservations

about installing a multi-megawatt ma-

chine on the top of a high rise building,

unless it were a new building and was

specifically designed to incorporate

such a machine.”

The wind turbines of the future will

likely follow the current trend of in-

creasing in energy output to multi-

megawatt machines, ensure optimal

performance in a range of environments,

and have an operational lifetime reach-

ing or exceeding 30 years. One recent

innovation is a 2.5 MW HAWT turbine

having four generators that are engaged

selectively depending on the wind-speed,

thus increasing the operational range of

wind-speeds and energy output for all

sites that experience varying wind-

speeds. While this will likely increase

the capital equipment costs, it has the

potential to increase the plant’s capac-

ity factor beyond the 40% ceiling that

plants currently are limited to in prac-

tice; this will increase the cumulative

energy generated and hence, improve

the feasibility.

Solar photovoltaicsSolar systems come in varying efficien-

cies as indicated in Fig. 1 and the main

parameters for operation are module ef-

ficiency, array area, and orientation (opti-

mal azimuth is for the array to face the

noon-time sun and be placed at the opti-

mal angle relative to latitude). Steven

Strong has written extensively about

building integrated photovoltaics (BiPV)

and has lectured in the recent past on this

topic at the CUNY Graduate Center in

New York City.

One of the most promising renew-

able energy technologies is photovolta-

ics (PVs). PVs are a truly elegant means

of producing electricity on site, directly

from the sun, without concern for

energy supply or environmental harm.

These solid-state devices simply make

electricity out of sunlight, silently with no

maintenance, no pollution, and no deple-

tion of materials. There is a growing con-

sensus that distributed photovoltaic

Chart: Single Family RET–Low Daily Production

System Ratings (kW) Average Minimum

BIPV

Wind

CHP

Total RET:

Total Usage:

DG Benefit

34.00 kWh

9.90 kWh

0.64

0.64

0.47

1.76

2.00

2.00

1.00

2.75

0.00

0.00

0.10

0.90

Maximum

43.90

2.00

2.00

1.00

Fig. 3 Sample daily energy production values for a hypothetical single family home.

Single Family RET—LOW Daily Production

Time of Day

RE

T O

utp

ut (k

W)

3.00

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00

12:0

0 A

.M.

2:0

0 A

.M.

4:0

0 A

.M.

6:0

0 A

.M.

8:0

0 A

.M.

10:0

0 A

.M.

12:0

0 P

.M.

2:0

0 P

.M.

4:0

0 P

.M.

6:0

0 P

.M.

8:0

0 P

.M.

10:0

0 P

.M.

12:0

0 A

.M.

BIPV

WIND

CHPSUM

Fig. 4 Sample daily energy production curve for a hypothetical single family home.

28 IEEE POTENTIALS

systems that provide electricity at the

point of use will be the first to reach

widespread commercialization. Chief

among these distributed applications

are PV power systems for individual

buildings. Interest in the building inte-

gration of PVs, where the PV elements

actually become an integral part of the

building, often serving as the exterior

weather skin, is growing worldwide.

PV specialists and innovative design-

ers in Europe, Japan, and the United

States are now exploring creative ways

of incorporating solar electricity into

their work. A whole new vernacular of

solar electric architecture is beginning

to emerge.

A PV system is constructed by assem-

bling a number of individual collectors

called modules electrically and mechani-

cally into an array. BiPV systems consist

of integrating PV modules into the build-

ing envelope, such as the roof or the

façade. The PV modules can serve the

dual function of building skin—replacing

conventional building envelope materi-

als—and power generator. By avoiding

the cost of conventional materials, the in-

cremental cost of photovoltaics is re-

duced and its life-cycle cost is improved.

Envelope BiPV systems often have lower

overall costs than BiPV systems requiring

separate, dedicated, mounting systems.

Systems requiring a separate and dedi-

cated mounting system, while being

more costly, may have better energy per-

formance when placed at the optimal

orientation and angle for a specific site.

Common uses for separately mounted

BIPV systems are solar shades, awnings,

and adjustable inclined arrays for large

flat roofs.

There are many commercial PV module

technologies available on the market

today, but most fall into two categories:

thick crystal products and thin-film prod-

ucts. Thick crystal products include solar

cells made from crystalline silicon either

as single or poly-crystalline wafers and

deliver about 10–12 W/ft² of PV array

(under full sun). These products typi-

cally come in prefabricated, rigid/solid

array modules.

Thin-film products typically incorpo-

rate very thin layers of photovoltaicly

active material placed on a glass super-

strate or a metal substrate using vacuum-

deposition manufacturing techniques

similar to those employed in the coating

of architectural glass. Presently, com-

mercial thin-film materials deliver about

4–5 W/ft² of PV array area (under full

sun). Thin-film technologies hold out

the promise of lower costs due to much

lower requirements for active materials

and energy in their production when

compared to thick-crystal products.

These products are more flexible and

can be fabricated into a variety of shapes

and forms, including rolls of modules

and roof tiles.

The choice of proprietary photo-

voltaic-composite systems is wide. It

includes:

curtain wall systems for vertical •and inclined facades

rainscreen cladding systems •fixed and motorized solar shading •

louver systems

integrated roof cladding, sheeting, •and tilting systems

pitched and flat roof mounted •systems

roof light systems (semitransparent). •Researchers have been working to

improve cell efficiencies on two fronts.

In 2002, researchers at Lawrence Berke-

ley National Laboratory, working with

crystal-growing teams at Cornell Uni-

versity and Japan’s Ritsumeikan Univer-

sity, discovered that a single system of

alloys incorporating indium, gallium,

and nitrogen can convert virtually the

full spectrum of sunlight, from the near

infrared to the far ultraviolet, to electri-

cal current. This led to theoretical effi-

ciencies better than 70%. More recently,

researchers at the University of Idaho

have created a compound called a

“quantum dot” that is made of elements

that include copper, indium, and sele-

nium. The quantum dots would be em-

bedded between layers of a solar cell

and would absorb energy that is other-

wise wasted due to overheating; poten-

tially more than doubling the efficiency

(up to 50%).

Currently there are many obstacles

to the wide-spread use of solar photo-

voltaic systems, the most common being

cost, inverter losses, losses due to ori-

entation, and decay in module output

over time.

Combined heat and powerCombined heat and power (CHP)

technologies produce electricity or me-

chanical power and recover waste heat

for process use. Conventional central-

ized power systems average less than

33% delivered efficiency for electricity in

the United States; CHP systems can de-

liver energy with efficiencies exceeding

90%, while significantly reducing emis-

sions per delivered MWh. CHP systems

can provide cost savings for industrial

and commercial users and substantial

emissions reductions.

Primary technologies include diesel

engines, natural gas engines, steam tur-

bines, gas turbines, microturbines, and

fuel cells. Most CHP technologies are

commercially available for on-site genera-

tion and combined heat and power ap-

plications. Several barriers, including utility

interconnection requirements, environ-

mental regulations, and technology costs

have kept these technologies from gaining

wider acceptance. Many of the technolo-

gies are undergoing incremental improve-

ments to decrease costs and emissions

while increasing efficiency.

The engineer will have to carefully

size these systems and predict the ap-

proximate heating and hot water pro-

duction for an annual period. CHP

systems generally operate in any of three

modes: heating load following, power

load following, and full power capacity

output. Each mode has its own traits and

purpose, the most common is heating

load following. The determination and

control of these modes can be accom-

plished through thermostats, electric

meters, or intelligently with a building

automation system.

The CHP systems of the future will

strive for zero thermal losses, maximum

fuel combustion efficiencies, and may

even expand into the realm of cooling

systems. Trigeneration is a service of-

fered by some consultants. These sys-

tems use the steam output from a furnace

to drive absorption chillers during cool-

ing seasons and steam turbines to gener-

ate electricity. One of the largest

difficulties with implementing steam sys-

tems is the commercial market’s prefer-

ence for hydronic (water based) systems

for both heating and cooling and the

practical considerations of operating a

plant on-site.

Building automation systems

A building automation system (BAS)

is comprised of electronic equipment that

The CHP systems of the

future will strive for zero

thermal losses, maximum fuel

combustion efficiencies, and

may even expand into the realm

of cooling systems.


automatically performs specific facility

functions. The commonly accepted defi-

nition of a BAS includes the comprehen-

sive automatic control of one or more

major building system functions required

in a facility such as heating, ventilating,

and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. In

many cases, a BAS includes HVAC, light-

ing, security, fire safety, industrial pro-

cesses, and more.

A BAS offers managers maximum

control and flexibility for operating vari-

ous engineered systems within facilities.

Creating sustainable developments often

leads to sensor based thermostats and

lighting controls, various HVAC and

water efficiency/conservation systems

requiring constant monitoring and meter-

ing. Where utilities offer incentives for

demand response, the BAS allows the

operator to reduce energy consumption

during peak summer/winter loads by

changing the system parameters such as

raising/lowering the thermostat tempera-

tures, turning off sections of lights, HVAC,

or other processes to be operated during

off-peak times. Where occupancy sen-

sors made great strides in area lighting,

the BAS allows developments to operate

intelligently according to the local cli-

mate and occupancy.

Time for analysisThe preferred software and docu-

mentation for analysis of renewable

energy resources for this work was

RETSCREEN, however this analysis

makes use of estimated capacity factors

(based on wind speed and solar irradia-

tion). It becomes worthless to generalize

over varying climate regions, but the

U.S. Department of Energy provides

energy data based on national statistics —

these were used for energy and fuel con-

sumption and for average facility areas.

Pricing information for installed RETs is

the subject of several textbooks and a

core service provided by many consult-

ing engineers. Figure 2 provides basic

rule-of-thumb pricing of various types of

onsite generator technologies. While

these provide a good reference, the

actual unit prices used in this analysis

are clearly shown as U.S. dollars per

watt produced—these can be seen in the

red cells in Fig. 5.

There are many forms that HPDADG

can take with regards to the three develop-

ment classifications under consideration:

[Class 1] medium and low-rise campus/

communities, [Class 2] high-rise buildings

(skyscrapers and corporate campuses),

and [Class 3] large municipal structures

(municipal facilities, transportation infra-

structure, and arenas). Facility energy data

is available from the U.S. DoE Energy In-

formation Administration for the most

common types of residential households

and for commercial facilities with various

principle building activities. Currently there

are sustainable projects of all three devel-

opment classifications that have success-

fully achieved many different forms of

energy conservation and integrated renew-

able technologies. There are some new

developments that are net-zero energy.

They utilize solar ovens and hot water

heaters, ground source heat pumps for air-

conditioning, and photovoltaic arrays for

electricity. Similar “zero energy develop-

ments” have become more popular in

Europe with limited space and resources.

While the implementation of renew-

able energy technologies can vary, we

should establish a hypothetical HPDADG

framework to compare different facili-

ties. These design criteria are theoretical

and for analysis purposes but are also

quite possible:

All facilities should have roof and A)

or louver shading photovoltaic arrays of

a combined maximum area of ten feet

by the square root of the total area. The

assumed connected PV system efficiency

is 75%.

All facilities shall have at least one B)

roof mounted vertical axis wind tur-

bine. These should be of the H-Darrieus

design and efforts should be made to

maximize operations/capacity factors.

All facilities should have at least C)

one combined heat and power system,

through any combination of processes for

heating or domestic hot water production.

These systems are based on a typical 6W/

SF HVAC system load that will be at most

20% efficient at generating electricity (i.e.,

a 1.2W/SF output). This number is prob-

ably more accurate for commercial facili-

ties and or larger apartment buildings.

Some facilities will not generate a D)

surplus of electrical energy annually ac-

cording to this analysis, primarily be-

cause high performance buildings have

only been in practice for a short time and

many commercial activities are energy

intensive. The percent energy reduction

needed to become net-zero energy or

breakeven is listed as energy conserva-

tion measures.

Electricity and energy markets E)

vary in every state across the United

States. For this reason, feasibility is deter-

mined loosely on the ability to achieve a

simple payback within ten years at a

specific electric rate. Economic incen-

tives can only improve these paybacks

and the payback period can be changed

in this form to any number of years.

Figure 5 is assumed to be a reason-

ably high RET scenario of the potential

and feasibility of the applied HPDADG

framework on residential facilities—

single family homes and apartment

buildings with selected numbers of units.

The wind capacity factor was assumed

to be 25%, the solar irradiation 1,600

hours per year, and the PV module effi-

ciency 16%. While these values may be

hard to find in one specific location, they

exist in the United States and abroad for

the specific RETs under consideration.

Some of the difficulties are in siting and

sizing of wind turbines, especially VAWTs

since they have been less commercially

developed than HAWTs. The ten-year

simple payback is a good method since

many organizations such as NYSERDA

won’t fund energy projects beyond this

time frame. This payback period can be

Sector Dwelling Facility

Type

HPDADG Energy BAWT

DoE

Avg

SF

Annual

Energy

Savings

kWh/Bldg

VAWT

Rating [W

or VA]

Costs @

$3.50

per Wp

Area

(SF)

Rating

(W)

BiPV

Costs @ Costs @

BASCHP

Rating (W)

6.00

W/SF MER per We per SF

Total

Installed

DG (W)

Total HPDADG

Capital Budget

(25% Cont.)

Target

Rate for

Simple

Payback@

$4.00 $0.75 $0.50

per Wp

Residential

Household

Single Family

Apt Bldg[50] subtotal



2,300

56,467

11,293

7,429

25,326.11

455,965.55

111,542.26

74,483.82

2,000

100,000

25,000

10,000

480

2,376

1,063

862

6,394

31,684

14,169

11,492

2,760

67,760

13,552

8,915

US $7,000.00

US $350,000.00

US $87,500.00

US $35,000.00

US $2,070.00

US $50,820.00

US $10,164.00

US $6,686.40

US $1,150.00

US $28,233.33

US $5,646.67

US $3,714.67

US $44,747.21

US $694,734.77

US $199,985.06

US $114,213.72

US $0.1767

US $0.1524

US $0.1793

US $0.1533

11,154

199,444

52,721

30,408

US $25,577.77

US $126,734.48

US $56,677.38

US $45,969.91

Fig. 5 HPDADG potential and feasibility for selected residential households.

30 IEEE POTENTIALS

changed to see if projects with a longer

or shorter financial timeline are feasible.

One thing is certain, electric rates are

only going to increase over time for the

foreseeable future.

So how does this compare with cur-

rent electric rates? Look for the latest

electric retail prices for your state on the

EIA Electric Power Monthly Web site

(http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electric-

ity/epm/table5_6_b.html) and find out.

As of December 2006, New York, Mas-

sachusetts, Connecticut, and Hawaii

have sufficient residential electric pricing

for HPDADG. Remember that most

urban centers have higher rates than the

state average.

Cases and considerationsWhile this study attempts to show the

feasibility of the HPDADG framework in

residential facilities, many residential

projects in the southwest United States

currently sell power back to the grid via

substantial solar PV installation and ultra-

efficient homes (zero air conditioning,

few appliances or amenities). One exam-

ple of this is the NREL/Habitat for

Humanity net-zero-energy demonstra-

tion home in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

This 1,280 sq. ft., three-bedroom home

has a super-insulated envelope (up to

R-60), rooftop solar heating, and 4 kW of

PV modules. Without a cooling system

this home produced 24% more energy

than it consumed.

IEEE Spectrum reported how energy

mangers at the U.S. Department of

Defense now have a national program

for the Army’s net-zero-energy bases.

Along with other branches of the mili-

tary, the army is implementing the con-

cepts of HPDADG, “With some bases

supplying their own electricity and vast

empty stretches of military land being

used to produce power, the U.S. mili-

tary, at least at home, is at the forefront

of an energy revolution.”

As a further testament to the momen-

tum of this concept, in 2007 the Clinton

Global Initiative embarked on The

Energy Positive Initiative and raised

funds for projects that are “committed to

designing and implementing a combina-

tion of sustainable building systems that

are practical, affordable, and readily

available and that produce a significant

surplus of energy for a building’s every-

day operations.” The goal of this project

was to design and build a commercial

facility that produced 20% more energy

than it consumes, with and annual elec-

trical demand of 16 kwh/sm and onsite

generation of 20 kwh/sm. The resulting

design included 1.61 MW of rooftop

solar PV modules (Sanyo 17% efficiency),

several VAWTs integrated with the land-

scaping totaling |30 kW (QR5), and a

host of premium efficiency systems for

air-conditioning like ground source heat

pumps wells, enthalpy wheels, and river

water heat exchange.

Even with all this hype and activity,

HPDADG is far from mainstream. Having

large electric customers with onsite power

is a complex problem that utilities in the

United States have not addressed from a

financial perspective. Given the econo-

mies of scale and inherent technical infra-

structure issues, utilities are the best

positioned to be a part of the solution,

whether they encourage mass produced

interconnection devices or provide subsi-

dies for distributed generation to home-

owners and developers. A technical

consideration that is not addressed in this

article is the islanding (independent)

Fig. 6 HPDADG technical and economic feasibility summary.

HPDADG POTENTIALS–GENERAL COMPARISONS

Residential-Feasibility Commercial-Feasibility

Technical Economic Technical Economic

Class 1–

Medium and

Low Rise, Typ.

2,000–50,000

sq ft

Excellent–Low

usage and high

production

potentials

for all RETs.

Medium–expensive for smaller

systems, but high and rising rates are

improving payback–some regions are

currently cost effective with paybacks

<10 years. Limited ability of funding

options is a large obstacle for single

family homes.

Medium–relatively high usage

and medium production can

be accomplished typically with

20–30% ECMs, also depends

on building activity.

Good–combination of

incentives and access

to funding options. Low

bulk electric rates

increases the payback

period.

Class 2–High

Rise, Typ.

50,000–

500,000+ sq ft

Good–low usage

and high production

potentials for all

RETs, base loads

reduce benefit.

Medium–economy of scale,

combination of incentives and

access to funding options, relatively

low rates; historically small capital

budgets.

Poor–high usage and relatively

medium production can be

accomplished typically with 50-

67% ECMs.

Excellent–economy of

scale, combination of

incentives and access

to funding options, bulk

and market rates.

Municipal Facilities–Feasibility Transport Infrastructure–Feasibility

Technical Economic Technical Economic

Class 3–

Municipal

Facilities Starting

at 100,000SF;

Transportation

Infrastructure

Good–medium

usage and

high production

potentials for

all RETs.

Medium–economy of scale, combination

of regulations and access to funding

options; historically large capital

budgets. Extremely low government

electric rates increases the payback

period.

Excellent–low usage and

very high production

potentials for wind and

solar.

Good–economy of scale,

combination of incentives

and access to funding

options. Extremely low

government electric rates

increases the payback

period.

FacilityDescription and

Class

Facility

Description and

Class


operation for facilities with onsite genera-

tion. In order to reliably disconnect from

the utility, facilities will need some sort of

energy storage system, similar to a unin-

terruptible power supply. Currently these

technologies are expensive in general,

especially the small scale systems for

homes and small to medium sized build-

ings. One possibility for the future is com-

munity energy storage systems that take

advantage of economies of scale and

have shared ownership by the customers

and utility.

Figure 6 provides a summary of all

scenarios analyzed in the full white

paper that could not be listed due to

space limitations and propriety. Areas of

further interest that others are encour-

aged to explore and are directly related

to this work are:

integration of renewables with the •various types of structures in the built

environment

innovation in turbine and PV •module design, output, and efficiency

design and economics of electri- •cal T&D networks with HPDADG versus

conventional one-way utilities

potential applications of HPDADG •for net-zero energy regions, ultimately

leading to truly sustainable cities.

Conclusion The markets of renewable energy, dis-

tributed generation, manufactured sys-

tems, design and construction engineering,

and sustainable development are fast

approaching a crossroads, creating an

environment to make high-performance

development as distributed generation

economically and technically feasible.

Difficulties in siting of energy infrastruc-

ture in the United States and abroad fur-

ther encourage the use of distributed and

on-site generation. The economies of

scale that are typically required when

considering sustainable practices can be

compared to designing large campuses

of multiple building types. According

to Arthur C. Nelson of the Brookings

Institution, “by 2030 about half of all facil-

ities in the USA will have been built after

2000, this generation has a vital opportu-

nity to reshape future development.”

Developers and urban planners may

finally have a key ingredient to creat-

ing sustainable cities: high-performance

development as distributed generation.

The design and construction of high-

performance development as distrib-

uted generation requires that complex

structures and systems are integrated

with the development to enable it to

produce more electrical energy than it

consumes. Energy usage can be mini-

mized by using passive, low energy,

and efficient building systems. Onsite

power production can be maximized by

the balance of distributed renewable

and cogeneration energy resources cor-

responding to its geographic location.

Existing strategies in sustainable devel-

opment and green building guidelines

are effective energy conservation mea-

sures. Existing technologies consisting

of building integrated photovoltaic

arrays, roof mounted vertical axis wind

turbines, and combined heat and power

systems can be integrated with a build-

ing automation system to provide a sus-

tainable source of energy. Creating

developments that have a long term

net-benefit of electrical energy will be a

powerful tool in providing a plentiful

and consistent supply of electricity for

future generations.

Read more about it • S. Mertens, “The energy yield of

roof mounted wind turbines,” J. Wind Eng., vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 507–518, June

2003.

• D. Prasad and M. Snow, Design-ing with Solar Power: A Source Book for BIPV. Australia: Earthscan and the Im-

ages Publishing Group, 2005.

• P. Lippe, Ed., The Costs and Ben-efits of High Performance Buildings: Les-sons Learned, 3rd ed. New York: Earth

Day New York, 2005.

• 2005 Residential energy consump-

tion survey: Household energy con-

sumption and expenditures tables. U.S.

DoE Energy Information Administration

[Online]. Available: <http://www.eia.

doe.gov/emeu/recs/recs2005/c&e/de-

tailed_tables2005c&e.html>

• K. Yeang, Reinventing the Sky-scraper. London, U.K.: Wiley-Academy,

2002.

• A. C. Nelson. (2004). Toward

a new metropolis: The opportunity to

rebuild America. The Brookings Institu-

tion Metropolitan Policy Program [On-

line]. Available: www.Brookings.edu/

metro/pubs/20041213_rebuildamerica.

htm

• S. Strong. (2005, Dec. 13). Build-

ing integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).

Whole building design guide [Online].

Available: http://www.wbdg.org/de-

sign/BiPV.php

• ONSITE SYCOM Energy Corpo-

ration, “Review of combined heat and

power technologies,” California Energy

Comm., grant no. 98R020974 with the

US Dept. Energy, Office of EERE, Oct.

1999.

• L. Rowland. (2000, Aug. 7).

Building automation system communi-

cation. Energy and Power Management

[Online]. Available: http://www.energ-

yandpowermanagement.com/CDA/Ar-

ticles/Fundamental_Series/

• (2008, Aug. 1). Net-zero energy

home generating an energy surplus.

US DoE/EERE/NREL feature story [On-

line]. Available: http://www.nrel.gov/

features/20080801_habitat.html

• S. Upson. A less well-oiled war

machine. IEEE Spectr. [Online]. Available:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/oct08/6827

• Online public profile of CGI Mem-

ber Committments for Clinton Global Cli-

mate Initiative. (2007). The energy posi-

tive initiative [Online]. Available: http://

commitments.clintonglobalinitiative.org/

projects.htm? mode=view&rid=209687

• N. Keith and A. Padalka. (2005,

Mar.). Bigger Projects Have More Sus-tainable Feature Options. McGraw Hill

Construction [Online]. Available: http://

newyork.construction.com/features/

archive/0503_cover1.asp

About the authorMatthew B. Nissen, P.E. (matt.nissen@

ieee.org) received his B.S.E.E. from Poly-

technic University of Brooklyn in 2003

and has since been studying sustainable

development through various New York

City-based professional organizations.

While at Cosentini Associates Consulting

Engineers he worked on various sustain-

able commercial design projects in major

cities around the world. He is currently

with Sigma Energy Solutions, a Division

of Alstom, working on industrial/power

plants and infrastructure projects. He

served various roles as an officer in the

IEEE New York Section, is the founder of

the IEEE-NY Online Community <http://

www.ieeecommunities.org/ieee.ny>,

and is the vice chair of the PES Long

Island Chapter.

Developers and urban

planners may finally have

a key ingredient to creating

sustainable cities: high-

performance development as

distributed generation.

4. High Performance Development as Distributed Generation

Documents