On our April 14th webinar, three speakers wrapped up the 2020/2021 season using the compelling case of freezing conditions earlier this year in Texas and surrounding states. Dr. Payman Dehghanian, Smita Chandra Thomas and Andy Ludwig made the compelling argument that energy efficiency and building resilience are inextricably interwoven with environmental conditions – both weather and climate – and that we must understand, respect and respond to these drivers with good design employed early and intelligently.

Engineers and designers operate in the real world. Dr. Payman Dehghanian pointed out that the operation of the electric power grid is driven by environmental factors at different levels:

Power generation 

• renewable sources depend on weather conditions (sun, wind, rain to fill reservoirs for hydro-electric plants) 
• fossil fuel plants rely on uninterrupted delivery of fuels – coal, natural gas, etc.

Transmission and distribution infrastructure are vulnerable

• exposed to environmental threats – physical damage that disrupts transmission for hours, days or weeks
• directly tied to temperature - extreme heat and cold reduce capacity

Demand: electricity consumption (loads) rise with extreme temperature and other weather-related conditions

Worldwide, Climate Change has resulted in increased frequency and intensity of extreme wind, precipitation, and temperature events; the resiliency of power grids needs rise in response. This entails:

• Accurate detection of potentially disruptive events
• Ready-made plans for efficient mitigation and rapid recovery from electricity outages

The 2021 cold extreme in Texas had dangerous and deadly impacts:

• > 4.5 million homes and businesses lost power
• > 70 deaths
• Water and gas outages, power quality/safety issues, and price spikes
• State of emergency declared

Why did this happen? 

• Generation-demand imbalance. The power system could only meet 44 GW out of 75 GW of projected peak demand in the morning of Feb 15
• The power generation plants in the area were not prepared for extreme cold weather conditions – gas pipelines froze; plants could not generate power without fuel
• Power-sharing within Texas between neighboring jurisdictions was not possible due to extreme conditions for all entities – the event was so widespread

Guidelines for system-wide resilience:

• Structural resilience: grid infrastructure investment, temperature-informed expansion planning, optimization of gas, water, and electricity networks, and stronger interconnections
• Operational resilience: energy storage and flexible resources, sectionalizing circuits, network flexibility and maneuverability, microgrid operation and control, automatic load control and demand response

Smita Chandra Thomas introduced us to the idea that building owners and residents can proactively protect themselves by designing or retrofitting for resilience in buildings. What are the working definitions?

• Resilience in buildings is the ability to continue functioning or to recover quickly when faced with some type of external failure
• The primary principles of resilience are to identify & manage the risk
  • Risk can be managed at several levels: physical, infrastructural, environmental, economic-social, political/regulatory, and organizational
  • Typical risks for buildings: floods, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and wind

Risk mitigation should happen both in design and in retrofit. 

• Independent back-up power generators with reliable disconnect systems and batteries or safely-stored fuel to span anticipated intervals of municipal power disruption. 
• Better envelope and efficient mechanical systems to help stored back-up power last longer. 
• Protect distribution systems: insulate piping and provide trickle flows, prevent sewage backflow, ensure multiple entry points for emergency access, and provide alternate communication capability.
• Identify and modify site-specific risks – trees, swales, elevations (example: Historic San Francisco building being lifted 10 ft due to sea level rise)
• Strengthen roofs, tie down building systems, water heaters, and furniture

These design and retrofit modifications do not have to be onerous, and they are smart: the National Institute of Building Science estimates private-sector mitigation retrofits save $4 for every $1 invested. Also, battery prices have fallen 89% in 10 years and are expected to continue decreasing. The cost to install solar has dropped by more than 70% over the last decade (https://www.seia.org/solar-industry-research-data).

Another good example for resilience at a community scale are microgrids. Multiple buildings can share energy sources, information processing, and a strong infrastructure. In case of a major disruption in the main grid, microgrids have the capability of isolating, or “islanding”, and independently satisfying the energy needs of that community.

Andy Ludwig closed the session with examples of Resilience in Operation, using the George Washington University campus as an example. Andy reminded us that there are two types of resilience:

Organizational: continued operations despite adversity, by having redundancy, for example n+1 boilers; physical and cyber security; accessibility for operators to log into the system remotely; reliability; energy storage and power generators, storm and drinking water management plans.

Societal/structural: mitigating contribution to climate change, by having renewable energy, energy efficiency, and water efficiency management

Of course, financing these interventions is the challenge

• Headwinds
  • Renewable and energy efficiency projects have 10+ years of simple payback period and it’s a challenge to justify the investment when most building owners are looking for a 5-yer simple payback. For instance, batteries can shave peak demand and serve as emergency backup power. However, the upfront investment is very high. Decision makers often do not recognize the benefit. Higher Ed is an exception.
  • Utilities do not offer proper regulations for distributed renewables. The Ross Hall building in GWU has a cogeneration unit that can produce enough electricity to power 2 buildings, but they are not allowed to “island” and use it in case of a power outage. 
• Tailwinds
  • Financing mechanisms: PACE, Energy savings performance contracts, DC Green Bank, Energy service agreements
  • Government mechanisms: DCSEU incentives as carrots, and Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) as sticks

The good news is that energy efficiency projects DO pay for themselves over time, and the time frame will shrink as the cost of power rises and the value of resiliency become more apparent. So best practices for design engineers and building owners:

• Combine short- and long-term payback projects (in order): steam traps, water, lighting, pumps/VFDs, boilers and chillers
• Prepare systems ahead of time to be more resilient before extreme event happens
• In building operation: have one person focused on energy efficiency; one person bringing IT and operations together; and one person in the maintenance team to translate the software output into immediate actions
• Peer pressure and shaming (even though that sounds harsh!) work as motivators for behavior change

CONCLUSION:

Organization and societal resilience require 10+ year horizon planning – but climate drivers will only get worse. We must engage now in regulatory improvements and building level preparations in order to meet the challenge successfully!