Small Commercial Buildings Program

Goals of the Program

SBIC’s Small Commercial Buildings program was developed to help architects, engineers, builders, and their clients create energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive small and medium-sized commercial, institutional, and residential buildings. Our publications, resources, and training programs promote the notion of building designers applying energy-efficient strategies (EES) early in the design process by combining passive solar design techniques, such as daylighting and shading, and conventional energy-saving measures, such as insulation and high-efficiency lights. The goal of the program is to educate thousands of architects, engineers, building designers, academics, and students in the United States to apply these approaches as part of the normal design process.

With the inception of the Designing Low-Energy Buildings with Energy-10 program, SBIC for the first time stepped beyond a focus on passive solar design techniques for homes and into the realm of addressing the unique challenges faced in designing climate-responsive, small commercial (internal load dominated) buildings. Since 1996 SBIC has been the only distributor of the Energy-10 software, a powerful design tool that analyzes—and illustrates—the energy and cost savings that can be achieved through more than a dozen sustainable design strategies. The software is designed to help architects and building professionals generate data on a building’s energy efficiency strategies quickly and easily, with minimal upfront information. Hourly energy simulations help the designer quantify, assess, and clearly depict the benefits of daylighting, passive solar heating, natural ventilation, well-insulated envelopes, better windows, lighting systems, mechanical equipment, and more.

SBIC developed a companion Designing Low-Energy Buildings with Energy-10 curriculum to give designers the opportunity to participate in discussions about integrated design practices, as well as receive hands-on Energy-10 instruction. The workshop covers 16 energy efficiency strategies that Energy-10 users need to understand in order to use the software effectively. They are:

• Daylighting

• Glazing

• Shading

• Energy-efficient lighting

• Lighting controls

• Insulation

• Air leakage control

• Thermal mass

• Passive solar heating

• Natural ventilation

• Economizer cycle

• Exhaust air heat recovery

• High-efficiency HVAC

• HVAC

• Evaporative cooling controls

• Solar water heating

Each EES discussion during the workshop gives tips on its proper use.  However, it is important to appreciate that these energy efficiency strategies lose much of their effectiveness when applied in isolation. A sustainable building achieves its superior performance through the integrated interaction of the building envelope, HVAC, and lighting decisions. For instance, in a daylit, passive solar building, low-e glass with high daylight transmittance and a low shading coefficient should be considered in conjunction with daylight dimming controls that modulate electronic ballasts.

By applying EES to their projects and analyzing their impact with Energy-10, participants are able to understand how those buildings will perform early in the design process.

The Designing Low-Energy Buildings with Energy-10 curriculum is intended to serve the following audiences:

• Architects and engineers who design commercial, institutional, and residential buildings

• Contractors who build them

• Suppliers who stock and sell energy efficiency components

• Building owners and managers who pay for and operate them

• Lenders who make financing available

• Public officials who write energy codes governing them

• Utilities who power them

SBIC uses a team of certified Designing Low-Energy Buildings with Energy-10 instructors/trainers. Since 1997 SBIC has successfully developed over a hundred workshops and seminars based on the Designing Low-Energy Buildings with Energy-10 curriculum.

A sample Designing Low-Energy Buildings with Energy-10 two-day workshop agenda and trainers’ syllabus, along with the Energy-10 hands-on workshop exercises are provided here.  Contact Doug Schroeder at DSchroeder@SBICouncil.org to arrange for a workshop in your locality.

SBIC also conducts workshops and seminars nationwide.

Learn more about our workshops or browse through our calendar of upcoming events. 

  SOFTWARE

Energy-10^TM Version 1.8 CD-Rom and User Manual 

Responding to the growing interest in "net zero" buildings Energy-10^TM Version 1.8 models Photovoltaic and Solar Domestic Hot Water technologies . . . Order it today!

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