Is your building ready for the future? Are you struggling to balance emissions reductions, ESG goals, and the demands of aging equipment? The Retrofit Playbook for Large Buildings offers a clear path forward for building owners and engineers to navigate the complex challenge of future-proofing your building.
Learn about how this innovative knowledge-sharing platform can help you create cost-effective, long-term decarbonization strategies for large buildings.
This guide from The Clean Fight and RMI helps building owners and managers understand how high-temperature heat pumps can decarbonize steam and hot-water space heating systems. It outlines key benefits, technology basics, example products, and strategies for effective retrofit integration. High-temperature heat pumps offer a new, less disruptive path to electrification for buildings with steam or hot water distribution.
Summary:
Waste heat isn’t waste—it’s an untapped resource. Recovering energy that would otherwise be rejected from a building can both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the economics of decarbonization projects. This applies across a range of uses, including space heating, heating ventilation air, and domestic water. To maximize the impact of decarbonization retrofits, it’s essential to consider energy recovery during the planning process. By identifying and thoughtfully integrating heat recovery solutions early on, project teams can reduce energy demand, improve system efficiency, and enhance the overall cost-effectiveness of building upgrades.
Spreadsheet tools available for download on this page have been developed to make energy recovery analysis in retrofit planning easier and increase awareness for energy recovery in initial project planning and data collection. The tools provided are not comprehensive design tools but can generate inputs for energy and financial analyses used in investment decision making.
While these spreadsheet tools may be used for any building type, they were developed with existing, large commercial and multi-family properties in mind. Recommended users include staff within the building owner’s organization (e.g., facility manager, chief engineer, energy manager) or consultants supporting a building owner to develop a strategic decarbonization plan.
Source and Sink Inventory Tool
Purpose: Identify locations where waste energy can be captured (sources) and where the recovered energy can be applied (sinks) for evaluation during the retrofit planning process.
Phase: This tool is best used during the Pre-Planning phase when examining a building’s current conditions.
Inputs: Targeted existing condition information from the building’s systems.
Outputs: Transparent characterization and documentation of energy recovery and renewable heat sources relevant to the building to support energy analysis in following phases.
Download Source & Sinks Inventory ToolEnergy Recovery Mapping Tool
Purpose: Compare building-specific data for source(s) and sink(s) to estimate potential energy recovery. Default assumptions and data are included to streamline the process. The following common use cases are included in the tool:
Phase: This spreadsheet tool is intended to supplement other engineering and financial analysis tools during the Planning phase. Additionally, it is recommended the team review the spreadsheet tool during the Pre-Planning phase and identify data collection needs. This is critical, because if data isn’t already being collected the metering will need to be initiated and data collected over a range of operating conditions (e.g. throughout the winter).
Inputs: Input requirements are dependent on the use case:
Uses cases 1 & 2: Short-interval (e.g., hourly) data for source(s) and sink(s) relevant to the energy recovery use case(s) to be evaluated. The data is typically collected using data trending through the building automation system. Additional metering (e.g., thermal energy “BTU” meters) may need to be installed. Data collected should also be reviewed for accuracy and completeness and normalized for factors such as outside air temperature. If data cannot be collected from the building explore leveraging an energy model for estimates.
Use case 3: Attributes about the building’s occupancy, domestic hot water usage, and wastewater.
Use case 4: Attributes about the building’s air distribution system.
Outputs: Annual load and recoverable heat per use case. Data collection initiated to support future heat mapping.
Download Energy Recovery Mapping ToolCharrette Overview
A charrette is a focused, collaborative convening of diverse stakeholders. In planning a building decarbonization project, charrettes are a powerful tool for establishing a holistic understanding of a building’s existing conditions and needs, aligning stakeholders, developing creative solutions, and accelerating the retrofit design process.
Context
While charrettes can be used within multiple contexts, this resource has been developed to support the review of a preliminary retrofit plan. The preliminary retrofit plan scope is developed based on existing building conditions, high-level energy data and calculations, as well as the team’s expertise and prior project experience. Having a charrette at this point in the process allows for early feedback about the retrofit scope and alignment with project goals. It provides an opportunity for collaborative problem-solving and the development of creative solutions, as multi-disciplinary stakeholders are brought together to iterate on the retrofit. More detailed energy and financial analysis will occur after the charrette and may drive scope change as the team uses results to optimize the retrofit.
Templates Overview
The following templates have been developed to reduce the effort required to include a charrette in retrofit planning and guide project teams through the charrette process. The format of the templates is intentionally basic so your organization(s)’ presentation format and logos can easily be added.
The templates are intended to be used by the design team to gather feedback and develop consensus from project stakeholders on the following topics:
Three templates are available for download and are designed to work together. These include:
Pre-Read Template: Use this template to develop a project-specific pre-read document that can help inform the charrette discussion. This template offers a preset agenda for the charrette and provides space to clearly define project goals, trigger events, and a high-level summary of the retrofit plan. To maximize benefit from the charrette it is important that attendees arrive with a solid understanding of the information provided in the pre-read. Therefore, it is recommended the document remain as concise as possible and is sent to attendees with sufficient time for them to review.
Download the Pre-Read TemplateCharrette Presentation Template: This easily customizable slide deck template provides a framework and content to guide project teams through the charrette. The intended outcomes from the charrette are level setting stakeholders on the project’s status and plans, collecting feedback, and ideation.
Download the Presentation TemplatePost-Charrette Report Template: Use this template to capture outputs from the charrette and distribute to project stakeholders. The report is intended to support the team in coming to consensus on goals, retrofit triggers, and the preliminary retrofit plan. Once finalized, it can be used as a basis for moving into the detailed analysis phase.
Download the Post-Read Template
NYSERDA and Building Energy Exchange, in collaboration with RMI and Ember Strategies, are excited to offer a comprehensive three-part Strategic Decarbonization Planning training series designed to help industry professionals tackle complex retrofit projects with confidence. Tailored for professionals in engineering, real estate, and technology, this training series will equip participants with the tools and knowledge to drive practical, cost-effective low-carbon retrofits in large buildings. Grounded in lessons learned from NYSERDA’s Empire Building Challenge and their innovative retrofit demonstration projects, participants will learn how to:
Live training sessions for all three courses and on-demand, online courses for Course 1 and 2 are coming this fall. SRead more about our high-impact, solutions driven training series below:
This first course of the series will explore Resource Efficient Decarbonization (RED) as a replicable solutions framework used to develop carbon neutrality roadmaps for large buildings in cold climates. Using real-world examples from Empire Building Challenge retrofit projects, participants will learn how to apply the RED framework to create comprehensive, long-term decarbonization plans for their buildings. Additionally, the training will review a range of technical solutions for decarbonizing buildings, highlighting how prioritization of these technologies can optimize retrofits.
The second course will focus on the finance and asset planning components of strategic decarbonization. Participants will learn how to evaluate and align technical solutions with economic realities and long-term asset strategies to inform decision-making. This course will also provide guidance on crafting compelling business case narratives that build stakeholder support and unlock investment for retrofits. By the end of the training, participants will be equipped to develop persuasive business cases that advance building decarbonization projects.
The third course of the series will be a highly interactive session offering a hands-on introduction to building decarbonization planning – delivered in a dynamic, game-based format. The session begins with a brief review of key concepts from the first two courses, then, participants will break into small groups to create a mock decarbonization plan for a real-world building scenario. Teams will evaluate strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while weighing factors such as costs, trigger events, and other site- specific considerations. Come prepared to collaborate, apply your skills, and dive into the decision- making process behind effective building decarbonization.
A global survey of 14 high-rise multifamily retrofit profiles that achieved deep energy reductions.
As the world grapples with the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the built environment has become a critical focus area to deliver progress. Buildings are significant contributors to global carbon emissions, and transitioning to more sustainable, low-carbon operations is essential for meeting climate goals. Planning for that transition now, through a thoughtful and rational approach, is key to achieving success over time.
Design charrettes are an important tool project teams can use to support their decarbonization planning work. These collaborative design review workshops bring together diverse stakeholders to develop and refine strategies for reducing carbon emissions from buildings over time.
A design charrette is an intensive, multi-disciplinary workshop aimed at finding and refining solutions to complex problems. The term originated in 19th century Paris and refers to the practice of design students working intensely on their projects until the last minute, when a cart or “charrette” would be wheeled around to collect their final designs. The term has evolved to describe collaborative sessions that bring together developers, designers, domain experts, community members, and an array of other stakeholders to reach mutually beneficial outcomes. In the context of building decarbonization, design charrettes facilitate the rapid development of actionable (and at times substantially more innovative) strategies to reduce emissions from buildings, with alignment among multiple interested parties.
Charrettes are conducted just after a decarbonization concept plan is created and initial decarbonization measures are framed. A successful charrette requires being prepared to discuss the existing conditions of the building in detail, various decarbonization measures and approaches considered, and an understanding of the social and market conditions influencing the building owner’s decision making. The charrette process includes:
Design charrettes are a powerful tool for addressing complex decarbonization challenges, especially in the planning and early implementation phase. With collaboration, creativity, and iteration, charrettes enable the development of effective and sustainable strategies to reduce carbon emissions from buildings.
This website is brought to you in partnership by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, RMI, Building Energy Exchange, and Urban Land Institute.
