QC-06-033 - BigHorn Home Improvement Center Energy Performance PDF

The BigHorn Development Project, located in Silverthorne,Colorado, is one of the nation’s first commercial buildingprojects to integrate extensive high-performance designinto a retail space. The BigHorn Home Improvement Center,completed in the spring of 2000, is a 42,366 ft2 (3,936 m2) hardwarestore, warehouse, and lumberyard. The authors werebrought in at the design stage of the project to provide researchlevelguidance to apply an integrated design process andperform a post-occupancy evaluation. An aggressive energydesign goal of 60% energy cost saving was set early in theprocess, which focused the efforts of the design team andprovided a goal for measuring the success of the project. Theextensive use of natural light, combined with energy-efficientelectrical lighting design, provides good illumination andexcellent energy savings. The reduced lighting loads, managementof solar gains, and cool climate allow natural ventilationto meet the cooling loads. A hydronic radiant floor system, gasfiredradiant heaters, and a transpired solar collector deliverheat. An 8.9 kW roof-integrated photovoltaic (PV) systemoffsets a portion of the electricity.

After construction, the authors installed monitoring equipmentto collect energy performance data and analyzed thebuilding’s energy performance for two-and-a-half years. Theauthors also helped program the building controls and providedrecommendations for improving operating efficiency. Thebuilding shows an estimated 53% energy cost saving and a 54%source energy saving. These savings were determined withwhole-building energy simulations that were calibrated withmeasured data. This paper discusses lessons learned related tothe design process, the daylighting performance, the PV system,and the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system.