Outline
MICROSOFT PROJECT (Task 1) OUTLINE
Evan Mills (Latest Update: 23-Mar-2015)
GREEN, CLEAN, & MEAN:
Pushing the Energy Envelope in Technology Industry Corporate Space
Voice / audience / level – Our client and audience is based in corporate real-estate/finance, with tech depth in facilities/planning. The report should help facilitate communication on this topic between them and the PEs within the organization. Writing should be solid, but not tutorial, long-winded, or overly technical (avoid the voice or detail of a journal article).
Goals: In a compelling and succinct fashion, define state-of-the-art in energy and indoor environmental performance strategies applicable to corporate space in the Technology industry, illustrated with real-world case studies from leading technology companies.
Deliverable: Publicly-available report from LBNL.
Main pillars of report
Key Strategies: Identify opportunities, discussion, matrix of attributes
Individual technologies
Integrated systems / controls
Diagnostics and QA for guaranteed performance
Think also at “urban systems” level, because context is a 500+-acre site masterplan
Flagship projects (case studies of existing projects within leading information technology companies)
Synthesis & recommendations
Key Strategies
This section of the report will be built from a set of topical profiles focusing on key technologies, strategies, and processes applicable to corporate space in the Technology sector (important not to drift). The level of detail is 1000 words per sub-bulleted topic, excl. figs & refs. These will probably end up laid-out as four-page spreads in the final report.
Scope
Structure
Cover the spectrum from low-hanging actionable strategies to bleeding-edge, emerging technologies and practices.
Here & now, “affordable” … preferably not burning bridges for future upgrades. MS current decision rules are ~4y payback for smaller measures; 15y for more substantial infrastructure items.
Best in class
Bleeding edge, coming down the pike (emerging technology)
Climate/geography focus: Emphasis should be loosely on strategies relevant for Western US, Coastal settings. However, other contexts should be referenced secondarily. MSFT has operations in many countries, with particularly significant campuses in Northern Europe.
Co-benefits & Community-scale considerations
Writing leads indicated below.
Specific Technologies
HVAC & service hot water supply (Haves)
Plugs & PCs - focus on ones we know are significant for Redmond - MSFT currently estimates 600W/workstation (Schwartz)
Integrated Systems (incl. controls)
Within buildings
Diagnostics: metering, sensors, analytics, fault detection, EIS - including communication back to occupants and operators (Granderson)
Integrated Building Envelope, Daylighting & Lighting: opaque/translucent planes & daylight harvesting; emerging LED applications for task lighting, wayfinding, - incl controls... (Selkowitz - Schwartz available on electric side if needed)
HVAC controls, energy+demand, strategies, sequences (Haves)
Benchmarking: informing design intent, metrics, timescales, tracking (Mills)
Commissioning (Mills*)
Indoor Environmental Quality (Chan, with Fisk)
Multi-building and Urban scales (consider that Redmond = 500 acres & __ Msf at buildout)
District-level energy services (Robinson)
Waste heat recovery (currently 11 central plants @ Redmond) - include data centers/server rooms as potential sources (Robinson)
Demand Response & Electric Vehicles, including transactive energy opportunities (Piette)
Renewables: Stress economic trends. Focus on PV at building and "campus" level. Perhaps something on biofuel generators. Stress emerging technologies more so than in the other profiles. (incl. PV/Window integration). (Robinson)
Summary Matrix
This is a very compact roll-up summary of key points with rows for each key technology or practice called out in the each Key Strategies writeup. You will want to put in a row for each major subtopic, e.g. Lighting might have ones for area lighting, task lighting, lighting controls… We’d expect 6 or less rows for each Key Strategy area. This will lay out as a two-page spread in the final report.
Attributes: strength to be indicated with “Harvey Ball icons
Level of market readiness
Energy savings potential in a whole-building context (perhaps a couple of climate differentiators)
Cost / ROI
Water efficiency
Acoustics
Need for on-site skill/training
Institutionalization needs
[See detailed template below]
Flagship projects
This section will be built from a set of real-world case studies. Level of detail: 1000 words per case study, excl. figs & refs. The profiles should concisely illustrate the state of the art in implementing high-performance office buildings among leading information technology companies. While these companies also own and operate data centers and manufacturing facilities, the focus here is strictly on corporate spaces; new construction/gut rehab. If parties are interviewed at the subject company, it should be explained that the report will be in the public domain and that Microsoft is sponsoring the research.
These will probably lay out as two-page spreads in the final report.
Scope
Some case studies can focus on individual buildings, but if there is a good story at campus/corporate scale, that may work as well. Check with Evan/Jessica before selecting larger scale.
Emphasis on corporate/office space (no data-centers or other specialized facilities or areas, e.g., auditoriums, cafeterias, labs), although these can be mentioned secondarily if there is a significant point to make in relation to associated corporate space.
Lead with big-picture context: Broad CSR statements, organizational goals
Techs & strategies chosen
Impacts/outcomes
Bing map to be populated with place-markers for each case-study project
Google sheet to be populated with key facts
Candidate case study companies: Alternates can be proposed if you find these are lacking or there are others that merit addition...
Adobe - (Mathew)
Apple - (Diamond)
Ebay - (Mills)
Facebook (Mathew)
Genentech - (Selkowitz)
Google - (Diamond)
Infosys – 2nd Hyderabad campus (Haves)
MSFT - (Smith)
[See detailed template below]
Framework for Key Strategies
Length: 1000 words, maximum, excluding any references and illustrations.
Include strong visuals.
Minimize academic background; move quickly to characterizing practical applications.
Organization: Stick closely to the template headings, below, to keep the information consistently structured. Enter all prose in shared Google Doc provided (no external Word documents, please) and fill in accompanying shared Google Sheet with key facts.
1. Applications
Best practice [weight emphasis to this end of the spectrum]
“Quick payback” present-day technology
Lifecycle-cost-effective
Bleeding Edge (emerging technologies and practices)
Campus-scale considerations
Minimizing obstacles to future implementation of enhancements
2. Economics
ROI
Interactions, e.g. right-sizing, maintenance labor …)
3. Other considerations
Co-benefits (safety, resilience, IEQ, water efficiency, acoustics, maintenance)
Other essential points
4. Institutional requirements & capacity
Special skills, training
O&M considerations
5. Sources for further information re:practical applications
Attach all source documents and graphics to the Google site below your writeups.
6. Roll-up summary table (Google Doc) - 1 row for each project - score following on scale of 1-4.
Framework for corporate Flagship Projects
Organization: Stick closely to the template (headings not to be included in actual write-up), below, to keep the information consistently structured. Enter all prose in shared Google Doc provided (no external Word documents, please) and fill in accompanying shared Google Sheet with key facts for the case study. Focus on office space types, but include notable associated efforts for special spaces (labs, food service, auditoriums, server rooms, etc.) -- 1000 words, excluding figs and references.
1. Factbox
Company name: _____
Global number of employees: ____
Locations globally: ____
Square feet of occupied space: ______
LEED-certified Buildings: ____
2. High-level corporate goals
Carbon neutral, net-zero, etc. Clarify target geography (e.g., global vs national operations).
3. Economic decision criterion for sustainability investments
Hurdle rate, max payback, min LCC
4. Breadth and depth of the company’s envelope-pushing activity (e.g., one or two “trophy” buildings vs. enterprise-wide efforts)
5. Highlight one facility, or closely linked set of buildings
Geography: 50% of these should be relevant to Puget Sound area, 20% Silicon Valley, 30% international (open-ended). Before writing, check with Evan and Jessica if you have a highlight not applicable to the Puget Sound area.
Project Name:_______
Address: ________
Number of buildings: _____
Floor area: ________
Occupants: ________
Site: _____ acres
Walkscore: ___
add exact place-marker to shared Bing Map
Strong photo(s)/illustrations with descriptive captions - provide .jpg or .png files as well
Energy-related “vision statement” for project (if any)
Strategies employed (widgets, systems, operations, institutional innovation)
Address any items covered by the “Key Strategies” list from prior section
Note linkages at Campus/Urban/Grid scale (central plants, heat recovery, PV sharing, EVs, DR, etc.)
Certifications earned End-use energy/carbon impacts
EUIs (pre/post if applicable; by fuel if possible - we may benchmark later)
On-site renewables: type and contribution
Post-occupancy evaluation (including indoor environment)
Community-scale impacts/interactions (energy, water, environment, employment, etc.)
Other outcomes of note (e.g., indoor environmental quality)
Notable gaps
6. Documentation
Attach all referenced source documents and graphics to the Google site below your writeups, and put in Dropbox under Flagship Projects folder
(Incorporate LEED scorecard as image if available)
7. Roll-up summary table (Google Doc) - 1 column for each project.