Page 104 - Designing for Zero Carbon-Volume 2_Case Studies of All-Electric Multifamily Residential Buildings

CASE STUDY NO. 4 THE PALO ALTO APARTMENTS (Oppsoite Page) Interiors of
Townhome Unit 2.
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Designing for Zero Carbon: Volume 2
Post-Occupancy: Observations and Conclusions
As observed with previous residential projects in these case study books, there should be a spe- cific “commissioning” phase similar to non-residential projects, where the various systems are monitored for a specified period after occupancy to ensure their optimal performance. This has proven to be particularly true for the solar PV systems, where performance is sometimes lower than design expectations. This under-performance may be due to component failure, as in the case of the inverters for this project, or simple maintenance issues. Most of these problems can be avoided by instituting a commissioning phase at the end of construction and collecting data to verify consistently-good performance for a period of time.
Another “lesson learned” for any multifamily residential project serving the rental market is that it is always beneficial for minimizing energy use to have tenants be responsible for their own energy bills. This encourages efficient use of energy and avoids wastefulness. Submetering and data collection, with reporting to individual tenants, is also useful in developing a group con- sciousness of the energy use and carbon footprint of the project as a whole.
Embodied carbon analysis normally should be done to reveal any alternative material or prod- uct choices that may be noteworthy for lower carbon emissions to produce. This project was designed in 2018, just as analytical tools for embodied carbon analysis were becoming more available. Given that material choices were highly restrained because of site and planning con- straints, it seems unlikely that the project would have been designed differently. An embodied carbon analysis would likely have confirmed this.