Architects and consulting engineers must react to the change in energy economics and shift from the comparison of first cost to that of total costs for the life of the building. The owner can make a proper decision only when he is given all the economic facts.

The Federal Government can provide leadership in energy conservation by requiring all government owned and assisted projects to be budgeted and approved based upon the total costs for the projected life of the building. The energy and economic evaluation concepts contained in section 5 will provide the basis for better design decisions that insure Federal government buildings are energy conserving.

We would be pleased to respond to any questions from the Committee.

Senator MORGAN. Dr. Willenbrock, since you must leave town, we will hear from you now. You are Director of the Institute for Applied Technology, National Bureau of Standards? And accompanied by Dr. Richard Wright, Director of the Center for Building Technology? STATEMENT OF DR. F. KARL WILLENBROCK, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED TECHNOLOGY, NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, ACCOMPANIED BY RICHARD N. WRIGHT, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR BUILDING TECHNOLOGY, NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

Dr. WILLENBROCK. That is correct, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, very much.

We welcome this opportunity to present the comments of the National Bureau of Standards with respect to S. 1392 and S. 2045.

My name is F. Karl Willenbrock, Director of the NBS Institute for Applied Technology. With me this morning is Dr. Richard N. Wright, Director of NBS' Center for Building Technology. NBS has an active interest and program in energy conservation with a particular emphasis on energy conservation in buildings.

INTRODUCTION

Energy used in buildings accounts for one-third of the total energy consumed in the United States. Thus, energy conservation in buildings can have a major effect in reducing the Nation's total energy consumption. Energy conservation is the most effective short-range approach to mitigate the Nation's shortage of energy. Conservation will continue to be an important factor in the long-range. The Federal Government can and should provide leadership for energy conservation in buildings.

NBS, which serves as a technical resource for over 30 Federal agencies concerned with direct and federally assisted programs for building construction, can provide the technical base for an effective energy conservation program for both new and existing buildings.

Both S. 1392 and S. 2045 address energy conservation in Government buildings. S. 1392, "The Energy Conservation Buildings Demonstration Act," would establish a demonstration program in energy conservation by using innovative technology to retrofit existing buildings with energy conservation equipment and systems.

Under this legislation, the Federal Energy Administration (FEA) and NBS would establish procedures for identifying existing Federal, State and municipal buildings as candidates for retrofitting with energy conservation equipment and systems. Using these procedures, the General Services Administration (GSA) would select 40 Federal buildings as candidates for retrofitting based on life-cycle considerations. Also, States could submit grant requests for retrofitting selected State and municipal buildings.

The purpose of S. 2045 is to insure that federally owned buildings and buildings constructed with Federal assistance employ the best energy conservation and management practices. This bill directs GSA in consultation with various Federal agencies including the National

Bureau of Standards, to develop energy conservation guidelines for use in the design and construction of Federal buildings. This bill also directs that each Federal agency shall require the reparation of energy economic and utilization analyses for Federal buildings.

Both these bills are concerned with promoting the efficient use of energy in buildings. Although the objectives of S. 2045 and S. 1392 are commendable, neither of these bills is necessary. The Federal Energy Administration is currently addressing energy conservation retrofit measures in existing Federal buildings. We defer to the Federal Energy Administration and the General Services Administration for discussion of the policy and programmatic implications of these bills. Since both bills require advances in technology, I should like to address the technical problems involved. The problems fall into two categories: (1) The development and implementation of design standards for new buildings and, (2) the development of retrofit procedures for existing buildings. I will describe the technically distinct approaches required for new buildings and for existing buldings.

STANDARDS FOR NEW BUILDINGS

The National Bureau of Standards, with its own resources and with the support from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for many years worked on the development and implementation of energy conservation standards for all types of new buildings. More recently, FEA and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) have also provided us with financial support for this program.

With respect to new buildings, it is important to note that while guidelines provide the general intent and direction for attaining energy conservation, they do not provide a means for measuring the results of or enforcing regulatory requirements. Guidelines suggest a variety of opportunities for energy conservation without specifying any required minimum level of performance.

On the other hand, standards are minimum requirements stated in terms suitable for adoption in building codes. As an example of an energy-conservation standard for new buildings, I cite ASHRAE Standard 90-75, issued by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers in October 1975.

It is the Nation's first, comprehensive energy conservation standard which is applicable to all types of new buildings. With the permission of the chairman, I would like to submit a copy of this for the record." The history of the development of the standard is of interest. ASHRAE 90-75 is based on a research report published by NBS in February 1974, entitled "Design and Evaluation Criteria for Energy Conservation in New Buildings."

In July 1973, the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards, an organization of building regulatory officials from State and local governments, requested the National Bureau of Standards to develop an interim standard for energy conservation in new buildings which could be used by the States as a basis for energyconserving building codes.

• Retained in committee files.

This request arose from the desire of the conference to avoid the adoption by State legislatures of differing code requirements which could fragment the market for building materials and systems and add unnecessary costs to the building construction process.

NBS responded to this request promptly and in 7 months produced this report, a copy of which, with your permission, Mr. Chairman, I should like to submit for the record.3

This report was turned over to ASHRAE in February 1974, with the recommendation that it be processed by ASHRAE and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a national consensus standard. At the same time, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) was asked to add energy-conserving provisions to the National Standard for Mobile Homes, A119.1. NBS staff have participated actively with ASHRAE and NFPA in the development of both of these national standards.

The ASHRAE standard was completed and published last month. Currently, the mobile home requirements are in the form of a tentative interim amendment being considered by the NFPA committee for inclusion in the mobile home standard. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has also included provisions based on the NFPA and the NBS work in its proposed Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standard.

We do not feel that our work on the develoment of energy conservation standards is finished. We are now working on the development of an energy budget approach. An energy budget is the maximum amount of energy required per year to operate a building. It depends on the size, location, and use of the building. A properly developed budget can lead to greater savings of energy, greater freedom for the designers to meet design objectives, and more cost-effective use of materials, systems, and construction procedures.

We also need to develop techniques for predicting the performance of buildings throughout the useful life of the building. With a lifecycle performance prediction capability, we would be in a position to minimize the life-cycle operating costs of a building. Such a minimization could lead to the best possible choice of energy conserving building technology.

The effective implementation of energy conservation standards is not a trivial task. Few building designers or building regulatory (building code) officials have experience with the design and construction of buildings to meet an energy conservation standard.

With the support of ERDA, HUD, and FEA, we are working with the American Society for Testing and Materials, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, the American Institute of Architects, the Council of American Building Officials, the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards, and other representatives of the building community in the development of sound procedures and techniques for the application of the present and future energy conservation standards.

The Federal Government is in a unique position in its construction of new buildings to demonstrate the application of the best available standards and to test and evaluate concepts for improved standards. Advanced concepts for energy conservation in buildings are being explored at the GSA demonstration office building in Manchester, N.H. NBS assisted GSA in the selection of the energy conservation options to be used; designed instrumentation and data collection systems to evaluate the performance of this building and the energy conservation options selected; and is planning with the support of ERDA to evaluate the future potential of the techniques employed. There should be, in each demonstration project, careful evaluation of the results of the experiment. Then those results which are both technically and economically feasible sould be transferred to the building community.

RETROFIT OF EXISTING BUILDINGS

Turning now to the problem of energy conservation in existing buildings, we start with the recognition that an average life-span of a building is about 50 years. The Nation's tremendous inventory of existing buildings is being replaced at the rate of about 2 percent per year.

The technical challenges that face us with existing buildings are different than those encountered in developing standards for new buildings. No single set of procedures or techniques can address the great diversity of characteristics which existing buildings possess. They differ in types of construction, heating, ventiliating equipment, fenestration, air leakage, and in many other aspects. Many of the existing features in these buildings are often expensive to change, while some are easy.

A rational methodology must be available to examine each building as a specific case. Thus, improved technical procedures, methodologies, and measurement techniques are required to permit us to design, develop, and carry out cost-effective retrofit programs.

A thorough understanding of the thermal performance of materials and components, as well as the ability to predict their performance, is essential if we are to carry out effective retrofit programs of existing buildings. NBS has carried out several experiments related to the retrofit of residential buildings.

For example, at its site in Gaithersburg, Md., a 2,054 square foot wood-frame house constructed in the early 1950's has been retrofitted over the past several years. By staging the various retrofit phases, that is, adding insulation in selected places, adding storm doors and windows, studying air leakage, we were able to check out our computer-based calculation procedures. We were able to reduce energy requirements 52 percent and came within 10 percent of our predicted results.

We have also studied the thermal characteristics of a four-bedroom townhouse, first in our environmental chamber and then outside under the prevailing weather conditions in Gaithersburg. Again, we validated our computer-based dynamic load simulation program to within