Energy and building systems analysis

the case of Richardson Petroleum Engineering (RPE) Building

This building with 113,700 ft2 was originally constructed in 1990 and includes ten floors and a basement. It mainly functions as an educational and office building for the Department of Petroleum Engineering on the campus of Texas A&M University. This research with a focus on the RPE Building was in pursuit of two goals/parts:

1- To find out and explore the possible clashes between the building envelope components (i.e. walls, fenestration, and floors), structural system components, and building system components (i.e. mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems components) as if the building was to built from scratch.

2- To propose Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs) by using OpenStudio/EnergyPlus , WINAM software, and actual measured data for simulating and calibrating the building’s energy performance.

Revit/Nawsiworks were used to model and analyze the building components in the second part of this research. The research findings showed the possibility of energy savings from 4% to 25% by applying a variety of EEMs focused on both the building envelope components and the building’s mechanical system components.