Warner View Center Retrofits Prove Value of Future-Proofing Office Buildings, with Radical Energy Reduction of 50%
LABBC CASE STUDY
PROPERTY OWNER
Dimitri S. Dimitri
PROPERTY TYPE
Office
SQUARE FEET
64,547
Sponsoring Organizations
40%
Energy Reduction in 2019
90
Energy Star Score
2020 Innovation Awards: Energy Efficiency Project of the Year Nominee
“We wanted a building that would be able to meet the demands of the next 20 years in terms of energy consumption and a modern look to appeal to new tenants. We plan to own the building for the long-haul, so it was important to reduce operating costs immediately and on an on-going basis.”
DIMITRI S. DIMITRI
Owner, Warner View Center
CHALLENGE
When Dimitri S. Dimitri, a former manufacturer in the SFV, purchased Warner View Center in 2017, the office building was 30 percent vacant, had an extensive amount of deferred maintenance, high operating costs, and an outdated appearance. The owner wanted to future-proof the building’s systems to optimize energy performance and appeal to new tenants. While the solutions to address high-energy consumption from outdated systems and controls seemed clear-cut, multiple building-wide complications made it clear that the issues to be addressed were more widespread and nuanced than expected.
STRATEGY
The Owner’s goal was to make his building sustainable while reducing operating expenses. He sought an energy consultant that had demonstrated energy reduction in similar buildings, immediately engaging Green EconoME. They began by benchmarking the building and conducting audits to create a baseline from which to understand the building’s operations and measure savings. The results and Energy Star score of 26 confirmed the need for comprehensive upgrades to the lighting and HVAC systems, to start. Ownership is committed to sustainability and understood this would be a multi-year project.
Although financing was an initial concern for the Owner, Green EconoME helped secure PACE funding and LADWP rebate incentives to alleviate costs and implement a first round of systematic comprehensive upgrades – an elevated Solar PV array, interior and exterior LED lighting retrofits, conversion of pneumatic control to digital controlled thermostats, an evaporative cooling system for the 3 RTU’s, solar window film, and an energy monitoring system among them. Green EconoME expanded the scope of energy savings possibilities by partnering with trusted vendors to procure creative solutions to building-specific issues and ensure long-term results. After the retrofit projects were completed, ownership realized their outdated boiler would save on energy and carbon, lead to a boiler replacement, and they added EV charging stations to meet tenant demand.
IMPACT
At the end of 2019, with 90 percent occupancy, the building was consuming 57 percent less electricity and 66 percent less gas than during 2017. This reduction is projected to save over $100,000 a year in operating expenses, and makes the building eligible for Energy Star Certification, with a score jump from 26 to 90.
The building also experienced a 61.7 percent reduction in GHG Emissions.
Since the 2018 Evaporcool system installation, the building has achieved HVAC load reduction of 91,000 kWh annually, while the boiler replacement has resulted in a 39 percent reduction in therms and 33 percent reduction in gas costs. The Solar PV racking system has an additional benefit by reducing the overall roof’s heat load significantly. A sub-meter installation for irrigation water from potable water has reduced sewer expenses by $4,500 annually. The project received LADWP CPP incentives of $124,713, with an EV charging incentive pending.
Green EconoME worked closely with all stakeholders to ensure the projects’ procurement would positively impact the owner and tenants. They worked with tenants to find lighting solutions that catered to specific needs, and collaborated closely with the Property Manager, whose active involvement in communicating the goals and timeline to tenants was instrumental to the projects’ success. Ownership plans to continue building on the efficiency projects by focusing on plug load and waste reduction.
