Proposed Holdsworth Hall Retrofit and Renovation would reduce energy usage by 63% and carbon dioxide emissions by 82%

The recommendations in this report are the product of a detailed and careful examination and exploration of the building and its operations. Begun as a project in a graduate course taught by Ben Weil, Extension Assistant Professor in Building Energy, the final report was further developed and refined by Weil, and two graduate students in Building Systems, Carl Fiocchi, and Katherine McCusker.

The key findings are: (1) very significant energy savings can be achieved at moderate cost, without affecting the basic architectural design, and (2) the building is a complex system, and no change can be considered in isolation. Single measures may achieve savings, but cannot maximize savings or performance without complementary changes in related systems.

A final package of recommended measures, reducing the energy consumptions of Holdsworth by 63%, will define a new building system with emergent properties that make for a qualitatively different and better building beyond simple energy consumption metrics. Because a substantial number of buildings on campus are similar to Holdsworth Hall, similar packages of energy saving measures deployed broadly could dramatically reduce campus wide energy consumption and costs.

Read the Report:

Download here: Holdsworth Retrofit and Renovation Study