As part of an initial proposal for an energy savings performance contract (EPC), 2RW conducted energy audits at the three buildings of the Library of Congress buildings in Washington, DC: the Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison buildings. The scope of work included identifying, quantifying, and costing energy conservation measures (ECMs) for mechanical and building automation systems.

2RW consulted the American Library Association and the Library of Congress standards for long-term preservation guidelines when selecting energy efficiency options. Some of the primary conservation opportunities 2RW engineers identified include:

• Temperature and ventilation scheduling with optimized start
• Carbon monoxide control for parking garage ventilation
• Air economizer addition
• Variable volume range hood controls
• Restoration and expansion of variable air volume controls
• Ground source heat pumps
• Decentralization from the Capitol Power Plant
• Dedicated heat recovery chiller, including running each system through its designed sequence of operations

Energy savings were analyzed using eQUEST, an hour-by-hour building energy simulation program. 2RW developed energy models which were calibrated to available utility data. The calibrated models served as the baseline against which each conservation measure was quantified.

2RW identified more than $30 million of energy efficiency projects which were project to save more than $3.8 million per year. The conservation measures were project to pay for themselves within the term of the EPC.