Tetra Tech’s High Performance Buildings Group carefully and skillfully considers ways in which our world can become more sustainable through the appropriate management of our built environment.
We believe the highest benefit our work can provide comes from developing sustainable buildings, facilities, and infrastructure that promote clean energy production, reduce embodied carbon, and mitigate environmental impact on the communities in which we work. Our energy modeling team works closely with our mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering group to develop holistic designs that allow a building to perform at optimum efficiency.
Our clients are taking building design in innovative and complex directions, while aiming for greater heights of energy efficiency and performance, often exceeding strict state energy code requirements. We assist owners and architects to navigate municipal and state rules and requirements to access cash incentives for energy efficient designs, helping accelerate the return on investment of efficient systems.
We test proof-of-concept ideas using energy modeling software such as eQuest and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis for unique structures, challenging envelope or interior conditions, underfloor air systems, or typical residences. Combined with our extensive in-house design expertise, CFD helps clients and architects understand air flow, temperature, and velocity profiles, allowing for better design decisions for each project. We also use Fluent and 6Sigma software for CFD modeling to validate innovative HVAC concepts.
Our team also uses energy modeling software to perform hourly analysis of annualized facility energy use as required to demonstrate improvement over energy code minimum consumption. Tetra Tech has significant experience providing Building Life Cycle Cost Analysis (BLCC5).
Our integrated energy analysis team looks at the synergistic effects of all building energy systems, as well as renewable energy systems, and provides strategic recommendations for building systems design to meet and exceed owner expectations.
Our energy analyses include:
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Natural ventilation
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Daylighting
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Efficient lighting and controls
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Passive solar architecture
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Thermal energy storage
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Ground source heat pumps
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Evaporative cooling
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Heat reclaim and heat recovery
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Under Floor Air Distribution
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Radiant heating and cooling
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Controls and operations
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Efficient motor and drive applications
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Solar hot water
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Photovoltaics
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Fuel cells
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Distributed/dispatchable power
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Microturbines
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Cogeneration
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Wind turbines
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Optimum glazing and insulation
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Shading studies
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Building orientation studies
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International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol certification for buildings
Image courtesy of Arch|Nexus