Sustainability, Energy Efficiency, and Operational Resilience
Sustainability, energy efficiency, and operational resilience tests whether you can reduce resource use while keeping the court open through outages and hazards. The exam expects energy modeling, envelope and HVAC strategy, and resilience measures.
Core rules and concepts
- Energy: ASHRAE 90.1 baseline, LED lighting, daylighting, occupancy sensors, HVAC zoning, economizers, heat recovery; commissioning and retro-commissioning.
- Sustainability: LEED or Green Globes; water efficiency, recycled content, indoor air quality; do not sacrifice security or durability for points.
- Resilience: backup power, generator, UPS, fuel storage; passive survivability; flood protection; heat island; wildfire smoke filtration at MERV 13 or higher.
- Operations: maintenance, metering, benchmarking with ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager; net-zero planning.
Worked example
A courtroom uses 100% outside air for infection control, which raises energy use. Use demand-controlled ventilation with CO2 sensors and MERV 13 filters; an energy model shows 12% savings versus constant full outside air. Size the generator for egress lighting, security, and IT - not HVAC.
Traps that cost marks
- Chasing LEED points that compromise security.
- Undersizing the generator.
- Ignoring smoke infiltration.
- No commissioning.
- Forgetting that courts need 24/7 security power.