The Weidt Group provides sustainable design consulting services to architects, engineers, and owners in the process of building design. The following services are available, with each unique project utilizing some or all of the full scope, as determined through a formal proposal process. Services follow this general approach:
- We facilitate sustainable design and daylighting design charrettes during the Schematic Design phase, providing guidelines and design parameters, followed by more detailed analyses and involvement in later stages
- Analysis is central to our work; we quantify performance through simulation models, provide tools and facilitate meetings to interpret results for use in decision-making during the design process
- Our analysis provides information and design goals that can then be incorporated into the design. The Architect and Engineer (Design Team) are responsible for the implementation of strategies and engineering of systems and for determining the costs of various strategies
Building Systems Optimization through Energy Modeling
In collaboration with the design team, we develop a wide range of energy conservation strategies for all building systems, including specific parameters and characteristics for modeling.
- Envelope
- Electric lighting
- Mechanical HVAC
- Outside air
- Operations
We provide payback analysis for all building systems and can provide lifecycle cost analysis for mechanical systems. First costs, replacement costs, and maintenance costs are developed by the Design Team.
In the Contract Documents phase, The Weidt Group assists the Design Team in providing satisfactory documentation of the strategies selected for implementation. This includes the following tasks.
- Review of Construction Documents at 90% completion phase focused on energy strategies
- Develop a Construction Document Review report and distribute to the Design Team. Discuss report with design team via conference calls
Daylighting Design Consulting & Analysis
The goal of these services is to maximize the potential for daylight in a building to help achieve reduced energy use and improve the quality of the indoor environment.
- Preliminary Daylighting Design Consulting
- Solar Penetration Studies
- Daylight Factor Calculations
- Illuminance Analysis (Radiance Modeling)
- Luminance Analysis (Radiance Modeling)
Measurement and Verification of Energy and Daylighting Strategies
This service is offered to verify that strategies selected for implementation are installed and equipment is calibrated to achieve the savings projected. This includes the following tasks.
- Prepare a Measurement and Verification Plan based on the building systems selected for implementation
- Visit the construction site to verify installation and operation of strategies after the building is occupied. Provide functional testing of operational strategies (daylighting, occupancy control, CO2 control of outside air, etc.) with short-term monitoring
- Write a Verification Report of findings
- Calibrate the model to the building as built and operated after one year of occupancy. The calibrated model provides the real savings achieved
LEED® Certification Consulting Services
If the Owner desires a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification rating, we will use our past experience and knowledge of the LEED Green Building Rating SystemTM to guide the designers in preparing the submittal with the goal of obtaining the desired certification level. The architects and engineers are responsible for preparing the documentation needed by USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council). The Weidt Group provides the following services for this effort, in addition to those listed above.
- Conduct a one to two-day goal setting and Sustainable Design Charrette
- Provide consultation and resources for LEED credit categories
- Coordinate the LEED submittals to USGBC