Ernst & Young PlazaLos Angeles skyscraper achieves star status as the second highest-ranked LEED® Platinum building in the country.

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Built in 1985, Ernst & Young Plaza is a 41-story, 915,000 square foot, granite and glass tower that is situated at the hub of the central business district in downtown Los Angeles. The property was purchased in 2006 by Brookfield Office Properties, an owner and developer of premier office properties that define the skylines of major cities throughout North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Brookfield is firmly committed to the continuous improvement of energy performance and the sustainability profile of its 80-million-square-foot global office portfolio. Currently, Brookfield’s portfolio contains 37 U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications, or 58% of Brookfield’s North American portfolio. 85% of Brookfield’s U.S. properties have achieved ENERGY STAR certification.

Client ObjectivesBrookfield pledges to build all new ground-up developments to a minimum standard of LEED Gold or local equivalent. An integral part of this pledge is an unyielding commitment to programs that lower operating costs, reduce energy consumption, improve occupant comfort, and curtail greenhouse gas emissions. Brookfield’s management team brought a “culture for conservation” mindset to Ernst & Young Plaza; however, they had to get the facilities maintenance team, vendors, and building tenants on board to ensure maximum results would be achieved. “After identifying a pattern of excessive energy consumption, we challenged the Brookfield Office Properties engineering staff and the Siemens team to establish a strategic plan to reduce energy consumption without impacting tenant comfort,” said Kevin Devine Director, Engineering for the Western Region of Brookfield Properties. A comprehensive 10-year plan was established to strategically tackle the major improvements that needed to be made to the building’s operating platform.

Siemens business director Joseph Wurzelbacher, Siemens engineer Andy Jones, and Brookfield Properties chief engineer Luis Hernandez outlined the ways building performance could be optimized by fully utilizing the power of the Siemens APOGEE® Building Automation System (BAS), which was installed in 1998. “The systems were in place,” Hernandez said, “we just needed to make them smarter. There’s a lot of programming that goes into a system to really make it intelligent.”

Siemens SolutionSiemens’ global perspective, system integration expertise, and proven solutions aligned perfectly with Brookfield’s operating philosophy. Siemens worked closely with the facilities management team and began a whole-building assessment that examined how the building operated at all hours and with varying occupancy. Their systemic approach, including conducting ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) Level 1 and 2 energy audits, helped identify and prioritize the systems that needed immediate attention.

Over the past three years, ongoing efforts have generated $1,000,000 in energy cost savings. During the first ongoing commissioning stage, Andy wrote scheduling programs to decrease supply duct static pressure, reset supply air temperature, and reduce Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) runtime hours. The prior building owners wanted a 5:00 a.m. HVAC start-up, regardless of occupancy. Andy suggested adapting the HVAC system’s runtime to the building’s schedule and occupancy. This significantly reduced consumption and generated an immediate payback that could be re-invested

Siemens integration expertise and intelligent devices help Ernst & Young Plaza achieve LEED® Platinum certification.

back into other building improvement projects. In fact, management anticipated a cost savings of $200,000 for this phase but achieved an actual savings of $220,000. These exciting results energized the team as they continued their sharpening and retooling efforts. “With all the pieces in place – the BAS infrastructure, a talented engineering team, and Siemens technical field support – the energy conservation measures could be successfully deployed. The results are achievable,” stated Devine.

In Phase two, the team focused on integrating the Energy Management System (EMS) and BAS. APOGEE’s open communication protocol and interoperability enabled integration with the EMS so that both HVAC and lighting consumption could be reduced. The chiller plant was upgraded with an optimal start program, and operational parameters were changed. Sub-meters were installed throughout the facility and integrated with APOGEE to track energy demand. This allows operators to meter building loads from a whole-building perspective, all the way down to plug loads. Data from these systems is sent to the Siemens Insight® Workstation, where the facilities maintenance team can monitor conditions and make adjustments from a single point of control.

Floor-by-floor, HVAC controllers are being upgraded to high-performing Siemens PXC Modular Direct Digital Controls, which enable quadrant control. Also in the works is a weather station, equipped with Siemens sensors and controllers, that will gather measurements, such as wind direction and speed, outside air temperature, humidity, cloud cover, rain, seismic activity, and outside air carbon monoxide levels from fires in the surrounding area. With Siemens engineering, the weather station will be able to provide true weather readings back to the EMS, enabling

smart applications, such as daylight harvesting, and generate an additional, and almost immediate, reduction in energy costs.

Client Results“People are always asking me, ‘How much did it cost Brookfield to reach LEED Platinum?’ My answer is, ‘Tell me how much you want to save?’ We achieved a 21% percent utility savings over a three-year period, from 2009 to 2011. So I would turn the question around and ask, ‘Have you maximized your operational platform and tracked the metrics on savings to validate moving forward on LEED?’ It’s easy for someone to approve your recommended LEED projects if you can hold your budget flat by offsetting LEED costs with utility savings, which is exactly what we did,” said Dave Foley, General Manager of 725 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles.

The ongoing commissioning, energy optimization, and management efforts that have taken place over the past three years have generated $1,000,000 in energy cost savings. Brookfield management projects a cumulative cost savings of $4.1 million by 2020.

In July 2012, the building was awarded LEED-EBOM Platinum certification. Platinum certification is the highest level achievable in the Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (EB: O&M) rating system. With 90 points, the building is ranked second in the country for points earned and eighth worldwide in the EB: O&M rating system. The building’s ENERGY STAR score increased from 83 in 2010 to 94 in 2012.

Strategic integration of intelligent controls and advanced solutions at Ernst & Young Plaza continues with Siemens.

Siemens Industry, Inc. Infrastructure & Cities Sector Building Technologies Division 1000 Deerfield Parkway Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 Tel: (847) 215-1000 Fax: (847) 215-1093

© 2014 Siemens Industry, Inc. (01/2014, Part #153-SBT-032)

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