Success Story: Dagher Engineering: A Leader in Sustainable Design

Dagher Engineering lobby
The Lobby at Dagher Engineering

Dagher Engineering, founded in 2000, is a mechanical and electrical engineering consulting firm. A leader in sustainable design, Dagher Engineering actively promotes programs and designs intended to reduce and reuse energy and water resources. They believe that properly designed, installed, and maintained energy- and water-efficient building systems can both save money and create comfortable working environments.

Dagher Engineering offices are located at 29 Broadway in downtown Manhattan, New York City. Their office space occupies floors 21 and 22 of this 30-story office building. When the firm relocated to the space, they designed and built the new space using the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) guidelines for interior spaces. As a first step, Dagher Engineering used the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool to benchmark the new office. Benchmarking with Portfolio Manager highlighted areas where energy-efficient upgrades could have high impact and based on the results, Dagher planned and implemented their office build-out. The results of their upgrades are impressive: Dagher Engineering offices have an ENERGY STAR rating of 89 and are LEED Gold certified!

Upgrades to the workspace fell into three categories: Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Materials and Indoor Air Quality. The goal was to “go green” without affecting the bottom line.

Energy-efficient upgrades:

  • ENERGY STAR-rated equipment. Dagher used the ENERGY STAR website to choose equipment and approximately 93% of their equipment is ENERGY STAR labeled.
  • Radiant cooling panels. Instead of a traditional cooling system, Dagher used radiant cooling panels to cool their space. This choice saves energy by removing the need for a fan. Radiant cooling panels have been used in Europe for some time, but this one of the first radiant cooling systems in the New York area for a building with operable windows.
  • Variable air volume discharge rates. Variable air volume technology provides several advantages: it reduces energy use by varying fan speeds and provides superior temperature control. Although this technology is normally expensive to install, Dagher was able to devise a single-zone system that uses varying fan speeds without the added expense of installation.

Sustainable choices:

Dagher chose flooring for the office made from renewable materials (bamboo and linoleum) and used recycled denim insulation. If renewable and/or recycled materials were not available, low or zero Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)-emitting materials were applied.

Indoor Air Quality upgrades:

  • Demand-controlled ventilation rates. Dagher created a system that introduces variable rates of ventilation air based on the number of people in the office, so that ventilation air decreases when there are fewer people in the office. This technology saves in operating costs by minimizing the amount of ventilation air tempered and dehumidified.
  • Ultraviolet (UV) lights. UV lights irradiate the wet surfaces of the air handling units to eliminate mold and mildew in the ventilation system.
  • High-efficiency filtration. Dagher’s high-efficiency filtration system minimizes the amount of particulate pollutants, which are created by Manhattan’s urban environment, present in their office air.
Dagher Engineering offices
Dagher Offices at 29 Broadway

The firm also partnered with owners and co-tenants to benchmark the entire 30-story office building in Portfolio Manager. Because the building was built in 1931, this presented a challenge; it can be difficult retrofit older buildings with modern energy and water efficiencies. With statistics from Portfolio Manager and guidance from Dagher Engineering, the building owners upgraded the chillers and tenants upgraded their individual mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. With this dedication, Dagher’s building earned the ENERGY STAR label in 2009.

In addition to using Portfolio Manager for their own office space and building, Dagher Engineering uses it to benchmark both commissioning and retro-commissioning client projects. In New York City, the ability to use Portfolio Manager for retro-commissioning is especially important because many of the buildings are older. Clients are encouraged to continue use of Portfolio Manager as a tool to verify performance after construction is completed.

During the process of building their office space and benchmarking at 29 Broadway, employees at Dagher Engineering became aware that construction professionals had difficulty implementing sustainable designs. To help educate contractors, they developed materials and presentations to teach contractors green building techniques. For more about Dagher Engineering, visit their website at www.dagherengineering.com Exit ENERGY STAR.