What Is Deep Energy Retrofit

A Deep Energy Retrofit (DER) is a major building renovation project in which site energy use intensity (including plug loads) has been reduced by at least 50% from the pre-renovation baseline with a corresponding improvement in indoor environmental quality and comfort. DER requires a whole-building analysis approach along with an integrative design process. In this analysis, the building is considered as a single, integrated system rather than as a collection of standalone systems, such as building envelope, HVAC system, renewable energy system, building operations, etc. The whole-building approach facilitates the identification of synergistic relationships between the component systems.