Category: News

Whether for a new building design, 179d certification or a rebate application, computer energy modeling is a big part of what we do here at Forward Engineers.  ASHRAE recently featured a fantastic article in their most recent issue of ASHRAE Journal (May 2016) entitled ‘Modeled Performance Isn’t Actual Performance.”  The best part of this article is that it describes what an energy model can do and what it cannot do.  An energy model is not designed to estimate real world energy usage but instead to calculate relative savings between design alternatives or to compare a proposed design against a standard benchmark.

A final point made in the article is one we agree with entirely.  Models are only as good as the person doing the modeling.  We have over 10 years of combined experience in modeling many different sizes and types of buildings.  We are also skilled at taking the output of the simulation and putting together a well polished report describing the findings, options and recommendations.  If you have modeling needs or are interested in what modeling can do for your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

If you would like to read the entire article, it is available here.

This month’s newsletter features the Federal 179d Tax Deduction.

This little known deduction is a federal program that allows building owners to immediately depreciate a portion of their expenses (up to $1.80/square foot) for new or upgraded commercial buildings.

The program is available for properties placed in service between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2016. There is no pre-inspection requirement so projects that are already completed can still be certified.

For example, an owner builds a new 40,000 square foot building with variable speed drive HVAC units and LED lighting. Forward Engineers certifies that this building meets the required energy savings and calculates that the building owner is eligible for a deduction of $72,000. A quick walk through of the building verifies that the claimed equipment is in place, all the required paperwork is completed and sent to the owner for use in completing taxes.

We offer this certification at a fraction of the deduction amount and by completing some preliminary calculations you can know exactly what the deduction is before committing to the certification process.

If you are interested in this service, please contact us for more information.

Who is Forward Engineers? A great company is made up of great people. Today I want to introduce another of our founding partners:

Bill Reynolds is a licensed Professional Engineer and an engineering graduate of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR. He has over 20 years of experience in commercial and industrial design including designs for retail, schools, offices, malls, churches, medical clinics, shopping centers, military installations and more. These buildings were designed around a wide variety of HVAC equipment including chillers, water source heat pumps, geothermal systems, RTUs, split systems and others. As a LEED AP, Bill commissioned the first LEED laboratory research facility that is currently part of the University of Arkansas campus. He currently has a patent pending for a heat recovery ventilator for use in the agricultural industry.

Please join his network on LinkedIn.