Energy & Climate

Energy audits and low-carbon planning services help building owners understand current energy performance and develop strategies for carbon reduction. RDH provides ASHRAE Level I, II, and III energy audits, decarbonization roadmaps, and retrofit planning aligned with both technical and financial goals. Our work supports compliance with building performance standards across North America, including Seattle’s Building Emissions Performance Standard (BEPS), Vancouver’s Climate Emergency targets, and comparable municipal and provincial frameworks.

• Energy audits provide ASHRAE Level I through III evaluations of operational energy use and system performance.
• Building performance standard compliance consulting supports compliance with city- and province-wide benchmarking and carbon performance regulations.
• Zero Over Time planning helps owners set phased carbon targets and define implementation milestones.
• Decarbonization planning outlines strategic interventions to reduce operational carbon and align with policy goals.
• Deep retrofit planning explores enclosure, HVAC, and controls upgrades to improve energy performance.
• Deep retrofit implementation supports phasing, procurement, and quality assurance to bring deep retrofit projects to completion.

Sustainability certification services guide project teams through certification programs with tailored modeling, credit documentation, and strategy support. RDH works across LEED, WELL, CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Building program, the Toronto Green Standard, and other regional frameworks, helping teams align documentation and performance targets with certification requirements.

• LEED certification services include energy modeling, credit tracking, and submission documentation.
• WELL certification services align wellness, performance, and comfort goals through documentation and analysis.
• Zero Carbon Building certification supports both operational and embodied carbon metrics for certification under CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Building program and related frameworks.

Resilience and adaptation services help design teams and building owners evaluate and address climate-related risks, from overheating and extreme weather to wildfire exposure and long-term climate shifts. RDH translates climate projection data and hazard exposure into project-specific design criteria, enclosure detailing recommendations, and adaptation strategies grounded in both future climate data and practical risk mitigation.

• Climate risk and resiliency consulting integrates hazard exposure, enclosure performance, and system reliability to evaluate building vulnerability under projected climate conditions.
• Wildfire-resistant enclosure consulting recommends assemblies and detailing to address ignition risk and fire spread, particularly relevant in fire-prone regions of California, British Columbia, and the Pacific Northwest.
• Climate hazard guidance translates climate projection data into project-specific design criteria.
• Thermal comfort and overheating analysis models indoor conditions to assess occupant comfort and overheating risk under current and future climate scenarios.

Monitoring, measurement, and verification (M&V) services track building performance over time and validate the outcomes of energy efficiency measures and retrofits. RDH supports utility programs, pilot technologies, and high-performance projects with tailored M&V plans, sensor deployment, and data analysis, applying calibrated modeling and structured protocols to verify whole-building and system-level performance.

• On-site performance monitoring uses sensors and data logging to measure real-world enclosure and building system behavior.
• Post-retrofit verification validates energy savings and carbon reductions against modeled predictions and program requirements.
• Utility and program support provides M&V documentation and reporting for utility incentive programs and government-funded performance initiatives.

Embodied carbon and life cycle analysis (LCA) services quantify the environmental impact of building materials and assemblies across the full project lifecycle. As operational carbon continues to decline through efficiency improvements, embodied carbon has become an increasingly significant share of a building’s total climate impact. RDH applies standardized LCA methodologies and detailed knowledge of materials and enclosure assemblies to support design decisions, policy compliance, and certification targets.

• Embodied carbon analysis quantifies material-related emissions across all lifecycle stages, from raw material extraction through end of life.
• Life cycle assessment supports certification programs, internal sustainability targets, and policy compliance frameworks that require whole-building LCA.
• Design optimization support applies LCA findings to compare material and assembly options and inform lower-carbon design decisions.