As consulting mechanical and electrical engineers responsible for specifying equipment and designing systems which use natural resources, we are acutely aware of our role in the effort to provide sustainable building designs. It is extremely valuable that our role begins early in the design process including thoughtful discussion on the project goals and involvement in design charettes. We view our role as a vocal member of an integrated team consisting of owner, user, and design team that help identify the goals for the project.  Our goal is to reach beyond the engineered systems to provide the knowledge and insight to help the design team understand the ramifications of architectural design strategies on the MEP systems. We can provide the necessary feedback on orientation, envelope composition, shading, day-lighting and other design strategies that lead to a well integrated design.

We spend the necessary time reviewing options and alternate schemes with the owner and design team to ensure that project requirements are met. We focus considerable attention on HVAC and lighting systems, which consume the bulk of a building’s total energy needs and use computer modeling and life cycle costing to simulate energy usage of the proposed strategies and evaluate options.  We work in collaboration with the Architect to optimize the building envelope design elements such as orientation, glazing, shading devices, and insulation.  Other analytical tools available for our analysis include computational fluid dynamics, which allows us to evaluate natural ventilation and air distribution within a space. Combined, all of these tools assist in developing a design that treats the building as one holistic system enabling substantial energy and resource savings.

As a member of the U.S. Green Building council, with 50 LEED® accredited professionals, M-E Engineers is committed to being a leader in sustainability and LEED® design.  We have proudly been involved in numerous award winning green projects and recognize the importance of advancing the state of the art of sustainable design.