Hines Buildings - Trane

Of the four buildings in the
Phoenix/Tempe metropolitan area
that have earned the U.S. EPA/DOE
Energy Star Label for Buildings
award, two were developed and are
now owned and/or operated by
Hines. The buildings are the America
West Airlines headquarters building
in Tempe, and the 24th At Camelback
Office Building in Phoenix.
Hines Buildings
Phoenix, Arizona
Hines Buildings Earn US EPA/DOE
Energy Star Label for Buildings
Hines is a privately owned real estate
firm, founded in 1957 and
headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Hines is involved in developing,
acquiring, consulting, leasing, and
managing real estate, as well as
providing extensive global investment
management and advisory services.
Hines is a firm believer in the benefits
of the EPA/DOE program, which
benchmarks and recognizes buildings
that rank in the top 25 percent of all
buildings in the U.S. in terms of
energy efficiency. According to Hines’
market manager for Arizona, Darwyn
Harp, “Energy management is now,
and has always been, an integral
component of our property
management activities. Not only is it
environmentally responsible, but it

© 2003 American Standard Inc. All rights reserved
“ The Energy Star program is another way that we
can demonstrate Hines quality to our clients”
provides an immediate and long-term
financial benefit to our client and
tenant base across the organization.”
Hines considers the ENERGY STAR
program an important aid to leasing,
and a sound and responsible
business decision.
In addition to the Energy Star label
for the buildings, in March, 2002,
Hines received the EPA/DOE Energy
Star Partner of the Year Award for
Excellence in Energy Management. In
presenting the award, EPA
Administrator Christine Whitman
said, “Successful partnerships have
always been integral to achieving our
environmental protection goals… we
honor the 2002 Energy Star Partner
Award winners who serve as models
to other businesses and
organizations, proving you can
improve our environment while
saving energy and money.”
Hines also has learned it will receive
the award in 2003, making it the third
consecutive year to receive this
honor.
The Hines portfolio currently includes
more than 670 properties
representing 216 million square feet
of office mixed-use, industrial, retail
and residential properties, as well as
large, master-planned communities
and land developments. With offices
in 74 U.S. cities and 11 foreign
countries, and assets in excess of
$13 billion, Hines is one of the largest
real estate organizations in the world.
America West Airlines corporate
headquarters in Tempe, Arizona.

Left to right, Rocky Tarcola, Arizona Trane, and Robert Bonilla, Hines engineering manager at
America West Airlines check operation of a Trane commercial self-contained air-conditioning unit.
America West Airlines Corporate
Headquarters
Hines developed and manages the
nine-story 218,000-square-foot
America West Airlines headquarters
building in Tempe. The building
houses the executive, administrative,
and support functions of America
West Airlines, plus the offices of the
airline’s leisure travel subsidiary, The
Leisure Company. More than 600
employees work in the building.
In addition to earning the EPA/DOE
Energy Star Label for Buildings in
2000, 2001, and 2002, the America
West project was named the 2000
Building of the Year by the Arizona
Chapter of the National Association
of Industrial and Office Properties
(NAIOP). Designed by Leo A. Daly
Architects and the SmithGroup, the
America West building features a
curved roofline, emulating the
streamlined shape of an airplane
wing. America West airliners landing
and taking off from nearby Sky
Harbor International airport are
frequently reflected in the building’s
sparkling blue-green insulated-glass
exterior.
Located on a seven-acre site that
includes a five-level parking structure
and landscaped courtyard, the
building was carefully designed
considering the intense sunshine and
desert heat in Arizona. Technologies
such as T8 fluorescent bulbs with
electronic ballasts help the building
achieve excellent energy
performance. Efficient commercial,
self-contained air-conditioning
systems from Trane provide floor-byfloor
cooling, maximizing comfort
control while minimizing energy
usage. The building was designed to
meet ASHRAE Standard 90.1, which
sets performance standards for
energy use, indoor air quality, and
outside air ventilation.
An important part of controlling the
building’s energy usage is the Trane
Tracer Summit building automation
system. Robert Bonilla, Hines’
Engineering Manager at the America
West building, uses the Tracer
Summit system to closely control
operation of the building’s systems
to optimize comfort while minimizing
electrical usage and demand
charges.
For summer air conditioning, the
building uses eight, 80-ton,
commercial, self-contained air
conditioners from Trane and a single
65-ton Trane unit. These units supply
conditioned air through variable-airvolume
terminal units, all of which
are controlled by the Tracer Summit
automation system. The building
also uses Trane water-source heat
pumps in the computer rooms.
Bonilla states that even with the
tremendous 100-plus degree
summer heat, the building’s peak
energy use occurs during winter
months when heating is required.
The demand limiting program we
use allows us to reduce the amount
of incoming kW usage during the
winter months by matching only the
HVAC equipment required to provide
tenant comfort.
Bonilla said “Hines selected Trane
commercial self-contained units
because they are proven and offer
excellent first-cost and efficiency,
while requiring less overall space
than a central chilled-water system
and all the associated water piping.”
According to Bonilla, the variable-airvolume
terminal units, manufactured
by Nailor Industries, are equipped
with Honeywell actuators that also
have Trane controls that interface
with the Tracer Summit system. The
Tracer Summit system controls and

Trane Tracer Summit building control units.
monitors all the equipment and
systems. It tracks the run-hours on
each piece of equipment, whether it’s
a self-contained HVAC unit, fan, pump,
or cooling tower. It also generates
Excel worksheets that provide
information and trends in energy
consumption, temperatures, Btu per
square foot, etc. The system makes it
easy to accumulate all the data that
played an important role in
benchmarking the building and
achieving the Energy Star Label for
Buildings award. It allows us to finetune
the building operation,
minimizing the run-time of all the
equipment without jeopardizing
comfort.
“Hines believes in the Energy Star
program, and we believe that
achieving this distinction gives us a
competitive advantage over the other
buildings,” Bonilla said.
“The Energy Star program is another
way that we can demonstrate Hines
quality to our clients. It’s more than just
a good marketing program. It’s backed
by hard operating data, quality building
construction, and excellent operating
practices. The America West building
opened in 1999, and in 2000 we scored
75 points, the minimum required to
“We’re continually
monitoring and
adjusting our building
for optimum
performance. At the end
of the day, we’re making
sure that our client is
getting value for their
investment.”
qualify for the Energy Star label. In 2001
we scored 79 points and this year we’ve
scored 80 points. This building keeps
getting better. The Energy Star program
is a way we can differentiate ourselves
from other buildings.”
“We’re continually monitoring and
adjusting our building for optimum
performance. At the end of the day,
we’re making sure that our client,
America West Airlines, is getting value
for their investment.“
Bonilla says that he has a performance
standard that he shoots for. “We have a
comfort-call threshold where we’re
allowed a certain number of comfort
calls each day from our tenants. Our
threshold is currently 0.9 calls per day.
In other words, if we get one comfort
complaint call in a day, that’s too much.
Right now we’re averaging 0.1 to 0.2
comfort calls per day. If we do get a
call, it’s usually something quite simple
that we can adjust using the Tracer
Summit system. If we do need to send
an engineer to check on a piece of
equipment, the Tracer Summit system
becomes a diagnostic tool, helping the
engineer troubleshoot the particular
problem. And if we need to call Trane,
they’re always very responsive and
helpful.”

Above: The lobby at 24th and Camelback.
Right: Left to right, Art Baril, Hines engineering
manager at 24th At camelback, and
Rocky Tarcola, Arizona Trane.
“ Our utility bills are quite low compared to
other buildings.”
24th At Camelback
Located at what has been described
as the premier business address in
Phoenix is the 24th At Camelback.
The eight-story building has 275,000
square feet of office space plus
25,000 square feet of ground-floor
retail space. It is now 93.5 percent
leased.
Designed by Jon Pickard Architects
and the SmithGroup, 24th At
Camelback is an L-shaped building
with a sweeping roofline, curved
outer walls and a granite and glass
facade. As the second Energy Star
Label for Buildings award winner for
Hines in Arizona, it also uses Trane
commercial, self-contained air
conditioners (two 50-ton units per
floor) and a Tracer Summit
automation system plus T8 lighting
systems and other energy efficient
products.
Engineering Manager Art Baril
expresses the challenges of energy
management in a multi-tenant
building in stating that, “We have
many tenants who come in to work
as early as six o’clock a.m., some
who operate as late as eleven o’clock
p.m., and some who require as much
as eight watts of power per square
foot, considering all of their computer
equipment. Plus we have legal firms
who like to burn the midnight oil.”
“We used Trane commercial selfcontained
units here because first
cost is a driving factor in this market.
We also want to maximize the
leasable square footage,” Baril said.
“Average energy consumption at
24th At Camelback is a miserly 4500
Btu per square foot, and our peak
energy usage is during the winter
months when the fan-powered VAV
terminal units provide electric
resistance heating. To help minimize
energy use, the fans are equipped
with variable-speed drives. Most
other systems throughout the
building, such as water pumps,
cooling tower fans, and supply and

24th At Camelback Building in Phoenix, Arizona.
Energy conservation has always been an
integral part of our firm.
exhaust fans-are also equipped
with variable speed drives to
provide ‘soft’ startups and minimal
energy consumption. Winter
operation of the commercial selfcontained
units, on the
compressed refrigerant side, is
minimal, due to the use of the
waterside economizer feature
installed in the HVAC system. From
November through April we can
use condensing water to meet
cooling demand without running a
single compressor. Therefore, our
utility bills are quite low compared
to other buildings. We watch
energy consumption very closely
and use the Tracer Summit system
to keep the air-conditioning system
running as efficiently as possible.”
In pursuing the Energy Star Label
designation, 24th At Camelback
achieved a score of 80 points in the
benchmarking process. “The
Tracer Summit system gives us all
the control we want, which is
important with all the various
tenants in the building” Baril said.
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May 2003
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Inland
“And the Energy Star label truly
does put a label on all the energysaving
techniques and equipment
that we use in this building. The
Energy Star label is highly
recognizable by our tenants and
adds value to the building. We
would operate the building in the
same manner even without the
Energy Star label, but the label
demonstrates to tenants and the
community that we meet federal
guidelines for energy efficiency. We
can tell folks that all day long, but
the Energy Star label literally does
put a label on it. We do have
tenants who have actually asked if
we use ‘green’ light bulbs, etc.
They truly are concerned about
energy efficiency. Now that we’ve
received the Energy Star label, it
reinforces the message of our
commitment. Energy conservation
has always been an integral part of
our firm — even before the
EPA/DOE Energy Star Label
program existed.”