ASHRAE will bestow energy efficiency awards on a net zero facility, a historic building, a cheese factory, and an agriscience farm, among other winners at its 2014 Winter Conference in New York City, Jan. 18-22.
Some of the winning projects include:
Packard Foundation Net Zero Energy Headquarters – The 49,000-sq-foot building features efficient systems and a building envelope that result in a reduction in energy demand by 46 percent compared with California Title 24 standards, while the remaining required power is offset with onsite power generation. Energy saving strategies include a nighttime cooling tower with storage tank; a high efficiency air source heat pump boiler with storage; induction diffusers with chilled beams; and a low pressure drop design.
SIERR Building at McKinstry Station – Spokane’s Inland Empire Railroad (SIERR) Building was built in 1907 as an electric railroad car facility. Today, the 68,000-sq-foot building serves as a commercial office building. Traditional design approaches were unable to meet historical preservation requirements and still achieve significant energy savings while creating an office space that was comfortable and unique. To meet these needs, the design team used the following innovative building systems: Hydronic ground source loop; office space/radiant floor system; server room heat recovery; dedicated outside air system; and common areas/constant volume heat pump systems.
Fromagerie des Basques in Quebec, Canada – In 2010, a mechanical project was developed to: Change the heating and refrigeration of the site; Construct a digester to produce biogas from the plant rejections (whey and white waters) and use the biogas in the production and buildings heating; Add ventilation (100 percent fresh air) in the cheese production area to ensure a positive pressure and correspond to Canadian Food Inspection Agency regulations; Change the High Temperature Short Time to be able to preheat the milk in the pasteurization using the refrigeration heat reject; and Implement a control system performing survey of the mechanical system, automated control of main production processes, alarms handling and optimization of energy consumption.
Locust Trace AgriScience Farm in Lexington, Kentucky – The 82-acre, new vocational high school campus consists of a 43,000-sq-foot academic building, a 3,500-sq-foot greenhouse and a 21,500-sq-foot arena building. The school system decided to aim for “net zero site consumed vs. site produced,” which means that the building will produce as much energy as it consumes at the building site. The building boasts a 168-panel evacuated tube solar thermal array that is utilized to offset the building’s entire heating load. The solar thermal array is capable of one million BTUs of peak generation and generates hot water for duct-mounted hot water coils, fin tube radiant heaters, and the energy recovery wheel hot water coil. On a cool cloudy day, geothermal water-to-water heat pumps back up the solar thermal system.