Evaluating Laboratory Performance by Comparing Actual vs. Estimated Energy and Utility Use in New Research Laboratory Facilities

J. Patrick Carpenter, P.E., Vanderweil Engineers

Many factors affect the ultimate energy and utility use in laboratory facilities. It starts with the anticipated usage and functional expectations of the facility as reflected by research staff, administrators, and building operators including Environmental Health and Safety, and is possibly embellished or constrained by management vision or budgetary limits. Because real requirements are sometimes clouded by exaggerated expectations, many architects and engineers start out clearly disconnected from the realities of actual building functional and operational needs. Part of the problem lies in the misunderstandings between designers and users/operators about "what I want" vs. "what I need" and how those actual needs can be met in the real world of building dynamics. Because of the different perspectives of users, operators, and designers, the lack of common vocabulary, understanding, and expectations about how well the results fulfill "needs" make it very hard to communicate and even visualize end results.

Those differences in functional expectations may always remain as part of the half full vs. half empty dichotomy that may be inevitable between designers and users/operators. Throughout the normal design process, many decisions impact the building's potential for operational effectiveness—whether they be criteria, functional, economic, or schedule based in their perspective. One of the biggest problems is the sometimes significant differences in building use, dynamics, and resulting energy and utility use in a given year that reflect normal variances of weather, occupancy, operation, and management practices. Very little benchmark information exists about either the criteria or practices applied or, more importantly, how together with various design solutions, those differences are ultimately translated into actual utility usage. If laboratory performance had a better documented history of loads and energy reductions more clearly
attributable to specific designs or approaches, it would help gain momentum in redefining current "best (and effective) practice". This presentation will do just that.

By comparing the estimated vs. actual energy and utility consumption to estimates made during design and by explaining where the variances were and why they most likely exist, attendees will gain an enhanced perspective of how and how well laboratory design requirements and solutions ultimately get translated into real world situations. These results should illustrate both how to calibrate expectations of real energy and utility use and savings and perhaps where to best focus design refinements more likely to produce effective results in real world situations.

Biography:

J. Patrick Carpenter is a Principal with Vanderweil Engineers in Princeton, New Jersey. He is a nationally recognized leader in engineering systems for laboratory, animal, and other high-tech facilities. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and is a registered P.E. in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He has over 35 years experience and has focused on high-tech projects for corporate, government and institutional clients. He has been responsible for the conception, development, commissioning and troubleshooting of MEP systems for numerous laboratory and vivarium projects with involvement from strategic planning and programming, through conceptual development and documentation to start-up, operational training, and troubleshooting. His holistic view balances safety, reliability, functionality, operational effectiveness, and energy conservation with flexibility and sustainability. His experience includes projects for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the University of Colorado Health Science Center, the University of Maryland, Rutgers University, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),the University of Pennsylvania., the University of Virginia, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), the US Navy, Cornell University, Merck, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Wyeth-Ayerst, Aventis, Pfizer, Glaxo, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, MedImmune, Exxon, ARAMCO, and Rohm & Haas.

Patrick is active in ASHRAE, AIHA, ISPE, and BCxA. His ASHRAE activity includes over 20 years work on technical committees involving laboratories and clean spaces, industrial A/C, and industrial ventilation and energy calculations. He also served on SPC 100.5 Energy Conservation in Existing Buildings and SPC-110 Performance Testing of Laboratory Fume Hoods. He has been presenter and moderator for Labs21 every year since its inception, giving 10 presentations.

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