Achieving Sustainability in Occupied Chemistry Laboratories
Dennis Schoener, HDR CUH2A, Inc.
Stephen Fries, Wyeth
This presentation will illustrate how on a recent project existing technologies were combined to develop an innovative sustainable strategy for renovation of a fume hood-intensive medicinal chemistry laboratory facility. The completed facility improved laboratory and fume hood functionality, containment and safety, and the user's comfort, while significantly reducing building energy usage.
The renovation required a challenging laboratory-by-laboratory conversion of outdated CAV systems to an enhanced VAV system while science was being conducted in surrounding laboratories. It was critical to maintain laboratory operations throughout construction for ongoing research programs. This presentation will describe the step-by-step process that met these challenges within the following project constraints:
- Severely limited swing space.
- No ceiling space for added ductwork.
- No mechanical room space for new air handling units.
- Limited times for interruption of air systems needed to serve adjoining laboratories.
- Laboratories serviced by two air handlers: one fully conditioned and other partially conditioned.
The owner and architecture and engineering team reviewed potential enhancements throughout the design, construction, and occupancy, understanding that there is no time limit on ideas for better sustainability. Enhancements that contributed to substantial energy reductions included:
- Reduction of fume hood face velocity below original design values, as a result of ASHRAE 110 testing and enivronmental health and safety review.
- Automatic sash positioning (ASP) system with fume-hood mounted proximity sensors.
- Integration of the ASPs and lighting occupancy sensors with the building automation system for laboratory airflow control.
- Fine tuning of control sequences.
- Upgrades of the make-up air handler with a wrap-around heat pipe.
The presentation will also include BAS trending of the renovated laboratories, which demonstrates realized significant reduction of airflow for the first few laboratories renovated. With the combination of design upgrades, control philosophy, and enhancements, each renovated laboratory module will reduce energy consumption and the carbon footprint of these laboratories by an estimated 45 percent.
Biographies:
Dennis Schoener is a senior associate in the mechanical engineering department at HDR CUH2A in Princeton, New Jersey. During his more than 30 years at HDR CUH2A, he has been responsible for the conception, design, engineering, system selection, energy studies, and mechanical engineering/design team leadership for more than 6 million square feet of laboratory research facilities. His work also includes more than 2 million square feet of nonlaboratory facilities. His primary focus at HDR CUH2A has been research laboratory facilities. His innovative mechanical laboratory design solutions have been successfully implemented on many projects over the years for both pharmaceutical, academic, and government institutions. Mr. Schoener graduated from Trenton State College in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in industrial arts, taught drafting at Trenton Vocactional/Technical School, and worked in Hill Refrigeration's engineering department, before starting at HDR CUH2A in January 1979. He has been lead senior project engineer for more than 20 years at CUH2A, is LEED® accredited, and is an ASHRAE member.
Stephen Fries is senior director of global research facilities with responsibilities at the Monmouth Junction and Collegeville locations for Wyeth Research. He joined Wyeth in 1984 at the Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, facility and oversees operations and support functions at the Monmouth Junction site and scientific support services at the Collegeville, Pennsylvania, location. He has more than 30 years of experience in plant management including operations, maintenance, environmental health and safety, engineering, administrative services, and security. He completed his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the Newark College of Engineering and obtained a Master of Engineering Administration degree from the University of Utah. Mr. Fries held positions with Johnson & Johnson and Sandoz prior to joining Wyeth Research. He is a member of the Association of Energy Engineers and the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE), where he currently is a member of the ISPE New Jersey Chapter Board and is the Chapter Pharmaceutical Representative. He is also a member of the Corporate Advisory Group for The College of New Jersey.