Renovating Laboratories for Low-Energy Use
Peter Rumsey, Integral Group | Rumsey Engineers
In the current economy, renovation of all types of facilities, including laboratories and other critical environments, is usually a more feasible option than new construction. The challenge with critical facilities like laboratories is that the vast majority of existing installations are low performing from an energy standpoint, and the prevailing systems include inefficient strategies and parameters such as constant air volume (CAV), excessive reheat, oversized equipment, poor zone control, and unnecessarily high or low temperature setpoints and air change volumes.
There are many important reasons to retrofit existing laboratory facilities to be significantly more energy-efficient while maintaining required high levels of safety and reliability. Careful assessment of existing facilities can uncover a wide range of energy-efficient upgrade opportunities that are low cost and low impact, such as changing set points and air flow rates and implementing retrocommissioning and monitoring based commissioning programs. Optimizing energy efficiency in HVAC or process systems often leads to unforeseen improvements in other systems or benefits such as improved safety and reliability.
Also, keeping and reusing existing laboratory and research buildings, even those that are not necessarily perfectly suited to the end user's purposes, in itself can be seen as more sustainable approach. A significant percentage of the stock of current facilities is more than 20 years old. These older labs need renovation, not only to become more resource efficient, but to adapt to changes in science and research practices.
This session will explore several strategies for low energy retrofits of laboratory facilities that focus on practical solutions and cost effectiveness. Lessons learned from two recent projects, Stanford's Clark Center and University of California's Bren Hall, will be presented.
Biography:
Peter Rumsey, a national
leader in the design of low-energy buildings, is the founder and managing
director of Oakland, California-based Integral Group | Rumsey Engineers,
the first engineering firm in the U.S. to achieve seven LEED®
Platinum projects. He has designed mechanical systems for data centers,
cleanrooms, and laboratories that are among the most energy-efficient
in the United States. His firm's projects have received many local and
national awards from prominent industry organizations, including the Association
of Energy Engineers and the American Institute of Architects. He is a
registered professional engineer in 10 states, a certified energy manager,
a senior fellow of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and an ASHRAE Fellow.
He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley’s mechanical
engineering program and is a frequent lecturer at industry events, conferences,
and colleges and universities, including the University of California,
Berkeley and Stanford University. The focus of Mr. Rumsey's career has
been transforming the building industry by designing affordable and dramatically
energy-efficient buildings.