Design and Energy Implications of the New ANSI Z-9.5: Laboratory Ventilation
J. Patrick Carpenter, LEED® AP, Facility Performance Engineers
Good laboratory design should balance safety and health priorities with sustainable objectives. The hazards and risks in such environments typically require conservative approaches to better assure occupant safety and to maximize indoor environmental quality.
Many applicable codes and standards for laboratory design focus on ventilation as the key to assuring health and safety, but most view sustainable objectives as secondary considerations. One of the most referenced and comprehensive standards for laboratories is ANSI Z-9.5—Laboratory Ventilation.
Current revisions to this standard reflect an increased awareness of and sensitivity to avoiding over design as the best means to minimize energy use and therefore enable more sustainable solutions. This session will review the substantive changes in the (soon to be published) revision of ANSI Z-9.5. Typical changes to the standard include room classifications, minimum exhaust flows for spaces and devices, emergency ventilation issues, room pressurization issues, and exhaust system design.
This presentation will discuss in detail the implications of these changes on design, system size, controls, operation, and energy use, and will provide specific examples of various types of projects with calculations showing the relative impacts of the individual and collective changes in concepts, systems, and operations possible under the new standard.
Biography:
J. Patrick Carpenter, PE, LEED AP, is the president of Facility Performance Engineers in Cinnaminson, New Jersey. He is a nationally recognized leader in engineering systems for laboratories and animal facilities with more than 35 years of experience. He received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Mr. Carpenter has been active in professional organizations and conferences such as ASHRAE, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE), BCA, the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS), and Labs21. His ASHRAE activity includes more than 25 years involvement with technical committees involving laboratories and clean spaces, industrial air-conditioning and industrial ventilation and energy calculations. He also served for eight years on the Standards Project Committee, which rewrote the ASHRAE Standard 100.5 on energy conservation in existing buildings—institutional, and served on the standards project committees for the 1995 and 2009 editions of ASHRAE Standard 110 dealing with the performance testing of laboratory fume hoods.