Energy Efficiency/Water Conservation in Vermont
Barry Barnet, P.E., HDR, Inc.
The now-occupied U.S. Department of State Forensics laboratory building located in Waterbury, Vermont, combines several sustainable HVAC design features, which, working in combination with each other, result in a significant reduction in the estimated HVAC energy usage. The design features will be described briefly, utilizing simple flow diagrams, and an energy model projecting an approximate 40 percent annual savings in HVAC energy usage, as compared to the LEED®-compliant ASHRAE base model, will be presented. A cost estimate comparison will also be included in the presentation to enable a rough estimate for the sustainable design simple payback period to be identified as well. Some of the sustainable HVAC design features include separated cooling and ventilation systems (utilizing dual energy recovery with wheels on the ventilation side and energy-efficient supplemental cooling devices in the building), air-handling unit (AHU) water side economizing (where the chilled water coils in the AHUs act as chillers during winter operation to produce chilled water for the supplemental cooling devices serving mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) and interior laboratory and office spaces, while at the same time pre-heating the ventilation air coming into the building), radiant panels on the building perimeter for winter heating to overcome skin losses, unoccupied setback for airflows in laboratory areas, and waste heat recovery from the chillers in summer to eliminate re-heating dehumidified ventilation air.
In addition to energy use reduction, the building employs a chemical-free method of water treatment on the cooling towers, which works in conjunction with a water reclamation system utilized for the make-up water required for cooling tower evaporation. The design of the water reclamation system will be described in the presentation, along with the automatic controls, which are necessary to enable this system to work properly in conjunction with the chemical-free water treatment system.
Biography:
Barry Barnet is a senior project engineer and senior professional associate with HDR, with 34 years of engineering experience, 26 of which are in commercial design of HVAC systems. Mr. Barnet is also licensed to practice professional engineering in the state of New Jersey. A former presenter at the Labs21 2008 Annual Conference in San Jose, California, Mr. Barnet is also the author of an article published in the ASHRAE Journal in December 2008. Mr. Barnet has reviewed several other articles published in the ASHRAE Journal. Much of Mr. Barnet's HVAC engineering experience is focused on laboratory design, with a particular emphasis on sustainable design in the last five years.