Exhale: It's All About Ventilation

David Johnson, AIA, LEED AP®, SmithGroup
Robert Sty, SmithGroup

Laboratories are heavy breathers. As energy intensive buildings, their breathing environment matters more than their skin and as much as their contents.

The presenters will first look at a laboratory's architectural envelope to see both notable contributions and inherent limitations of skin manipulation on energy performance. Then, the presenters will briefly explore links between pieces of the "energy pie" to set up the heart of the presentation, during which the speakers will delve deeper into ventilation and internal process gains, with key concepts of breaking the link between heating/cooling loads and ventilation loads, and working with the climate.

Using case studies from four climate zones—from coastal Louisiana to the country's mixed middle, from high and dry Colorado to cold northern China—the speakers will share climate-appropriate ventilation strategies and explore the major challenges associated with different regions. The speakers will cover concepts from energy recovery to evaporative process cooling, and active monitoring controls to water-based load shifting. The following facilities will serve as case study material:

  • Mixed-Humid Climate - ASHRAE Zone 4A
    • Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science II
      Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia
    • Clinical and Transformational Research Building
      University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky
  • Hot-Humid Climate - ASHRAE Zone 2A
    • Feist Weiller Cancer Research Center
      Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • Very Cold-Dry Climate - ASHRAE Zone 7B
    • Research and Development Center
      First Automotive Works (FAW), Changchun, northern China
  • Cool-Dry Climate - ASHRAE Zone 5B
    • Energy Systems Integration Facility
      National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado

Biographies:

David Johnson is the principal and office director for SmithGroup's Raleigh- Durham office. Mr. Johnson specializes in the science and technology market, where he emphasizes human experience as the basis for design. In particular, Mr. Johnson's application of principles drawn from human psychology to the design of the research laboratory has been widely recognized. Mr. Johnson presented this methodology as "The Human Dimension of Sustainable Design" at the Labs21 Annual Conference. Mr. Johnson also presented at the Labs21 2008 Annual Conference, where he spoke about the next generation of sustainability as it relates to the design of future laboratories. Mr. Johnson's approach to architecture is contextual, and incorporates multiple viewpoints and constituencies to build consensus around the "meaning and reason" of any project. Mr. Johnson received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University in 1991 and his Masters of Architecture from the University of Michigan in 1995.

Robert Sty, LEED AP BD+C, has practiced in the mechanical engineering field for 15 years and currently holds the position of senior mechanical engineer and project manager in the Technologies Studio at SmithGroup.  Mr. Sty's experience includes HVAC design in complex, high-energy-use facilities including mission critical, manufacturing, and laboratories. Along with this experience, he has lectured and written articles on data center energy efficiency, giving him a deep understanding of these critical facilities. In May of 2009, Mr. Sty was recognized by Consulting Specifying Engineering Magazine's Top Forty Under 40, which recognizes the best and brightest in the industry. Mr. Sty holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.