Kansas Bioscience Venture Accelerator: An Evaluation of How Energy-Efficient the Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing System Designs Turned Out To Be
Aaron Saggars, CRB Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Nicholas Caronna, P.E., LEED AP® BD+C, CRB
At the Labs21 2010 Annual Conference, the speaker and Gary Micheel, Kansas Bioscience Authority, presented a case study for a Greenfield incubator laboratory/office building for the Kansas Bioscience Authority that was under construction at the time. Flash forward two years, with an R&D Magazine High Honors award and a LEED® Gold certification in hand, this presentation will report on how it compared to expectations. During this presentation, the speaker will identify the lessons learned and how the facility has performed relative to the design concepts generated in 2008.
The project design goal was to design the MEP systems that minimized energy consumption for a building design of this type, but not at the expense of safety for the building occupants. The design team looked at the HVAC system as a whole in order to maximize the total building impact in lieu of looking at each component individually. Each system in the project utilizes some type of energy-conserving component, whether it be variable frequency drives, energy recovery devices, or controllability.
Aaron Saggars is a licensed mechanical engineer with more than 17 years of experience as a lead design engineer and project manager. Mr. Saggars has expertise in managing projects of varying size and in designing the mechanical systems used in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, research and development, biosafety level/animal biosafety level laboratories, and vivaria that require good manufacturing practice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-compliant systems. Mr. Saggars was the engineering project manager and lead mechanical engineer for the Kansas Bioscience Authority project.
Nicholas Caronna has more than 31 years of experience serving the private and public sectors of experience in the science and technology industries as principal, senior project manager, and senior mechanical engineer. Mr. Caronna has extensive experience in energy usage evaluations, greenfield construction, complex retrofits, and cost-effective solutions. He has solid business, project planning, and execution leadership in laboratory, biocontainment, vivaria, electronic, mission-critical, industrial, and academic facilities design, construction, and service-oriented customer satisfaction. He has presented nationally and regionally, as well as authored a number of articles. Mr. Caronna has been a scientific technical reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and The Commonwealth of Virginia grant programs. His background with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, and industrial clients provides customized, comprehensive solutions from planning through start-up and commissioning. Mr. Caronna's project experience includes national and international clients.