Putting Freezers on the Farm: Waste Heat Guidelines
Allen Doyle, MS, University of California, Davis
Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar, Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder
Reject heat from ultra-low-temperature freezers (ULFs) is often managed very poorly, and there are no basic guidelines for existing buildings and new construction. This roundtable hopes to begin creation of these guidelines, which would be distributed with every laboratory appliance that had significant reject heat, especially ULFs.
For example, how many square feet should be allowed for each ULF? In variable or constant air volume buildings, when is it better to consolidate versus disperse? How can hallway congestion and heat buildup be solved? In a freezer farm, how can hot aisle configuration be implemented, and is six feet between ULFs really desirable? What are the ranges of reject heat costs? What are the optimum ambient temperatures when comparing the efficiency (coefficient of performance) of ULF and roof-top unit cooling or district cooling? Given this information, should open door equipment rooms have excess supply to push warmed air into occupied zones for "free" heating, or excess exhaust to use occupied room air to sweep away the heat for "free" cooling? The session will provide a framework for discussion and expert attendees will develop the results. When is direct exhausting indicated, and when do air economizers pay off?
Biographies:
Allen Doyle, compelled by the urgency of climate disruption and environmental degradation, left the laboratory after 20 years of ocean chemistry, soil, and permafrost research to work with scientists on their workplace. Mr. Doyle brings an occupant focus to laboratory energy conservation and is the co-founder of LabRATS. Mr. Doyle is developing a ten-module green laboratory program, has served as the moderator of the Labs21 Energy-Efficient Laboratory Equipment Wiki, and the organizer of 100+ member national network. Mr. Doyle is working on reducing plug load through cold storage management and the Freezer Challenge contest, as well as HVAC optimization through temperature relaxation and control banding. As sustainability manager, he interacts at all levels of campus and hopes that research laboratories and their stakeholders will reach ambitious standards of quality with dramatic improvements in resource consumption. He collaborates with laboratory trade groups, such as the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference and Association of Public Health Laboratories, as well as such federal agencies as the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and private sector laboratories.
Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar is the manager of the University of Colorado (CU) Green Labs Program at CU Boulder, a program she has been building and creating since 2009. Ms. Ramirez-Aguilar has a doctorate in analytical chemistry and 15 years of laboratory research experience within the fields of biochemistry, analytical chemistry, and organic chemistry. Working as a research scientist, Ms. Ramirez-Aguilar saw a real need for a program to engage scientists in conservation. With the birth of her twin daughters and her hope for their future, her passion grew to promote change and create a program focused on resource conservation in laboratories, which could serve as a model for other campuses to adopt.