Architecture 2030 Challenge of 70% Energy Reduction (Source; ASHREA Journal: 9/2013 Author; Jonathan Heller, P.E.) East side fire and rescue of Issaquah Washington achieved a goal set to reduce their 18,000 kWh per month power usage by 70% and did just that, and received the LEED v3.0 Platinum certification. With energy rates climbing higher each year, and standards being set for energy consumption, as well as the complete phase-out of some very familiar refrigerants by the year 2030, companies are finding much more energy efficient heating and cooling air handling systems, and some brand new refrigerants, energy efficiency is now to be expected in all new buildings and HVAC systems they use. TCA Architecture incorporated into this renovation an 8,500 gallon rain water cistern that reduces water usage at the station over 60%. Also included in this project was an electric grid tied 30 kW solar array system. The goal of the city of Issaquah was to produce enough energy on-site as it consumed in each year. Net Zero Energy. Impossible you say? Then we would both be wrong, another idea that this building implements, is the use of radiant heating and cooling rather than conventional methods. The fire fighters living there didn’t like not being able to quickly adjust the temperature using a thermostat. As you can imagine their job can be extremely hot at times. Four pipe fan coils that have quick response individual temperature controls were installed in their rooms. When they get a call (as you can imagine) they tend to leave in a hurry, and with no-one left behind to shut off the lights or close the doors, automatic controls were installed that used vacancy sensors to shut down all non-essential energy consuming devices. Do you think they stopped there?? No way. They finished the job by installing low flow plumbing fixtures, and six large solar thermal panels were installed along with a geothermal heat pump to finish heating their water. These innovative ideas brought together a total of 24.3kBTU/ft-sq-yr savings each year, reducing their energy consumption by 70%. Totally cool article
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 00:27:25 +0000
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