CUSTOM DESIGNING & ENGINEERING - Full M.E.P. Design & Engineering Services
 
While traveling in Miami last month, I drove past the American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat.  Blaring on the billboard outside was an announcement that the arena was a LEED certified building.  I know plenty of residents, office buildings, schools, and even large business complexes that have achieved LEED certification.  But can a building as large as a sports arena possibly have achieved LEED certification?  As a matter of fact, American Airlines Arena has been awarded LEED Certification for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).  So has Atlanta’s Philips Arena, home to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers.  And the new Dallas Cowboys stadium (with the humungous scoreboard) is applying for membership in the Environmental Protection Agency's National Environmental Performance Track program.

You can see what green steps your favorite team might be taking at http://www.greensportsvenues.com/.

Ken Fuller of Custom Designing & Engineering is a LEED Accredited Professional.

 
 
 
In 1992, the Montreal Protocol, which established requirements for the phase out of ozone-depleting chemicals, was amended to include the phase out of HCFCs (hydro chlorofluorocarbons).   One HCFC known as R-22 has been the refrigerant of choice in residential and commercial HVAC equipment for more than four decades.  The Montreal Protocol mandates that on January 1, 2010 manufactures of HVAC equipment must stop the production of equipment containing new supplies of R-22 refrigerant.  At that time, R-22 refrigerant will still be produced, but only for the service of existing R-22 equipment.  On January 1, 2020 all production of R-22 refrigerant must cease.

In light of the R-22 phase out, the HVAC industry has adopted a new refrigerant standard known as R-410A, which is a mixture of HFCs (hydro fluorocarbons) that do not contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer and has been accepted by the Environmental Protection Agency.  All though HVAC equipment containing R-22 will be available until the 2010 phase out, many equipment manufactures have all ready begun producing products containing the new R-410A refrigerant.  Currently, most product lines include R-410A equipment in the smaller tonnages (10 tons and under) with plans to have a full line of R-410A equipment by the year 2010.  Generally, the cost of R-410A equipment is higher than that of an equivalent R-22 unit and the lead time of R-410A equipment is longer at this time.  As the industry moves toward the phase out date and the R-410A units become the only option, the cost and lead time of these units should fall in line with that of the current R-22 equipment.

Along with the desire to have a “greener” and more efficient facility, there may also be a future cost implication to be considered.  A new R-22 unit installed today will be about 10 years old in the year 2020, the time when new R-22 refrigerant will no longer be produced.  This is still well within the average life expectancy of well maintained equipment (15-20 years).  After 2020, as the supply of available R-22 refrigerant dwindles and there is still a demand for the refrigerant to service existing R-22 units, the price of R-22 refrigerant will increase.  This effect can be seen in the similar phase out of R-12 refrigerant, the refrigerant found in most automobile air conditioners made before the 1990s.  When the production of R-12 refrigerant ceased, the cost per pound rose from $2.67 to $26.67 over the next ten year period.  This inevitable increase in the cost of R-22 refrigerant will certainly increase the cost of service as the R-22 equipment nears the end of its useful life and requires the most maintenance.

The staff of Custom Designing & Engineering shall specify R-410A equipment for all new units unless R-22 is a requirement of the client.  Should you have any further questions about R-410A refrigerant, visit www.epa.gov or contact Custom Designing & Engineering and we will be glad to help.
 
CO2 Detectors 09/01/2009
 
Economic conditions today dictate that all of us do what we can to conserve our valuable resources and design our spaces responsibly.  In an effort to continuously improve the product we design and specify we sometimes incorporate design elements that enhance the operational capability of the space. One such effort we have incorporated recently has been the CO2 sensor.

Code requires that all HVAC equipment for commercial use be designed with outside air capability so that outside air can be introduced to the space. In addition, code also requires that this minimum outside air be circulated during all business hours regardless of actual occupancy of the space. This means that for a retail space with a 5,000 sq. foot sales floor the minimum outside per ASHRAE 1999 be 0.3 CFM per sq. foot or 1,500 CFM continuous. As you can imagine this can be extremely costly if your store is in Miami where you will be required to condition 1,500 CFM of hot, humid outside air the minute your store opens until the minute it closes in summer or heat the air in Minneapolis continuously in winter.

Code allows us, and this is especially necessary in the retail environment with the highly variable occupancy loads, to incorporate a CO2 detector to keep the outside air damper closed until the CO2 levels in the store rise to a predetermined level and then only that amount of outside air is introduced to not allow the CO2 level to exceed this value. As you can see this can lead to significant savings over the life of the HVAC equipment. In fact, Carrier produced a report in 2000 that can save 25% of the operating costs of rooftop equipment per year. ASHRAE printed a report showing that a department store in Tokyo saved 40% in the cooling system and 30% in the heating season.

The manufacturers have accepted the technology so well that they have incorporated the design into all their latest models as standard equipment. All that is required is a sensor that costs between $200.00 to $300.00. This information was obtained from Carrier and Lennox.
 
Custom Designing & Engineering (CD&E) is a full service MEP (Mechanical (HVAC), Electrical & Plumbing) engineering and design consulting group with a LEED Accredited Professional located on Ford Road in Rockaway, NJ of Morris County in Northern New Jersey. For a mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, or plumbing engineer contact Custom Designing & Engineering.