High Performing Buildings - Fall 2013 - (Page 59)

O C C u pA n t C O m f O r t S u rV e y Building management conducted a survey of all building occupants to determine overall satisfaction with comfort in the building. The survey was developed and administered through the Center for the Built Environment at the University of California, Berkeley. Areas of the survey included: office layout, office furnishings, thermal comfort, air quality, lighting, acoustics, building cleanliness and maintenance, recycling systems, and daylighting controls. Occupant responses were collected anonymously via an internet hyperlink, which was emailed to all occupants. The building scored well overall; only three categories resulted in rates of more than 20% occupant dissatisfaction. These HVAC The heating and cooling systems are served by the local district energy system (DES) piped through heat exchangers and circulating pumps. The DES generates and distributes thermal energy at the community level, rather than generating it on site at buildings. This system avoids the use of on-site infrastructure and boilers, while also eliminating costly maintenance and operating concerns. Heating for office spaces is provided via perimeter hydronic finned elements, which are recessed into the raised floor plenum. The building entrance and the high glazed areas are heated via fan coil units located below the glazed surface or over the revolving door. The perimeter hydronic finned elements have underfloor air diffusers that stratify heat effectively and increase occupant comfort. The fan coils have finned tube coils and fans, which are compact in design to provide heating at the entrance and high glazed areas where individual zone control is required. areas included acoustics and office layout, which are outside the control of the property manager. However, the property manager shared this information with the individual tenant groups, and suggested how they could address these concerns of their occupants, including white noise to address the acoustics concerns. Thermal comfort was the final area of concern. Occupants were not aware of the underfloor air distribution system’s individual controls, since they were accustomed to traditional office space where they had no control over the ventilation or temperature of individual workstations. The property manager addressed these concerns by providing education on operating the system’s controls. Below The ground floor, mezzanine floor and the third floor are served by three dedicated air-handling units with demand-control ventilation. CO2 sensors are located on the return duct and multiple CO2 sensors are located in densely populated areas. Bottom Building occupants enjoy personal control over their temperature and airflow volume via floor air diffusers. District cooling from the DES also eliminates the on-site chiller plant, cooling tower and concern for maintenance and operation of this plant. The DES uses deep lake cooling to provide cooling energy that already has a very high coefficient of performance (COP), which is not possible for an onsite chiller and cooling tower plant. This cooling technology significantly reduces the need for electricity use. Cooling is primarily provided via down discharge VAV compartmental units on each floor. Chilled water is available to meet process equipment cooling requirements in local area network (LAN) rooms, elevators, machine rooms and telephone rooms via dedicated terminal units to limit space temperatures. Ventilation air is provided to the office area (floors 4–30) via a common AFrame Studio ©Enermodal Engineering / Shai Gil Fotography Fa l l 2 0 1 3 HigH PerForming Buildings 59

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of High Performing Buildings - Fall 2013

High Performing Buildings - Fall 2013
Commentary
Contents
Alliance Center
Malaysia Energy Commission HQ (Diamond Building)
IAQ in HPB Case Studies
EcoCommercial Building, Noida
25 York Street
Technology
Advertisers Index

High Performing Buildings - Fall 2013