Engineered Systems - September 2008 - (Page 41)

they are proposing dropping down to 10%). This hit me in the early stages of a design where the process load for my building was already approaching 70% of the total. Now instead of meeting 90.1, and likely beating it by a little, I was mandated to beat it by 14%. So let’s run that familiar equation one more time: 100% - (30% x 0.47) = 86% I’m good, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to cut the energy use associated with regulated loads by 47% on a building with an already efficient envelope, hardly any glass to start with, a low occupancy, and very few lights I could play with. On top of that, ideas like natural ventilation and airside economizers on a data center floor were just non-starters for this client. So you know what happened? Well, of course you don’t, you weren’t there. But I will tell you: the client bailed on the green targets altogether. Oh, I’m not saying that energy efficiency was no longer a mandate, but as an overriding theme, once LEED was off the table, from a sustainability perspective, the design team fragmented. Now you may say shame on us for letting that happen, but in the throes of a design when you are barreling toward a deadline on a building where reliability and budget are drivers, if halfway through the process your green paradigm gets tossed, it’s hard to refocus, especially when it was a secondary goal to begin with. Input 49 at www.esmagazine.com/instantproductinfo Q&A The adjustments made to NC 2.2 are punitive and will likely discourage some from pursuing sustainable data center designs, but maybe I’m just a pessimist. Maybe I have become jaded on green (pun painfully intended). Has anyone asked the powers that be for a fair adjudication? In February 2007, an official interpretation and request for relief from this onerous requirement of equal process loads was submitted to the USGBC. In so many words, they acknowledged the challenge but offered no sanctuary2. Again in July of 2007, the same question was asked, and the USGBC stood by their guns3. In both cases these were data center designs hamstrung by the new requirements. In August of last year, yours truly submitted an interpretation request to ASHRAE regarding the very applicability of 90.1 to data centers in the first place, since they are primarily buildings dedicated to a commercial process (a specific exception under 2.3.c of the standard). ASHRAE responded, stating that the building envelope and systems must meet all requirements of the standard with the exception of the “space conditioning system installed specifically to support the Datacom equipment.4” I found no comfort in this response because it appeared to be taking even more stuff out of my control, further increasing the percentage I must bleed from the remainder. Just FYI, further clarification has been requested from the Committee. And one more report to belabor the point, and possibly confuse. The EPA’s Report to Congress on data center energy efficiency5 states, “The current ASHRAE standards, however, exclude energy that is primarily used for commercial, industrial, or manufacturing processes. Thus ASHRAE 90.1 excludes data center heating and cooling (which mainly cools equipment, not people) and IT equipment (ASHRAE 2004a, Section 2.3). However, ASHRAE is developing guidance to address aspects of data center design … Input 16 at www.esmagazine.com/instantproductinfo w w w. esmag a zine . c o m ESM09084Parker.indd 1 41 8/19/08 3:25:17 PM http://www.esmagazine.com/instantproductinfo http://www.parkerboiler.com http://www.parkerboiler.com http://www.esmagazine.com/instantproductinfo http://www.esmagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Engineered Systems - September 2008

Engineered Systems - September 2008 Contents Editor's Note HVAC Challenge Back2Basics Case In Point Commissioning Building Automation HVACR Designer Tips Application Checklist LEED®, Or Get (It) Out Of The Way? BACnet Supplement Race To Market Steam Humidification In Pharmaceutical Facilities Outside Air, Inside Data Centers Forecast: Increasingly Cloudy And Under Control Products Computers & Software Literature Glossary Classifieds Advertiser Index Tomorrow's Environment

Engineered Systems - September 2008

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