Sustainable Facility - November 2008 - (Page 32)

ENERGY END USES: COMMERCIAL RETAIL SECTOR Space Cooling 4% Lighting 24% Space Heating 59% Auxillary Motors 10% Auxillary Equipment 2% Water Heating 1% ENERGY END USES: SCHOOLS SECTOR Space Cooling 3% ENERGY END USES: COMMERCIAL OFFICE SECTOR Space Cooling 6% Lighting 18% ENERGY END USES: HEALTHCARE Space Cooling 6% Lighting 12% Space Heating 45% Auxillary Motors 11% Auxillary Motors 14% Auxillary Equipment 8% Space Heating 52% Auxillary Equipment 5% Water Heating 9% Water Heating 14% ENERGY END USES: MULTI-UNIT RESIDENTIAL SECTOR Space Cooling 5% Lighting 12% Auxillary Motors 13% Auxillary Equipment 3% Water Heating 11% Lighting 9% Auxillary Motors 11% Space Heating 58% Auxillary Equipment 15% Space Heating 46% Water Heating 14% ■ Source of information: “Background Report on the Energy Plan for Toronto,” by PriceWaterhouseCooper, June 2007. using a solar air heating system, it is possible to displace between 20 to 50 percent of a building’s total heating costs with a payback period that is usually in the three- to seven-year range. Well-designed systems are sized to meet the energy and ventilation requirements of the facility, bringing in anywhere from 2 to 10 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of air per square foot. To illustrate; Steelcare is an industrial service company, providing sophisticated warehousing, inventory management and transportation to the steel industry. When their Toronto-area Plant 19 was under design, the company began looking at innovative ways to reduce the energy costs of their building while still maintaining the necessary indoor environment. Ventilation air was one of their largest energy expenditures, which is why the company began looking at solutions that would directly impact that energy usage. A 1,500-square-foot black solar air heating system was installed on the south-facing wall of the 86,000-square-foot building. The system draws in 3,600 cfm of air, and was designed to provide a temperature rise of 77 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit over ambient. (This means that the load on the conventional heaters is signiﬁcantly reduced — and the daytime load may even be completely eliminated on a sunny day.) Commenting on their decision to use a solar air heating system to displace the energy associated with heating the ventilation air, Steelcare engineer Bob Edwards said: “Since energy expenses were prohibitive in our other facilities, we had to reduce costs. After we looked at a lot of options, we got a [25 percent grant] to put in a SolarWall [system].” He continues, “With everything we did, our warehouse is 56 percent more efﬁcient than conventional construction, and the SolarWall system represents more than 20 percent of the energy contribution.” The solar air heating system helped to contribute to ﬁve of Steelcare’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points, and was one of the reasons the building achieved LEED Gold status. Two points were obtained for EAc1 (Optimize Energy Performance) and three points were obtained for EAc2 (Renewable Energy). By targeting one of the main sources of energy required in the facility, the system is delivering substantial ﬁnancial savings. Commenting on this, Demetrius Tsafaridis, president of Steelcare, relates a humorous anecdote: “Our gas and electric bills are ridiculously low compared to our other facilities. Our gas supplier said we had better get our meter checked because it showed we are using way too little gas!” SF Victoria Hollick is the vice president of operations at Conserval Engineering, which has been instrumental in promoting solar air heating around the world for the commercial and industrial sector with the SolarWall system. Victoria has had a life-long interest in solar, and became further interested in effecting environmental and renewable energy policy while completing a graduate degree in economics. She is also the vice president of the Canadian Solar Indus- ■ SteelCare’s LEED Gold Plant 19 facility, Hamilton, Ontario (CAN), features a 1,500-square-foot black solar air heating system on the south-facing wall. >> Photo courtesy of Conserval Engineering. 32 S U S TA I N A B L E F A C I L I T Y NOVE M B E R 2008 tries Association.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Facility - November 2008

Sustainable Facility - November 2008 Contents Editorial Industry Watch Web TOC New and Notable The Case for Daytime Cleaning Commitment to Energy Effi ciency and Sustainability Finding the Green Solar for the Commercial and Industrial Sector: What’s Hot Now? Connecting Sustainability and Green Cleaning Recycling Rechargeable Batteries Sharing Best Practices The Consultant Conundrum Sharing the Facilities Management Burden The Building Owner’s and Operator’s Sustainability Solution: Energy Audits Greenbuild: Green Product Buzz Guide Product Focus Marketplace and Classifieds Advertiser’s Index Initiatives

Sustainable Facility - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.