June 20, 2006

Reduce dependence on mechanical systems

WARREN FREY

staff writer

VANCOUVER

In a room full of architects, three engineers worked themselves out of a job.

At the 2006 Festival of Architecture, presented by the Royal Canadian Institute of Architecture in Vancouver, three mechanical engineers explained how, when fulfilling LEED requirements and building sustainable buildings, it’s necessary to use as little in the way of mechanical systems as possible.

“The single biggest impact in energy use in a building is the HVAC system. And out of the energy consumed by that system, only one third of it conditions the air; the other two thirds is wasted,” said Cobalt Ltd. mechanical engineer Vladimir Mikler.

Mikler made his remarks during an umbrella presentation called ‘Going Beyond LEED: Integrated System Building Design.’ He detailed optimal methods to design buildings from the ground up using as little energy as possible. He also recommended understanding “building physics,” or the physical behaviour of the entire building.

But the main priority of a designer should be to make the building “passive”, he said.

Passive design means synergy between the surrounding environment and building components, along with using fewer mechanical systems. “Active” components such as mechanical systems should be optimized, integrated and energy efficient, he said.

Using heavier building fabric also reduces the temperature of the structure, while increasing the thermal comfort of occupants, he said.

Other factors, such as building codes, don’t do an adequate job addressing energy concerns, Mikler said.

Vladimir Mikler

“Codes don’t talk about the energy demands of a building. Depending on the materials used, a building has different energy demands,” he said.

European, for instance, has far stricter controls and standards for energy consumption than North America.

Cobalt mechanical engineer Albert Bicol focused on various projects throughout B.C. that have attempted to achieve a “zero impact” on their surrounding environment.

One project, the University of British Columbia - Okanagan’s multiple purpose academic research facility - took several approaches to achieve sustainability.

“We were looking for a net effect of zero, and labs are traditionally the toughest buildings because of their huge use of air conditioning,” Bicol said.

By examining the ventilation from the start, Cobalt’s engineers created effective ventilation in the labs with reduced energy consumption.

“We challenged the codes for ventilation. We went for quality of air exchange, rather than just quantity,” Bicol said.

Heating and cooling is also achieved through the skin of the building. All these techniques result in a potential saving of 0.5 to 075 million on mechanical costs.

But the key to any project is to keep things as simple as possible and alter design thinking to emphasize sustainability from the outset, he said.

“Concentrate on sustainability and design first, and then aesthetics and costs. We tend to focus on the economics, but sustainability is all about what resources we have for both this and future generations,” he said.

Print | Email | Comment