Download How to obtain LEED credits with natural ventilation

How to obtain LEED credits
with natural ventilation
LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design,
is a green building certification program developed by
the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to promote and
direct buildings into more sustainable practices.
This paper gathers information about LEED certified
system and the potential benefits which LEED certified
buildings could give regarding productivity, health etc.
This is done via existing research literature and its wellknow and well-established findings.
WindowMaster’s indoor climate solutions have been put
to the test and have been evaluated to see how many
LEED points these system could have an influence on.
This showed that a proper and well designed natural
ventilation system has an influence on up to 22 LEED
points out of a total of 110.
This is supported by LEED reference cases, which has
already being certified.
Executive summary
This paper provides information about
the potential LEED points obtained when
using a natural ventilation system as well
as benefits of a LEED certified building and
lastly case studies supporting the evidence
A proper and well-designed natural
ventilation system has an influence on
Throughout the nine LEED case studies
it was found that
▪up to 22 LEED points out of a total of 110.
▪“ The research told us that 45% of the time we would be
Studies has pointed out that LEED
certified buildings could lead to
▪Outdoor temperatures in Baltimore are appropriate for
▪Reduction in energy, carbon, water and waste, resulting
in savings of 30 to 97% respectively
▪Operating costs reduced by 8-9% while increasing in
value up to 7.5%
▪Increases of up to 6.6% on return on investment
▪Rent increases of 3%
Natural and hybrid ventilation can
contribute to some major savings e.g.
▪0.8 - 1.3% savings on health costs
▪3 - 18% in productivity gains
▪47 - 79% in HVAC energy savings
▪120% for an average return of investment
able to open our windows for fresh air and essentially
turn off the mechanical ventilation in the building”
natural ventilation about 40% (red. 5 months) of the
year.
▪The law center does have a conventional HVAC system,
but it is less than half the size of one that would be
required for a normal building of its size.
▪The building's passive design strategies achieve very
high performance and flexibility without the use of PV
or solar thermal systems.
▪This last summer was a hot one for Seattle and the
building was able to maintain a maximum indoor
temperature of 78° F. even when it was in the 90’s
outside.
About natural and
hybrid ventilation
Natural ventilation regulates a building’s indoor
climate by exploiting the natural forces created by
temperature differences between the interior and exterior
environment, thermal displacement within the building
and winds around the building.
The air is kept fresh by controlling air replacement,
typically by using windows in the building’s facade and/
or roof. Ventilation is achieved by automatically opening
and closing windows depending on conditions inside and
outside the building and the need for fresh air.
Because natural forces are free, natural ventilation is
extremely energy-efficient compared to traditional
ventilation solutions and this means that natural
ventilation systems are both environmentally-friendly and
very economical to run.
Hybrid ventilation is a combination of natural and
mechanical ventilation and exploits both systems as
required. This entails either interchangeable periods
of natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation, or
a balancing of the two principles such that mechanical
ventilation takes over when the external conditions so
require. The result is an effective and energy-efficient
ventilation solution that maintains healthy indoor climate
and comfort.
In order to use a hybrid ventilation solution conditions for
the use of natural ventilation must be in place.
Hybrid ventilation solutions, like all other solutions that
utilise natural ventilation, are based on the principle of
providing healthy indoor climate and comfort, delivered
with minimal energy consumption and at minimal cost.
Natural and hybrid ventilation is suitable
for different buildings and constructions
Buildings/constructions
Natural ventilation
Hybrid ventilation
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01
Offices
02
Schools
03
Multi halls and sports halls
04
Shopping streets
05
Atriums
06
Common areas
07
Hallways/corridor
08
Double facades
09
Deep plan spaces
10
Spaces with high heat loads
11
Spaces with limited external openings
The choice of either natural or hybrid ventilation
as the optimal solution depends on the specific
purpose and building/construction
3
10 benefits of natural ventilation
01
Beautiful architecture
▪No unsightly pipe-work or duct
penetrations and no space
consuming ventilation units.
▪Possibility of increased ceiling
heights, as natural ventilation does
not require suspended ceilings.
▪More daylight and transparency,
for example, using atriums that can
be used for natural ventilation.
02
Lowered energy
consumption
▪Natural ventilation consumes
less energy than a comparative
mechanical ventilation system.
▪The use of hybrid ventilation could
reduce the energy consumption
even further.
03
100% use of space
▪With natural ventilation you will
get full utilisation of the building
floor plate and floor to ceiling
height, since there are no need for
space for large air handling units
and equipment rooms.
▪A mechanical ventilation system
obtains up to 6.5% of a buildings
floor area compared to only 0.2%
for a natural ventilation system.
04
Green profile
▪Buildings account for up to 30-40%
of total energy consumption.
▪Natural ventilation has very low
energy consumption and thus
a very limited CO2 emission.
▪ 24-71% saved carbon emissions
with natural ventilation instead of
mechanical ventilation.
05
High user satisfaction
▪With a natural ventilation solution
from WindowMaster it is easy to
divide your building into different
zones e.g. an office space in order
to address several demands.
▪Users always have the option
to override the automatic
control, therefore providing high
satisfaction.
▪In air-conditioned buildings, only
50% of the occupants are satisfied
whereas in naturally ventilated
buildings 77% of the occupants are
satisfied with indoor temperature.
06
Gentle refurbishment
▪With natural ventilation, it is
possible to establish a good indoor
climate in for example protected
buildings, without the need to
break through walls and ceilings
with ducts and making rooms for
large ventilation units.
▪Natural ventilation is an obvious
choice if the building should
replace the old windows with
newer ones. Here you can easily
install actuators for natural
ventilation.
07
Fast refurbishment
▪The refurbishment can be
completed very quickly, which
allows the building occupants to
have minimal disruption if you
choose natural ventilation rather
than mechanical ventilation.
This may also enable you to avoid
having the users of the building
relocated while renovation takes
place.
08
Lower expenditure
▪Fewer and less expensive
components and construction
work are some of the contributing
factors that natural ventilation the
low cost option for a better indoor
climate.
▪Building life cycles cost (capital
cost, operating cost and
maintenance) is 5 times cheaper
with natural ventilation compared
to mechanical ventilation and 2.5
times cheaper with hybrid/mixed
mode ventilation.
▪Less than 1 year payback or an
average ROI (return of investment)
of at least 120% for natural
ventilation and mixed-mode
systems, due to energy, health and
productivity benefits
09
Minimal maintenance
▪No filter replacement.
▪No dirty ducts to be cleaned.
10
Better indoor climate
▪Studies have shown that people
who are staying in buildings with
natural ventilation have fewer
building related symptoms such as
headaches, eye irritation etc.
▪Increased productivity gains of
3-18% compared to mechanical
ventilation and savings on health
cost of 0.8 – 1.3%.
▪Sick building syndromes symptoms
can be reduced by more than 65%
with a natural ventilation solution.
4
Ventilation principles
The driving forces in natural ventilation are
thermal buoyancy and wind pressure on
buildings. The design of the building, the
form of the window openings and location
have a significant impact on the quality of
the indoor climate
Natural ventilation is driven by
three basic ventilation principles
01 Single-sided ventilation
An opening in one side of the room. The amount of
fresh air coming into the room is limited by single-sided
ventilation
03 Stack-ventilation
Caused by a height difference between openings – i.e.
between façade and roof window. The ventilation is
primarily driven by warm air rising to the top creating a
pressure difference
02 Cross-ventilation
Openings in two or more facades can create crossventilation in a room. The ventilation is powered by
differences in wind pressure on the facades in which
the window openings are located
02
01
03
5
Obtain up to 22 LEED points
with a WindowMaster solution
WindowMaster’s indoor climate
solutions have been put to the test
and have been evaluated to see how
many LEED (v41) points they have
an influence on. This showed that
a proper and well designed natural
ventilation system has an influence
on up to 22 LEED points out of a total
110 points. One of the important
factors to achieve these points is to
have an intelligent demand controlled
system with the possibility for
features such as positioning control
and feedback of the actuator, threespeed actuator operation etc.
Figure 1 shows how many credits
natural ventilation, WindowMasters
control system, are able to achieve in
the different categories.
1. Refers to LEED Version 4
Selected LEED categories
Our comfort ventilation solutions
Possible points
NV Advance® NV Comfort®
Plus
NV Comfort®
Standard
Energy & Atmosphere
Fundamental commissioning and
verification
Required
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Minimum energy performance
Required
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Building-level energy metering
Required
√
0
0
Fundamental refrigerant
management
Required
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√
√
Optimize energy performance
18
1-10
1-10
1-10
Advanced energy metering
1
1
0
0
Enhanced refrigerant management
1
1
1
1
5
1-3
1-3
1-3
Minimum indoor air quality
performance
Required
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Enhanced indoor air quality
strategies
2
2
2
2
Construction indoor air quality
management plan
1
1
1
1
Indoor air quality assessment
2
2
2
2
Thermal comfort
1
1
1
1
Acoustic performance
1
1
1
1
Material & Resources
Building life-cycle impact reduction
Indoor Environmental Quality
Figure 1: With natural ventilation you can
obtain 22 out of 110 points
About LEED
LEED (Leadership in Energy &
Environmental Design) is a green
building certification program that
recognizes best-in-class building
strategies and practices. This initiative
was developed by the USGBC to
promote and direct buildings into
more sustainable practices. Within
each of the LEED credit categories,
projects must satisfy prerequisites
and earn points.
There are four levels of certification
– the number of points a project
earns determines the level of
Certified
40-49 Points
Silver
50-59 Points
LEED certification that the project
will receive. Typical certification
thresholds are listed in Figure 2.
Gold
60-79 Points
Platinum
80+ Points
Figure 2: The four LEED certification levels
6
Benefits of using the LEED
certification systems
Energy savings
The energy consumption and the consequent reduced
energy costs, is one of the defining features of any green
building. Energy efficiency has a significant impact on the
overall running costs of a property, as energy prices rise
then the operational energy efficiency will more likely
become one of the important drivers for occupier demand.
Estimates for the reduction in a green building’s energy
use compared to a conventional code-compliant building
range from 15% - 35%2 (Based on LEED-certified buildings
in the United States).3
Energy Savings for LEED cerfied buildings
40
35
Reducon in energy use compared to
convenonal code-compliant buildings (%)
There are a wide range of economic and environmental
benefits to sustainable design, often achieved through
the use of standards, rating, and certification systems.
According to a study of LEED certified buildings, the
USGBC has found that energy, carbon, water, and
waste can be reduced, resulting in savings of 30 to 97%
respectively. Operating costs of green buildings can also
be reduced by 8-9% while increasing in value up to 7.5%.
Many sustainable buildings have also seen increases of
up to 6.6% on return on investment, 3.5% increases in
occupancy, and rent increases of 3%. Other benefits of
green buildings, such as higher productivity and increased
occupant health, have been attributed to better indoor
environmental quality.
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
LEED Cerfied
LEED Silver
LEED Gold
Figure 3: Energy Savings for three LEED certified buildings
with different certification levels
Productivity and health benefits
From a business perspective, there
are clear incentives for improving
employee health and productivity.
Research suggests that by making
even small improvements to factors
such as productivity, health and
wellbeing, businesses can experience
greater financial benefit than they
would from more efficient resource
use in building operations.
Figure 4 illustrates the potential
benefits which LEED certified
buildings could give regarding
productivity, health etc.
OUTSIDE VIEWS
Mental Funcon &
Memory
Call
Processing
Hospital
Stays
6-12%
10-25%
8.5%
FASTER
BETTER
SHORTER
DAYLIGHT
SYSTEMS
Producvity Increases by
Students achieve
5-14%
HIGHER TEST SCORES
and learn 20-26% FASTER
18%
Workers are
MORE PRODUCTIVE
23% from
be“er lighng
15-40%
INCREASE
in Retail Sales
11% from
be“er venlaon
3% from individual
temperature control
Figure 4: Net present value analysis of the operational cost and
productivity and health benefits of LEED certified buildings
2. Gregory H. Kats, The costs and financial benefits of green buildings,
October 2003
3. Source: https://www.wbdg.org/resources/gbs.php
7
Focus on employees well-being
is a good business
One of the more hot topics of today is the health and
productivity of the employers and here the numbers
clearly speak for themselves.
that is many times larger than any other financial savings
associated with an efficiently designed and operated
building.
The World Green Building Council (GBC) published in
2015 a comprehensive report on Health, Wellbeing &
Productivity in Offices.
Here it was pointed out that the staff costs, including
salaries and benefits, typically account for about 90% of
a business’ operating costs (Figure 5). It follows that the
productivity of staff, or anything that affects their ability
to be productive, should be a major concern for any
organisation.
1%
Energy costs
9%
Rental costs
90%
Staff costs in salaries
and benefits
Figure 5: Typical business operating costs4
An improvement in employee health or productivity can
have a huge financial implication for employers – one
High productivity and
less SBS symptoms
Several studies have been looking at
the productivity gains, SBS symptoms
and the health impact from natural
and hybrid ventilation. Figure 6
illustrates the results from different
studies from the last 30 years,
showing an improvement ranging
from the lower end of 3.2% to a
massive 18.0%.
24%
18%
perceived producvity
increase
20%
Average improvements 8.5%
$3,900 per employee
16%
9.75%
perceived producvity
increase
12%
5.1%
40% reduced
SBS symptoms
8%
7.7%
67% reduced
SBS symptoms
3.2%
7% reduced
absenteeism
4%
0%
7.5%
increased
testscores
Sterling and Sterling 1983
Skov et al. 1990
Heschong Mahone 2002
Kroeling et al. 1988
Leaman 2001
Rowe 2002
Figure 6: Annual Productivity Gains from Mixed-Mode
Conditioning and Natural Ventilation5
4. Browning B. (2012) The Economics of Biophilia: Why designing with nature
in mind makes sense. David Clark (2013). What Colour is your Building?:
Measuring and reducing the energy and carbon footprint of buildings.
5. Source: http://cbpd.arc.cmu.edu/ebids
8
Productivity and energy benefits
A comprehensive analysis in 2004 by Carnegie Mellon6
concluded that natural ventilation or mixed-mode
conditioning could achieve 0.8 - 1.3% savings on health
costs, 3 - 18% productivity gains and 47 - 79% in HVAC
energy savings, for an average ROI (Return Of Investment)
of at least 120%. The more in depth numbers can be
found below.
Eight studies have shown that natural ventilation and
mixed-mode systems can pay for themselves in less than
one year due to energy and productivity benefits.
▪Natural ventilation and mixed-mode systems yield;
▪annual energy cost savings of $110 per employee
▪health cost savings of $60 per employee
▪annual productivity gains of $3,900 per employee
▪total savings of $4,070 per employee annually
8
studies have
shown that natural
ventilation and
mixed-mode
systems can pay
for themselves in
less than 1 year
▪The average ROI for an investment in natural ventilation
or mixed-mode conditioning is 407% for new
construction and 120% for retrofits.
▪In the US office sector this would mean more than
$6.4 billion in energy savings each year. If only half of
those buildings used natural ventilation or mixed-mode
conditioning, over 40 billion kWh would be saved each
year.
▪Given the average productivity and health benefits of
$3,900 and $60 per employee, respectively, the total
savings achieved by providing half of the U.S. workforce
with mixed-mode conditioning or natural ventilation is
over $118.9 billion annually (equivalent to 1% of the U.S.
GDP in 2003).
6. Carnegie Mellon (2004), Guidelines for High Performance Buildings – Ventilation and
Productivity
9
anum
Customers with a LEED certification
WindowMaster projects has in many cases, shown that it
is possible to achieve a very high LEED rating with natural
ventilation. View some of WindowMaster’s LEED certified
projects below.
Gold
Silver
San Diego Continuing
Education Mesa College
Campus, San Diego
Planum
Gold
Prime Tower, Zürich
Planum
Gold
University of San Francisco
John Lo Schiavo, San Francisco
Silver
Planum
Gold
Qualcomm Campus Building AY
& Building AZ, San Diego
Planum
The University of Baltimore
School of Law, Baltimore
Gold
Silver
Planum
The Bullitt Center, Seattle
Planum
Silver
Gold
Green Lighthouse, Copenhagen
Silver
Planum
G
The Tower at PNC Plaza,
Pittsburgh
Gold
Planum
Silver
G
UN City, Copenhagen
10
San Diego Continuing Education Mesa
College Campus, San Diego
The facility has been awarded LEED silver certification by
the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the district’s
fourteenth LEED certified facility. Natural ventilation
and daylighting played aPlanum
big part, while sustainable
construction materials and high-efficiency plumbing
and mechanical systems also contributed to the green
qualifications.
Gold
Silver
This $22.5-million school project consolidates programs
such as English as a second language and disability support
into a bright and airy two-story learning center of 37,700
sq. ft. (3500 m2). Project engineers have incorporated
sustainable features such as natural ventilation and
natural lighting to reduce the building’s energy use by 43%
compared with state requirements.
The WindowMaster solution
The natural ventilation occurs via high-level automated
façade windows in the classroom. In the back of each
classroom, there are high-level automated vents, which
can lead the air into the common areas (hallway) where
the air is ventilated out through the high-level automated
windows in the clerestory.
Each teacher controls the classroom temperature through
a single switch on the wall that offers the choice between
natural and mechanical cooling. When the temperature
falls within the comfort zone (as it does the majority of
the year), the natural ventilation system disengages the
mechanical air conditioning and automatically opens the
windows.
In the design discovery process, teachers told that they
love to open the windows and doors. This building
encourages that behavior, so it is expected that the
teachers will choose natural ventilation most of the time.
WindowMaster was selected to supply the more than
100 motors for the natural ventilation solution for its
MotorLink® technology. MotorLink® is a digital data
communication technology designed to provide improved
control and functionality where automated windows and
natural ventilation are part of a building management
system.
43%
reducement of the building’s
energy use, compared with
state requirements
11
University of San Francisco John Lo Schiavo,
San Francisco
The University of San Francisco (USF) needed to replace its
cramped 1966 Harney Hall, built when science enrollments
were just half of today’s levels. Construction of a new
state-of-the-art science building (S.J. Center for Science
and Innovation) located in the center of the USF main
campus, immediately adjacent to two existing buildings.
Classrooms include chemistry wet-labs with fume hoods,
physics labs, lecture halls, computer labs, and community
spaces. The 61,610 sq. ft.building had a budget of $43M
and was awarded LEED Gold.
Planum
Gold
The WindowMaster solution
A green feature of the mostly glass building are the
climate-controlled windows, which open or close
depending on the temperature and have features to
prevent reflectivity and use ambient heat to help control
temperature. In line with the campus’ wind patterns, the
building is designed to accommodate natural ventilation.
Piping systems embedded in the concrete run water hot
and cold, which helps control the building’s temperature.7
42% savings from tle 24 baseline
Passive venlaon
Natural venlaon /
Radiant Floor System
Acve venlaon
Type 1: Intensive Lab Space
100% Outside Air
Type 2: Overhead / Displacement
Type 3: Underfloor Air
7. Source: http://issuu.com/nbbj/docs/usf-case-study
12
Green Lighthouse, Copenhagen
Green Lighthouse was Denmark's first certified sustainable
building, having become the first building in the country to
achieve a LEED Gold rating.
Planum
Gold
Green Lighthouse, a faculty building for the Faculty of
Science at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark,
is designed to optimize the well-being of the people
working in the building as well as being CO2 neutral.
The 10,000 sq. ft. (950 m2) was built as a demo building
in connection with the UN Climate Conference, COP15,
held in Copenhagen in 2009, with a sharp focus on energy
consumption and renewable energy.
The WindowMaster solution
An important element in achieving CO2 neutrality is using
technology that reduces the use of electricity. Traditional
ventilation systems are usually one of the great electricity
consumers. Automatic window control (natural ventilation)
has therefore been installed to ensure fresh air in the
building. Mechanical ventilation is only in operation for
a very limited part of the year.
NV Advance® from WindowMaster ensures that the
building is at all times using the most efficient form of
energy. This is done by continuous measurement of room
temperature, CO2 and light levels and using the weather
station records of outdoor temperature, wind speed and
direction, sunshine and rain. Based on all these data,
NV Advance® determines which type of ventilation
is optimal and whether there is a need for heating or
additional electrical lighting.
Solar cells
For most of the year, ventilation is provided solely via the
automatic control of windows that are opened and closed
in each room/area depending on the need for ventilation
and fresh air. On cold days, mechanical ventilation with
heat recovery is used. On warm days, cooling is provided in
the large meeting rooms.
Atrium ventilation
Solar heang system
LED
Hybrid venlaon
Fresh air intake
Sun screening
Night cooling
Two years after Green Lighthouse at the University
of Copenhagen opened the doors, it became the first
building in the country to be certified as a sustainable
building. Green Lighthouse was given a LEED Gold rating.
Furthermore, the building was chosen to become a pilot
project in order to test the Danish certification system,
DGNB-DK, and was awarded with DGNB Silver.
Highly insulang
and ght climate
screens
Cast shadow
Heang pump
Solar heang
container
WindowMaster
touch screen
13
Prime Tower, Zürich
Zurich’s 126 metre high 430,000 sq. ft. (40,000 m2) Prime
Tower, the tallest building in Switzerland, has been
designed by architects Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer to
be at the forefront of sustainable building technologies.
Planum
Gold
The development houses offices, restaurants and
bars, retail outlets and support facilities. As part of the
sustainable construction of the building it features natural
ventilation controlled by the MotorLink® automated
window control system.
The WindowMaster solution
Schüco, in partnership with façade designers Emmer
Pfenninger Partner and façade manufacturer
Dobler Metallbau, delivered an installation of 6,910
WindowMaster chain actuators for the automation
of 1,382 parallel opening windows including one
espagnolette locking motor for each window. These
MotorLink® actuators are connected to MotorLink®
MotorControllers to provide power and control primarily
for natural ventilation.
The windows in Prime Tower are large rectangular parallel
opening windows, which weigh approximately 360kg.
To safely operate under load each window is equipped
with four WindowMaster chain actuators and one special
espagnolette/locking actuator.
The window actuators communicate with the
MotorController via digital MotorLink® technology.
Exact feedback concerning position as well as accurate
synchronisation of the actuators is therefore ensured.
The chain actuators and other components were tested
and approved according to strict performance standards.
14
Qualcomm Campus Building AY &
Building AZ, San Diego
Qualcomm's Pacific Center Campus consists of Building AY,
an approximately 357,000-sq-ft, six-story office/laboratory
facility and Building AZ, an approximately 67,000-sq-ft,
two-story multi-use facility that includes a learning/
conference center, kitchen/café, a health/fitness center
and a theatre. The buildings are being designed to achieve
LEED gold certification.
Sustainable features include an architectural bioswale
designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff
water in the interior courtyard, natural daylighting and a
state-of-the-art façade that controls heat and glare. It is
also one of the largest naturally ventilated buildings in the
country. These high-performance features create a highquality work environment.
The WindowMaster Solution
Planum
Gold
Photographer: Chad McDonald
Source: www.flickr.com
WindowMaster has supplied almost 1000 actuators for
two buildings at the Qualcomm Pacific Centre in San Diego,
USA.
‘The buildings are designed to optimize passive design
strategies to achieve high-performance results and provide
a high-quality interior workplace environment to boost
employee productivity. The buildings’ east/west solar
orientation and narrow floor plates promote natural
ventilation and daylighting, and a high-performance façade
design controls heat gain and glare.
15
The Tower at PNC Plaza, Pittsburgh
The Tower at PNC Plaza is a 800,000 square feet
headquarters for the PNC bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Planned as a landmark building, both with regards to
design and in terms of environmental friendly solutions,
the 33-story tower has a construction budget of
approximately $240 million. Incorporating state-of-theart green technology, including a double-skin facade and
solar chimney, the building was designed to exceed LEED
Platinum certification and to be the greenest office tower
in the world.
Planum
The WindowMaster Solution
WindowMaster has delivered more than 6300 actuators
to control 700 parallel windows in the outer double skin
façade and 1450 automated air vents in the inner facade.
From its one-of-a-kind, breathable double skin to
its innovative workplace strategy, The Tower drives
performance to new levels. The building “breathes” with
a double-skin facade: a natural ventilation system that
has a glass outer weather and air barrier and an inner
layer with automated air vents, a wood curtain wall, and
manually operated sliding doors. A series of automatic
sensors on both layers open up the building for air when
the weather permits.
The main reason for choosing WindowMaster as a supplier
for this project is the MotorLink® technology that enables.
genuine synchronization of four actuators on one parallel
window and exact position control and feedback via the
BACnet BMS.
“
The research told us that 45% of the
time we would be able to open our
windows for fresh air and essentially
turn off the mechanical ventilation in
the building.
We had to create a double skin that
operated through a building control
system that would open during the
optimal weather days…”
Doug Gensler, Managing Director | Gensler
Boston
16
The University of Baltimore School
of Law, Baltimore
The new home of the John and Frances Angelos Law
Center at 192,000 sq. ft. unites classrooms, faculty
offices, administrative space, and the law library under a
single roof for the first time in the history of the school.
The building, located at the prominent intersection of
Mount Royal Avenue and Charles Street, functionally and
symbolically defines the Law School as an academic and
social nexus, offering state-of-the-art teaching and learning
facilities.8
Planum
The WindowMaster solution
WindowMaster has provided more than 1000 MotorLink®
actuators integrating the intelligent facades with the
LONworks Buildings Management System. This enables full
control of each motorized window. The windows will then
be automatically closed when the aircondition is on and
made available for the users to open and close at will by
the manual override switches, when the aircondition is off.
Operable windows are provided in regularly occupied
spaces, allowing users to have direct control of their
environment. Occupants have local control of operable
windows in all office, teaching and library spaces, and are
notified of favorable outdoor conditions by means of a
green indicator light that communicates appropriate times
to open a window. Atrium operable windows are fully
controlled by the building automation system based on the
quality of outdoor conditions. Atrium smoke exhaust fans
are activated at low speed in natural ventilation mode to
guarantee good cross ventilation through all spaces, and
acoustically protected and fire-protected transfer openings
are provided from perimeter spaces to the atrium.
Outdoor temperatures in Baltimore are appropriate for
natural ventilation about 40% (red. 5 months) of the year.
Therefore, a mixed-mode approach to the interior climate
is taken, with mechanical ventilation, heating, and cooling
during the extreme seasons and natural ventilation during
spring and fall. The law center does have a conventional
HVAC system, but it is less than half the size of one that
would be required for a normal building of its size.
8. J. Michael Barber is a senior associate with Ayers/Saint/Gross
17
The Bullitt Center, Seattle
The Bullitt Center is a high performance urban office
building, demonstrating a commercially structure with
essentially no environmental footprint is possible. The
six-story, 52,000 sq. ft. building was evaluated toward the
goal of net zero energy, water and waste – resulting in an
unprecedented EUI of 10kbtu/sf/yr.
Planum
The Bullitt Center is all about changing the norms of design
and construction for a typical office building. The challenge
PAE, the project’s mechanical and electrical engineer,
accepted was to design the ventilation system to keep the
occupants comfortable while using radically less energy
compared to a standard office building. The three principle
strategies used to create a comfortable office environment
are a high-performance envelope, passive cooling through
motorized windows, and a radiant slab to heat and cool
the space.
The WindowMaster Solution
Justin Stenkamp of PAE feels that the new norm should be
to have the occupants and the building operator sharing
the strategies to support the efficient operation of the
building. The occupants need to buy-in to the goals and
understand how to optimize the energy efficiency of the
building. At the Bullitt Center there is an override for the
control of the windows on each occupant’s computer and
a hard switch in each tenant space.
In a standard office building there is a disconnect between
the weather outdoors and the interior temperature. We
all are familiar with the chill when stepping into a typical
office building from the summer street. The old style is
to have the building maintain a standard temperature
all year regardless of what is happening outside. At the
Bullitt Center it’s different. In summer the interior will be
a bit warmer and will suit your summer clothing. This last
summer was a hot one for Seattle and the building was
able to maintain a maximum indoor temperature of 78° F.
even when it was in the 90’s outside.
The interior spaces are controlled by a computer that
acts as the brains of the building, translating the outdoor
environmental conditions into reactions at the envelope
of the building – such as employing the exterior louver
shades or opening the windows, as heating or partially
cooling the radiant slab at each floor.9
“
To help cut energy consumption to 23
percent the amount of a traditional
building its size, natural light will account
for 82 percent of all lighting, thanks to
oversized windows and higher ceilings
that help get light farther inside. And
so will air, as the building’s electronic
ʻbrainʼ automatically opens and shuts
the windows based on temperature
needs, eliminating the need for airconditioning units.”
Source: Time Inc, June 2012
9. Source: http://www.bullittcenter.org/2014/01/22/natural-ventilation/
18
UN City, Copenhagen
The 560,000 sq ft (52,000 m2) building located in
Copenhagen (Denmark) consists of two campuses that
houses ten United Nations agencies which currently
accommodates 1,200 employees representing more than
100 different nationalities.
Planum
The building is built with a large focus on sustainability
and environmental friendliness, and the calculated energy
consumption has been designed to use at least 55%, less
than 4.5kbtu/sf/yr (50 kWh/m2/year) less energy than
expected from a similar-sized office building
UN City in Copenhagen is the first United Nations building
to receive the prestigious platinum LEED certification
thanks to its environmentally-friendly design. Additionally,
it has been awarded with the European Commission's
Green Building Award for New Buildings.
The WindowMaster solution
The building has a façade cladding of white perforated
aluminum shutters, developed by 3XN and contractor
Pihl specifically for the UN City. The shutters ensure solar
shading without blocking the view or the daylight. Since
the facade is divided into three meter long modules, it
is possible for the employees to control the sunshade
from their computers. The result is an improved indoor
environment, and a dynamic façade expressing a building
full of life.
The WindowMaster package for this project is to deliver
1500 special made 24V motors for torque control of the
solar shading panels.
19
Contact us for
further information
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