Recognition of how the building industry affects the envi ronment is changing the approach to
design, construction, operation, maintenance, reuse, and demolition of buildings and focusing on
environmental and long-term economic con sequences. Although this sustainable design ethic—
sustain ability—covers things beyond the HVAC industry alone, efficient use of energy resources is
certainly a key element of any sustainable design and is very much under the control of the HVAC
designer. Research over the years has shown that new commercial construction can reduce annual
energy consumption by about 50%usingintegrateddesignproceduresandenergyconserva tion
techniques. In the past few years several programs pro moting energy efficiency in building design
and operation have been developed. One of these is Energy Star Label (www.energystar.gov) and
another one, which is becoming well known, is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) (www.usgbc.org/leed). In 1999 the Environmental Protection Agency of the US government
introduced the Energy Star Label for buildings. This is a set of performance standards that compare a
build ing’s adjusted energy use to that of similar buildings nation wide. The buildings that perform in
the top 25%, while conforming to standards for temperature, humidity, illumina tion, outdoor air
requirements, and air cleanliness, earn the Energy Star Label. LEED is a voluntary points-based
national standard for developing a high-performance building using an integrated design process.
LEED evaluates “greenness” in five catego ries: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmo
sphere, materials and resources, and the indoor air environmental quality. In the energy and
atmosphere category, building systems commissioning and minimum energy usages are necessary
requirements. The latter requires meeting the requirements ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNAStandard90.1-
2013,EnergyStandard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, or the local energy code,
whichever is more stringent. Basically LEED defines what makes a building “green” while the Energy
Star Label is concerned only with energy performance. Both of these programs require adherence to
ASHRAEstandards. Chapter 35 of the 2017 ASHRAE Hand book—
Fundamentalsprovidesguidanceinachievingsustain able designs. The basic approach to energy-
efficient design is reducing loads (power), improving transport systems, and providing efficient
components and “intelligent” controls. Important design concepts include understanding the
relationship betweenenergyandpower,maintainingsimplicity,usingself imposed budgets, and applying
energy-smart design prac tices. Just as an engineer must work to a cost budget with most designs,
self-imposed power budgets can be similarly helpful in achievingenergy-efficient design.
Forexample,thefollow ingarepossiblegoalsformid-risetohigh-riseofficebuildings in a typical
midwestern or northeastern temperature climate: • Installed lighting (overall) • Space sensible
cooling • Space heating load • Electric power (overall) • Thermal power (overall) • Hydronic system
head • Water chiller (water-cooled) • Chilled-water system auxiliaries • Unitary air-conditioning
systems • Annual electric energy • Annual thermal energy 0.8 W/ft2 15 Btu/h·ft2 10 Btu/h·ft2 3
W/ft2 20 Btu/h·ft2 70 ft of water 0.5 kW/ton 0.15 kW/ton 1.0 kW/ton 15 kWh/ft2·yr 5
Btu/ft2·yr·°F·day These goals, however, may not be realistic for all projects. As the building and
systems are designed, all decisions becomeinteractiveastheresultofeachsubsystem’spoweror energy
performance beingcontinually compared to the “bud get.” Energy efficiency should be considered at
the beginning of building design because energy-efficient features are most easily and effectively
incorporated at that time. Active par ticipation of all members of the design team (including owner,
architect, engineer, and often the contractor) should besoughtearly. Consider building attributes such
as building function, form, orientation, window/wall ratio, and HVAC system types early because
each has major energy implica tions. 1.6 Problems 1.1 Estimate whether ice will form on a clear night
when ambientairtemperatureis45°F(7.2°C),ifthewaterisplaced in a shallow pan in a sheltered location
where the convective heat transfer coefficient is 0.5 Btu/h·ft2·°F [2.8 W/(m2·K)]. 1.2 Obtain a sketch
or drawing of Gorrie’s refrigeration machine and describe its operation. 1.3 Plot the history of the
annual energy use per square foot of floor space for nonresidential buildings and predict the values
for the years 2014 and 2015. 1.4 Estimate the size of cooling and heating equipment that is needed
for a new bank building in middle America that is 140 ft
by220ftby12fthigh(42.7mby67mby3.7mhigh). [Answer: 123 tons cooling, 11,109,000 Btu/h heating
