NEW YORK CITY—The importance of HVAC&R as it applies to a range of building types is highlighted in the winning entries for the ASHRAE Technology Awards. Designers of systems for a hospital, a poultry slaughter house, a community center, a school and a hotel were recognized for incorporating elements of innovative building design in the areas of occupant comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy conservation. Winners have applied ASHRAE standards for effective energy management and IAQ. The awards were presented at ASHRAE’s 2008 Winter Meeting held earlier this month in New York City.
“While each project was unique in its application of the technologies, many of the projects used similar systems or ideas to reach a design solution on a wide range of building types,” Stephen Abernathy, P.E., chair of the Technology Awards judging panel, said. “With submittals from all over the world, the program spotlights engineering innovation in applying systems that have been around for years—to new applications—and sharing that innovative thought with others in our industry. This helps engineers realize that there are multiple solutions to everyday design problems and that we don’t have to re-invent the wheel to come up with an answer that is workable.”
Winning Hotel Project Summary
Springhill Suites—Albert Barfield, marketing principal with Gulf Power Co., Pensacola, Fla., received first place in the new commercial buildings category for his work on the Springhill Suites, Pensacola, Fla. This hotel on a barrier island on the Florida Gulf Coast uses a hybrid geothermal system. The system features a 150-ton closed-loop evaporative fluid cooler. The loop field is set up in parallel with the 150-ton fluid cooler, which offers considerable heat rejection control and redundancy. The primary domestic water heaters are three each, five horsepower water-to-water geothermal heat pumps. All pool and spa heating is provided by geothermal heat pumps. In addition, more than 300 tons of room unitary, ducted geothermal heat pumps are used in guest suites and to serve all other conditioned areas of the hotel.
Overall annual energy intensity for this hybrid geothermal hotel is 79 kBTU/sq.ft., which is 37 percent below the 1995 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey intensity for the lodging segment national average of 135 kBTU/sq.ft. By comparison, another hotel in the same geographic location but with air source equipment operates at an annual energy intensity of 139 kBTU/sq.ft.
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