Gordon Sharp
The primary reason behind many labs’ high energy expenses is the minimum ventilation or air change requirements that often dominate the amount of outside air required by these facilities. This seminar will present a unique demand based control solution to this problem. In this approach rather than use a fixed air change rate of 6 to 12 ACH, real time measurements of the actual lab indoor environmental quality are used to vary the air change rates from as low as 2 to 4 ACH to upwards of 8 to 16 ACH based on the cleanliness of the lab room air. By safely cutting the lab air change rates often times by as much as 50% or more for about 98% of the time, this approach is often cited as the single largest energy conservation approach for many lab facility designs. This presentation will describe this proven approach for labs, and discuss a technology that can be used to implement its cost effectively. Some early work with this concept in cleanrooms including an upcoming ASHRAE research projects on Demand Based Control of cleanrooms will also be discussed. This approach has been used in over 200 lab facilities and multiple case studies will be highlighted including projects at Arizona State University which is saving over $1 million a year in annual energy costs in one building and projects at the University of Pennsylvania where this concept is the largest and most impactful energy reduction approach on campus.