032-039 Technology Award Ecosystem WEB

8/12/2019 032-039 Technology Award Ecosystem WEB

1/5

Retrotting Montreals

Fan Efciency| GCHP and Thermal Storage| Holistic HVAC Desig

Energy Modeling and 90.1| Glide in Refrigeration Systems

APRIL 201

J O U R N A LTHE MAGAZIN E OF HVAC&R TECHN OLOGY AND APPLICATIONS

This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, April 2013. Copyright 2013 ASHRAE. Reprinted here by permission from ASHRAE at www.ecosystem.ca. This article maynot be copied nor distributed in either paper or digital form by other parties without ASHRAEs permission. For more information about ASHRAE, visit www.ashrae.org.


2/5

3 2 A S H R A E J o u r n a l a s h r a e . o r g A p r i l 2 0 1 3

First Place: Public Assembly, Existing

About the Author Andr-Benot Allard, Eng., is director of projects at Ecosystem in Quebec. He is a member of ASHRAEs Quebec chapter.

The Biodme, part of Montral Space for Life, the largest natural science museum complex in Canada, houses ve different ecosys-tems, which vary greatly in temperature, humidity and light requirements for hundreds of animal and plant species within its walls.

The Biodme is part of Montral Space for Life, the largest natural science museum complex in Canada,which also includes the Botanical Garden, the Insectarium and the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium.The Biodme is a unique building lled with ora and fauna from ve different replicated ecosystems from

the Americas. Although these ecosystems are all under one roof, they vary greatly in terms of temperature,

humidity and light requirements for hundreds of animal and plant species living within the dome. Four of

the ecosystemsthe Laurentian Maple Forest, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Sub-Antarctic Islands and the

Labrador Coastmust be cooled year-round while the Tropical Rainforest must be heated.

Geothermal for 5 EcosystemsBy Andr-Benot Allard, Eng., Member ASHRAE


3/5

A p r i l 2 0 1 3 A S H R A E J o u r n a l 3 3

2013 ASHRAE Technology Award Case Studies

Building at a Glance

Montral Biodme, aSpace for Life institutionLocation: Montral, QC, Canada

Owner: Ville de Montral

Principal Use: Environmental museum

with living collections

Includes: Replicated ecosystems, live

ora and fauna, ofces

Employees/Occupants: 850,000 visi-

tors per year, 150 250 employees

(varies by season)

Occupancy: 850,000 visitors per year

Gross Square Footage: 372,000

Conditioned Space: 372,000 ft 2

Substantial Completion/Occupancy:

June 1992

National Distinctions/Awards:

Federation of Canadian Municipalities

(FCM): Sustainable Communities

Award and Green Championship Award

The chillersor heat pumpsuse R-134a. A 250 ton (879 kW) heat pump isdedicated to the Sub-Polar Regions where a colder water-glycol mixture is needed.

C

l a u

d e

L a

f o n

d e

Project Drivers The Biodme is deeply committed to

protecting the environment and biodi-versity. In addition, the buildings energycosts were consistently high because the

building had some zones that requiredconstant heating while others required theremoval of excess heat. It was suppliedwith chilled water (yearly average 330tons) and steam (yearly average 3,000lb/h [0.38 kg/s]) by the neighboring build-ing. The electric demand for the buildingwas approximately 3,200 kW.

Finally, the electromechanical equip-ment used for heating, cooling, andlighting required major upgrades.

Therefore, the institution decided togo forward with an ambitious energy-efciency retrot project aimed at sig-nicantly reducing energy consumptionand greenhouse gas emissions.

Project DescriptionAn energy saving retrot was performed

on the building from 2008 to 2010. Theproject was carried out as an energy per-formance contract in partnership with arm of energy-efciency professionals.

Implemented in close partnership withthe Biodmes technical services staff,the project was designed to dig deeperinto the existing energy infrastructure toreduce costs, upgrade equipment and im-prove conditions for the collections andfor the people in ofces and public areas.

The $8.1 million project reduced en-ergy costs by 52% and greenhouse gas

emissions by 80%. Project costs are be-ing repaid within a 5.2-year period byguaranteed energy savings and $1.6 mil-lion in government and utility incentives.

The project was carried out as an ener-gy performance contract, with the energyservices rm providing all services for alump sum. All energy savings and incen-tives were contractually guaranteed.

The process began with the compila-tion and analysis of all the buildingsenergy bills from the last ve years.One of these years, considered themost representative, was selected asthe base year. The preliminary studyand the detailed study fully met therequirements of sections 5.3 to 5.5 ofStandard 100-2006, Energy Conserva- tion i n Existing Buil dings, and Level

3Detailed analysis of capital inten-sive modications. Finally, this scopeof services included a project perfor-mance monitoring phase and a guaran-tee by the energy services rm of nan-

A retrot completed in 2010 resulted in reducing energy costs by 52%.


4/5


5/5

3 8 A S H R A E J o u r n a l a s h r a e . o r g A p r i l 2 0 1 3

2013 Technology Award Case Studies

of the heating system. This design allows for theBiodme to fully meet the needs for heating andcooling year-round using the heat pumps andeliminating the use of steam.

Summer Heat Recovery The marine and polar zones are mechanicallycooled year-round by the heat pumps for coolingpurposes and dehumidication. The energy recov-ered is used for reheating and processes. Duringsummer, the cooling capacity is more than suf-cient to provide most of the buildings heating.

AdjustedBase Year

YearMonitored

AmountSaved

Savings

Electricity (kWh) 20,417,631 18,014,152 2,403,479 11.8%

Electricity (kW) 4,324 3134 1,190 28%

Steam (mlb) 25,702,000 0 25,702,000 100%

Chilled water (mBtu) 34,834,244 0 34,834,244 100%

Total energy (GJ) 144,118 64,850 79,268 55%

Table 1: Energy savings of base year and monitored year compared.

Note that the Tropical Rainforest requires heating most of theyear. The surplus energy is discharged by the heat pumps intothe main exhaust air system, in a cooling tower, as well as inthe geothermal open loop system.

Winter Heat Recovery The buildings peripheral heating was previously provided by

electric baseboards and electric coils through the ventilation. Itis now provided by the glycol-water mixture in addition to heatrecovered by the heat pumps. In winter, the warm water-glycolmixture ows through the ventilation air-conditioning coils.

The heating is largely provided by the ventilation. The electricbaseboards, although retained, are used much less.

The heating capacity of the heat pumps depends directly onthe building cooling load. During winter, capacity decreases;some alternatives had to be developed to maximize the pro-duction of hot water by the heat pumps.

The natural cooling of many ventilation systems (using coldoutside air) was reduced in favor of mechanical cooling. Air-conditioning coils (heat recovery) were installed in the com-mon exhaust duct of several ventilation systems. These sys-tems discharge between 50,000 and 80,000 cfm (23 597 and37 755 L/s) of hot air. Any shortfall is compensated by heatfrom the open-loop ground-source heat pumps.

Open-Loop Ground-Source Heat Pump System The Biodme uses one of the biggest open-loop ground-

source heat pump systems in Canada, with water drawn fromthe underground water some 98 ft (30 m) below the building at arate of 720,000 gallons/day (2 725 495 L/day). Depending on the

time of the year, the system meets heating and cooling needs thatthe heat recovery system cannot meet alone. During the summer,it is possible to transfer the heat from the heat pumps to the un-derground water and store the heat for the heating season.

Optimized LightingDespite the Biodmes impressive fenestrated roof, arti-

cial lighting is essential. Lighting greatly affects the quality oflife for residents of ecosystems. Adequate lighting levels arespecied by the institution botanists and zoologists, as speci-cally mentioned in Section 6.6.2 of Standard 100.

Optimization of ecosystem lighting cut associated electric

demand from 1,070 kW to 489 kW.

For the Sub-Polar Regions alone, the lighting demand andconsumption were both reduced by 75%. Existing lighting wascompletely converted to new T5 HO tube xtures. In the threeother ecosystems, the new lighting system allows a better ad-

justment of light intensity according to the amount of natu-ral sunlight from the glass roof. This was made possible by acombination of new 1,000 W high pressure sodium and metalhalide lamps that meet the needs of particular plants and ani-mal biological cycles. New ballasts were also installed awayfrom the ecosystems and sunlight, which reduced prematureaging of ballasts that used to buzz and disturb the peace andquietness of the ecosystems. The placement of the xtures wasmodied to avoid light loss in the structure.

In administrative and ofces spaces, all T12 tubes and mag-netic ballasts were replaced with high-efciency low factorballasts and 28 W T8 tubes. Therefore, this point meets Sec-tion 6.6.5.4 of Standard 100.

Optimization of Fans and Pumps Thirty-six fan and 19 pump motors have been replaced by

high efciency motors. A number of motors were resized, de-pending on the load they carried, as stipulated in Section 7.5.2of Standard 100. They are powered by variable frequency drives.

Fan speed is adjusted according to each ecosystems uniqueschedule and temperature setpoint. The fresh air supply in cer-tain sectors such as the Tropical Rainforest is controlled byCO2 sensors.

Energy Savings The Biodme now consumes only electricity. The buildings

energy intensity decreased from 367.15 Btu/ft2 to 164.62 Btu/ft2 (4170 kJ/m 2 to 1870 kJ/m 2) (calculated using gross area),

representing a 55% reduction in energy consumption.

ConclusionsAlthough this building is lled with unique characteristics

and living collections, the principles of technological innova-tion could be applied to almost any large building. This caseis a good example of an approach that aligns the interests ofindustry professionals to those of the clients: it stimulated team-work, innovation and exceptional results. Most importantly, thiscase demonstrates clearly that projects to reduce greenhouse

gas emissions can also be very protable for building owners.

032-039 Technology Award Ecosystem WEB

Documents

Transcript of 032-039 Technology Award Ecosystem WEB