Tech Report 1 Executive Summary 

Tech report 1 is an evaluation to ASHRAE Standard 62.1 section 5 & 6 and Standard 90.1 Building Envelope, HVAC, Service Water Heating, Power, Lighting, and Electric Motor criteria. The purpose of this report is to investigate the compliance with two standards regarding health/comfort issues (62.1), such as ventilation rate, mold growth, re-entry of contaminant air and infiltration, and energy consumption (90.1) including HVAC and lighting power energy savings.

 

Detailed analysis for each section is documented. Hand Calculations are summarized in tables in Appendix B. The results show that three Air Handling Units on VPAC do not meet the minimum ventilation rates by ASHRAE 62.1 section 6. The rest of criteria are in compliance.

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Tech Report 2 Executive Summary

Tech report 2 analyze design heating and cooling load, energy consumption, utility cost, and greenhouse gas emission of Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC) in Millersville, PA.

 

Through Trane Trace 700, design heating and cooling load, electric and natural gas consumption, operating costs, and emission for a year within VPAC are calculated. Building envelope (U-values), occupancy, ventilation, lighting, and miscellaneous load information are obtained from design documents of Barton Associates. Equipment parameters are provided in mechanical drawings. Any unclear settings are based on ASHRAE 60.1 and by default in Trace.

 

The calculated design heating and cooling show similar load profiles, except RTAH-2 which is three times larger than the loads in design documents. Difference occurs might due to incorrect model for RTAH-2. Lack of specific equipment information, such as efficiency, cooling and heating max/min supply temperature, inappropriate U-values of building assemblies, and other parameters. Besides, all unknown information is left in default, which might be another reason results in large load variation.

 

Lighting and Auxiliary (pumps and fans) are two major electric consumption sources. Two gas-fired boilers are the main consumption of natural gas on site. The average utility cost per month is about $16,572 and the utility cost per area is around $2.85/SF.

 

CO2 turns out to be the primary greenhouse gas emitted in VPAC, which is 2,243,102 lbm/year. Followings are SO2 17,452 lbm/year and NOx 3,354 lbm/year. To be more environment-friendly, the total amount of CO2, SO2 and NOx should be reduced. This will be closely analyzed later in redesign part.

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Tech Report 3 Executive Summary

Tech report 3  is a continuous study and a concise summary of existing mechanical systems in Visual & Performing Arts Center (VPAC), including design objectives, requirements, influences, major component, system configuration, conceptual control logic, lost usable space breakdown and LEED evaluation. Design conditions, heating and cooling load, as well as energy consumption are also cited from Tech Report 1 and 2. This report presents an objective evaluation of the overall mechanical system.

 

To meet the increasing demand of performing and to obtain re-accreditation of the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science in Music Education by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). The Millersville University decides to renovate and expand the old Lyte Auditorium to a state-of-art and technologic-rich performing arts center, VPAC. The largest drive of design is acoustics. It shapes every detail of the design from wall types and locations to system types. Budget is another key factor.

 

Natural gas and electricity are the two major energy sources used within VPAC. After simulating entire building load in Trane Trace 700, it is found that RTAH-2 doesn’t meet design heating load requirement. It also has significantly larger design cooling load than design document. It will be addressed later during re-designing phase.

 

Major hardware components include two gas-fired boilers, two chillers, ten air-handling units, and nine pumps. The total lost usable space due to shaft and mechanical room is 1814.94 SF which is quite small compared to the total gross floor area of 80,059 SF, about 2.27%. This is an advantage having rooftop units and basement mechanical rooms. Architects could use every corner of the occupied spaces. 

 

Although LEED BD+C v2.2 is used to evaluate VPAC, the facility dose not intend to pursue LEED when originally designed. Energy & Atmosphere and Indoor Environmental Quality sections are tested. As a result, 14 points are awarded. This evaluation gives a direction how systems could be changed later to achieve better performance while consuming same or less energy.