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Project examines lab buildings’ energy use

Written by Alexiss Turner - Argonaut

Monday, 14 April 2008

Editor’s note:  ‘Campus energy’ is a series examining the University of Idaho’s carbon footprint and how much energy is used by buildings on campus. It will run every Tuesday until the end of the semester. The place is bright. Students pass by in long white lab coats. The smell is distinctive, a mix of cleaning fluids and other chemicals. For Rakesh Kamal and Harshana Thimmanna, walking around the Agricultural Biotechnology building was like walking into a doctor’s office, not into the University of Idaho’s biggest energy consumer. The AgBio building, built in 2001, uses at least 15 percent more energy than any other building on campus. Its yearly carbon emissions equal that of 273 typical motor vehicles. As part of their grant-funded project to create a more sustainable campus, the AgBio building is one of 12 buildings UI graduate students Kamal and Thimmanna have researched and compared to other building of similar use. The building most comparable with the AgBio building is the Gauss Johnson Engineering Laboratory, which has an annual carbon emission equaling that of 29 automobiles. Richard Nagy, UI facility resource conservation manager, said the comparison is as fair as possible although the GJEL is half labs, half not. Since the AgBio building is a relatively new building fully comprised of laboratories, he said its energy use isn’t surprising. “It’s not how we built the building,” he said. “It’s that we put labs in it.” Nagy said safety is the main issue. By law buildings are required to have a certain amount of ventilation for each occupant based on use. He said desire to make laboratories more energy efficient is a relatively new concept, one that was previously marred by the concern of safety. “It was, ‘energy be damned,’” he said. “It was all about the safety.” Nagy said air in those labs must be in constant circulation to keep harmful fumes from spreading throughout the building. Since air is circulated from outside the building air handlers are also working to raise and lower the temperature of the outside air in order to maintain building comfort. The GJEL has two air handlers, one for the labs and another for all the classrooms. Nagy said energy use in the Gauss Johnson building is less because there is no need to circulate all air outside in classrooms, some can be circulated from room to room. The GJEL reaches a sort of sleep mode during night hours when it is not in use. Air handlers only kick on when air inside the building reaches certain extremes in temperature. Nagy said since the AgBio building is in constant use even late into the night, a sleep mode would be impossible to use. “They’ve got some serious research going on in there,” he said. “You can’t just mix (air) up and return it to people.” The AgBio building was also the first in the state to have a Bio Safety Lab 3, a high-tech lab used to keep all materials inside from escaping. Raymond Pankopf, director of UI architectural and engineering services, said researchers use the BSL3 to determine how different diseases affect crops. He said it is important to conduct these experiments in such a closed environment not because there is a danger to humans, but a danger to crops. The Gauss Johnson building has been around since the 1930s. Pankopf, said it was renovated with an up-to-date mechanical heating ventilation and air conditioning system in 1999. The HVAC system has full digital control, thus allowing a more energy efficient mode when not in use. Pankopf said both of the buildings were constructed to comply with energy concerns of their time but may not meet the expectations of today’s sustainability concerns. Kamal and Thimmanna have not completely finished their research of the lab buildings, but said they have some ideas as to how their consumption could be reduced. Their suggestions focus mainly on lighting, including adding motion sensors that would regulate lights when rooms weren’t in use. Add as favorites (25) | Views: 261 Be first to comment this article Write Comment Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code. Name: Title: Comment: