Using the “Whole Building” Approach

The initial cost of construction taking a “whole building” approach is not necessarily higher than building to less efficient standards. In fact, the cost is often lower. Using the right approach; potentially complicated mechanical systems that handle the refrigeration, heating, air conditioning and ventilation for buildings can be designed, assembled and commissioned to operate efficiently and reliably.

A building with efficient lighting and office equipment, windows oriented to minimize solar heat gains during warm weather and maximize natural light with a well insulated envelope and an exhaust air heat recovery system will use up to 50% less energy than a building without these considerations, providing significant long term savings.

Once a building is designed and optimized for efficiency, a mechanical system can be specifically designed to meet the heating and air conditioning needs of that building. An efficient building such as this can use smaller, less expensive mechanical equipment. Smaller equipment translates into a smaller electrical service and transformers, lighter structure to support the equipment, less space to house the equipment, smaller ductwork and piping…the list goes on.

Inefficiency in the geothermal heating and cooling system is often due to poor system design. The most efficient equipment in the world will waste energy if it’s oversized and never reaches full operating efficiency before shutting off.

System Sizing

Reducing the size of piping through the building to connect heat pumps to the earth loop may reduce the initial cost of installing the system, but requires the installation of a higher horsepower pump which uses more energy to compensate for the higher pressure drop of the system.

Ice Kube Systems manufactures heat pumps without ever compromising the quality of its components. We know that the client will not see the expected benefits if quality components are installed into a poorly designed system, or if they are improperly installed or used in inappropriate applications.

Modular Design

Few buildings operate at peak loads for more than a few hours per year. Therefore, it is advantageous for the mechanical system to have the flexibility to operate efficiently at part loads. A simple, cost-effective method of achieving this is with a modular design that can be staged up or down to match the loads accordingly. This has an added advantage of building redundancy into the system if there is an equipment failure. For more info on the “whole building” approach, visit http://www.sbicouncil.org/about/wholeBld.html.