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Technology Report

April, 2008

Siemens Industry, Inc. Page 1 of 14

Green Lab Facilities

Steps Toward Sustainability

The Green building movement has sparked a

creative surge among facility operators and design

teams. This report pulls together some of the most

promising ideas particularly relevant to laboratories,

and connects them with the major guidelines on

sustainable facilities.

Motivation to Go Green

As individuals and institutions come to recognize the

need to shift to a sustainable society, interest in

Green buildings surges. Owners, operators and

users of all kinds of facilities want to minimize their

own environmental impact. They know that running

an efficient building makes a big difference.

For laboratories, the need is more pronounced.

Chemical and biological labs consume much more

energy than most other buildings of similar size, so

the opportunity for progress is huge. In one of its

initial publications, the Laboratories for the 21

Century (Labs21) Team described the scale:

Assuming that half of all American

laboratories can reduce their energy use by

30%, the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) estimates that the nation

could reduce its annual energy consumption

by 84 trillion Btu. This is equivalent to the

energy consumed by 840,000 households.

An improvement of this magnitude would

save $1.25 billion annually and decrease

carbon dioxide emissions by 19 million tons

— equal to the environmental effects of

removing 1.3 million cars from U.S.

highways or preventing 56 million trees from

being harvested.

Fortunately, laboratory facilities are often owned and

occupied by forward looking organizations.

Universities, government agencies, and research

1. U.S. Department of Energy, Laboratories for the 21st

Century: An Introduction to Low-Energy Design, DOE/GO-

102000-1112 (August 2000).

oriented companies attract personnel who focus on

the future. Many of these people feel a personal

responsibility to preserve the environment. They are

willing to invest the effort to design, construct and

operate the laboratory efficiently.

Concepts, Scorecards, and

Standards

Once motivated, builders, owners and users look for

direction. The Green building movement offers a

variety of benchmarks and guidelines so teams don’t

have to go it alone.

The most prominent guide comes from the U.S.

Green Building Council (USGBC). Their portfolio of

rating systems called Leadership in Energy and

Environmental Design (LEED), provides a

quantitative scorecard to evaluate a project in

environmental terms. A system of pre-requisites and

credits are organized in five categories. A team can

tally points for a project and compare to the criteria

for silver, gold and platinum rating. These ratings are

widely recognized as indicators of sustainability.

With the LEED rating systems, USGBC set the

terms of discussion for the rest of the industry. This

report and the several other Green Building

resources are organized around the categories of

LEED credits.

Operators and designers of laboratory buildings

recognize a special set of requirements that cause

labs to use more energy than most other buildings.

This creates special conservation challenges. A

group of facilities experts in the U.S. government

responded with the Laboratories for the 21st Century

program. It’s a forum for improving efficiency in labs

through conferences, seminars, and publications.

Labs21 published Environmental Performance

Criteria (EPC) as an adjunct to the LEED-NC rating

system. The EPC incorporates the LEED scorecard,

and then modifies it with additional credits and

prerequisites particularly relevant to labs.

Document No. 1

49-488

Summary of content (14 pages)

PAGE 1
Technology Report April, 2008 Green Lab Facilities Steps Toward Sustainability The Green building movement has sparked a creative surge among facility operators and design teams. This report pulls together some of the most promising ideas particularly relevant to laboratories, and connects them with the major guidelines on sustainable facilities. Motivation to Go Green As individuals and institutions come to recognize the need to shift to a sustainable society, interest in Green buildings surges.
PAGE 2
The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) drafted a Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. (At the time of this publication, ASHRAE’s document is a draft, not an approved standard.) In contrast to the rating systems that let a design team select which measures to employ, this document specifies requirements. It is intended for adoption into building codes.
PAGE 3
down according to instantaneous changes in loads. The other is called 2-Position Constant Volume (CV2) because it selects single high flow rate when the lab is in use and a low rate when it is unoccupied. The design team needs to choose which approach best suits the facility and the way people work with it. Spaces that stand unoccupied for days or weeks at a time are well suited for a CV2 system. So are spaces that are used on a very regular schedule.
PAGE 4
indicating the effectiveness of their sash management program. 6 Setting Ventilation Rate Further, the fume hood controllers themselves can be programmed to remind users to close the sash. For example, an audible alarm chirps periodically if the sash is half open for more than 15 minutes. The BAS becomes part of a plan that helps people improve and maintain their Green practices. Sometimes the airflow rate through a lab room is set by the need to dilute and remove contaminated air.
PAGE 5
clean. If some activity contaminates the air to undesired levels, the airflow automatically increases until the air is clear. This demand controlled ventilation concept is applied routinely in conference rooms and class rooms, and is now finding support in laboratories as well. Safety officials may endorse lower airflow rates if they are confident that hazards are detected and corrected.
PAGE 6
supplied separately. To simplify comparison, all the values listed in Table 2 exclude the reheat coil.) much more likely to be selected with Venturi valves than with single-blade dampers. Together these characteristics cause Green design teams to see terminal selection as an important part of low-pressure design. Resetting Duct Pressure While low-pressure design is important, any energy engineer knows HVAC systems spend very little time running at design conditions.
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The online model may be the only approach applicable to Venturi air valves. The cone is free to move back and forth in the throat of the Venturi, so the controller really doesn’t know where it is, and can’t determine if the valve is fully open or not. Given that duct pressure reset is still not widely applied, it has been suggested that a good implementation is eligible for Innovation in Design points.
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Table 3. Commissioning Tasks for Laboratory Facilities. Fundamental Commissioning (LEED EA Prereq 1) General Fume Hood Enhanced Commissioning (LEED EA Point 3) Describe acceptance tests in the contract documents. Include commissioning team members during design phase. Verify airflow and face velocity throughout operating range. Train lab workers to use the facility efficiently. Verify valid indication for hood users. Verify low flow alarm and trip point. Verify high flow alarm and trip point.
PAGE 9
Figure 2. Emissions Report Expresses Operation in Environmental Terms. Figure 3. Electric Sub-Metering Report Facilitates Energy Management. Siemens Industry, Inc. Document No.
PAGE 10
Figure 4. Hood Use Report Helps Manage Safety and Sustainability. Figure 5. A Green Screen Indicates Progress to Everyone in the Building. Page 10 of 14 Siemens Industry, Inc. Document No.
PAGE 11
Terminal Leakage Air distribution systems for buildings are large, custom, sheet metal structures built under tight cost constraints. Typically, they leak. Leakage can waste energy. When the supply ducts leak, conditioned air gets lost on its way to the rooms. It adds to the total energy load, without accomplishing a result. When exhaust ducts leak, air is drawn from interstitial spaces or other areas without improving air quality in the zones. Duct systems may leak where sections or components are joined.
PAGE 12
include automatic pumping, water treatment and performance monitoring. While Green buildings are inherently unique, pre-engineered rain water catchment systems are beginning to emerge, saving designers from reinventing the entire package. cistern for storage. In addition to straining and filtering, treatment may include ultraviolet irradiation or chemical disinfection. Even for non-potable applications, it’s important to prevent biological growth in the tank. Figure 6 illustrates a typical design.
PAGE 13
pressurization. These are among the most basic laboratory ventilation requirements. Monitoring OA Delivery Numerous safety bodies insist on an active monitoring device mounted on every fume hood. This device indicates directly to the hood user that the hood is functioning at the moment. Ideally, these devices are also networked into the Building Automation System so that building operators and safety officials receive the same information.
PAGE 14
Summary Teams charged with the design and operation of laboratory facilities face a wealth of opportunities to enhance sustainability. Many of them amount to carefully and actively managing the flow of air and water: the foundation of a healthy environment. Product or company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. © 2009 Siemens Industry, Inc. Siemens Industry, Inc.