[Bldg-sim] Medium-Office HVAC question

[Morgan Heater]

I think it probably varies from location to location based on utility
rates for the different fuel sources.  In the PNW, with relatively cheap
electricity, most buildings have electric re-heat at the zone level if
they have VAV systems.  However, one thing that we found in our most
recent commercial baseline study was that most of the buildings in that
size range actually had packaged rooftop equipment with gas heat, rather
than VAV systems.    

 

 

Morgan Heater, P.E.

BEMP, LEED AP

morgan at ecotope.com

206-322-3753 ext 209

 

From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org
[mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Field,
Kristin
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 1:35 PM
To: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Bldg-sim] Medium-Office HVAC question

 

Alex,

 

Sorry to take a little while to respond.  You are correct that the medium
office reference building has a gas furnace and electric reheat.  We
actually received some opposite industry feedback from what you heard.  We
heard that installing gas at the terminal level (vs. on the roof at the
RTU for the central furnace) for reheat wouldn't be done for a building of
that size - that installing electric reheat would be simpler and,
therefore, more common.  Same for hydronic reheat, especially if the
central heating wasn't hydronic.  I'm curious if your colleague's answer
would change depending on the size of the building.

 

This highlights one of the difficulties of creating one-size-fits-all
reference buildings - there are a lot of different opinions out there!
That said, if there is a large consensus against having electric reheat in
the medium office, we would consider changing it whenever any future
modifications are released.  Unfortunately, I can't make any promises
about a timeline for that right now.

 

Anyone else feel like chiming in for the most appropriate system type?
For your "reference," the medium office building is three stories and
about 53,000 sf total.

 

Kristin

 

P.S. You're welcome, and I'm glad you've found the reference buildings to
be a valuable resource.

 

***********************************************************************

Kristin M. Field

Mechanical Engineer

Electricity, Resources, and Building Systems Integration Center

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

1617 Cole Blvd., MS RSF 202

Golden, CO  80401

303.384.7376 phone

303.630.2055 fax

 

From: Alex Krickx [mailto:akrickx at seriousmaterials.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 3:24 PM
To: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Cc: Field, Kristin
Subject: Medium-Office HVAC question

 

Hello,

 

First- thanks for the reference buildings! They are a great resource.

 

I had a question about the HVAC system that is in both the 'Post 1980' and
'New 2004' Medium Office Reference building (IDFs attached). Does the HVAC
system have a gas hook-up for the furnace (item coil:heating:gas) and then
use electricity for the reheat (item coil:heating:electric)? I asked a
colleague of mine about this, and he said "You would never build a job
with gas available on-site and electric reheat, even in the 80s". My
background is more on Building Envelope and also simulation/software more
than it is in Mechanical Systems, so I don't know one way or the other. I
was hoping that you could shed some light on the system that was selected.

 

We're hoping to use the system as a baseline to investigate window
retrofits, and pick the HVAC system that we would most likely encounter in
existing buildings. Any information you can provide would be much
appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance,

Alex Krickx

 

Alex Krickx, LEED AP

Building Energy Specialist

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1250 Elko Dr, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

(t) 408.541.8124

 

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From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org
[mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Field,
Kristin
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 2:07 PM
To: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Bldg-sim] Reference Buildings v1.3_5.0 available on Website

 

All,

 

The U.S. DOE Commercial Reference Buildings have been updated to version
1.3_5.0 and posted on the following Website:

 

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/commercial_initiative/reference_buil
dings.html

 

As with the previous release, there are 3 vintages of 16 different
building types modeled in 16 U.S. climates (3 x 16 x 16 = 768).  Users can
download:

 

.         All 768 EnergyPlus 5.0 input files (.idf format)

.         All 768 EnergyPlus table output files (.htm format)

.         All 48 "Scorecard" spreadsheets for each building type in each
vintage, summarizing input and output details

.         Zip file of the 16 TMY2 weather files used (.epw format)

.         List of changes in models between versions 1.3_5.0 and 1.2_4.0

.         Table of EUIs [kBtu/sf/yr] for all models in each vintage

.         Archived versions of previous releases for above files

 

We appreciate all the valuable feedback we've received from users of these
models.  Much of it has been incorporated into the changes between
versions.

 

Regards,

Kristin Field

 

***********************************************************************

Kristin M. Field

Engineer II - Mechanical

Electricity, Resources, and Building Systems Integration Center

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

1617 Cole Blvd., MS 5202

Golden, CO  80401

303.384.7376 phone

303.384.7540 fax

 

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