approach to building
design, designers around the world have succeeded at creating
highly efficient air-conditioning systems that provide excellent
workspace comfort.
Air conditioning and ventilation systems can significantly affect
a building's profitability. These systems consume about one-fourth
of an office building's electricity, and they often have a strong
influence on worker productivity. (Many workers report that their
workplaces are too hot or too cold.)
Despite this, designers often do not give these systems the
attention they deserve during the design process. Opportunities to
improve cooling and ventilation efficiency often are
overlooked.
The "whole-systems" approach described in this publication can
help designers create highly efficient air conditioning systems
that also provide excellent workspace comfort. This approach
includes:
- Minimizing unwanted heat gains to reduce cooling loads.
- Designing air distribution systems and cooling plants to meet
those reduced cooling loads (which offers savings in both capital
and operating costs).
- Specifying high-efficiency cooling plants.
The whole-systems approach can yield substantial benefits. In one
building, worker productivity improved by 16 percent and
electricity use dropped 40 percent. In another, a new whole-systems
design allowed operators to maintain thermal comfort in a hot
climate without electrically powered air conditioning or
ventilation systems.
Virtually any air conditioning and ventilation design can be
improved through the whole-systems approach to solving
problems.
The first edition of this design brief was prepared for Energy
Design Resources in 2004. Between January and April of 2010, an
engineering review of this document was conducted to update
passages affected by recent changes in the California Building
Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24 2008). The original content
creator was not actively involved in this engineering review, and
therefore is not responsible for the updates to the affected
passages.
