Living Lab: Education Air Conditioning System Re-Design
A group of engineering students, as part of the Office of Sustainability's Living Lab initiative, was able to re-evaluate air conditioning needs to bring a building into the modern era.
With the busy nature of regular operations at the university, looking at existing infrastructure and practices for inefficiencies can be a timely and tiresome exercise. The Office of Sustainability’s Living Labs initiative helps to remedy this by allowing students to take the time to thoroughly review and analyze outdated systems and identify possible solutions. With recommendations already in place and the initial reviews taken care of, Facilities Management can use the results given by Living Lab students to craft working solutions for campus’ aging infrastructure.
In 2012, a group of Mechanical Engineering 495 students recognized that in the 40 years since it’s been installed, the air conditioning system in the Education Building was due for an upgrade. Lauren Uhrich, Chris Hoyt, Andrew Guedo, and David Yanke took a survey of the Education Building and found that 18 million litres of water and 16.7 kW of energy were being consumed annually to cool areas of the building that had changed drastically over time. With the loss of the radio station, radically decreased cooling requirements for large computer labs, and reconfiguration of office space, these cooling systems with an annual operating cost of $44,450 had become nearly unnecessary.
By re-designing the existing ductwork within the building, the students were able to theoretically reconfigure the building’s central air handling system to supply the cooling requirements for most of these rooms. This configuration could not work for a server room with higher cooling requirements, so the installation of a replacement ductless unit was suggested. This unit eliminated the need for potable water in cooling and reduced the yearly operating costs to a mere $4,829. Finally, by removing the aging refrigeration units the students were able to completely remove the ozone-depleting refrigerant R-22 from the building’s operations, a fantastic benefit for reducing the Education Building’s environmental impact.
Allowing students the time and support to conduct these studies through the Living Lab program not only provides them with valuable experience in developing real-world applications for their knowledge, but provides Facilities Management with information and recommendations for issues that may not be high-priority targets for maintenance and revitalization. With opportunities for energy and water conservation present all-around campus, the Living Lab initiative carries the potential to set sustainability in motion on a regular basis at the University of Saskatchewan.