User Note: While great efforts have been taken to provide accurate and complete information on the pages of CPEP, please be aware that the information contained herewith is considered a work-in-progress for this thesis project. Modifications and changes related to the original building designs and construction methodologies for this senior thesis project are solely the interpretation of Erin Miller. Changes and discrepancies in no way imply that the original design contained errors or was flawed. Differing assumptions, code references, requirements, and methodologies have been incorporated into this thesis project; therefore, investigation results may vary from the original design.

TECHNICAL REPORT II

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Technical Report 2 examines the mechanical design of the Auditorium, through load modeling software and analysis of annual operating costs and fuel consumption.   Using final construction documentation, a model was prepared using Trane Trace 700 software.  Further analysis of the load calculation software results, were performed to determine the breakdown of annual operation cost by equipment type. A final emissions study was also performed to determine the environmental impact of the mechanical systems.

The assumptions and input data into the Trace software can be found listed in the Building Load Estimation section and related appendices of this report. Standardized values reference from ASHRAE Standards 62.1-2010 and 90.1-2010 were used when values could not be directly obtained from the construction documents.  The overall result of the load calculation performed was generally acceptable.  The energy consumption of the building from the Trace model developed for this report compared to the cooling and heating coil schedules do not agree.  It appears that the initial design engineers used the Trace software to gather airflow information for the spaces in the building but relied on previous engineering experience to size the heating system.

The following sections on annual fuel consumption and annual operating cost are based on the output data from the Trace model developed for this report.  The largest differing condition, is that the central steam and chilled water plants were not able to be modeling as they exist.  Instead a natural gas boiler and water cooled chiller were substituted as the equipment in the model.  However, the findings still follow the typical annual trends for a heating dominated climate and were used gather a general idea of energy use.  The results yielded an annual operating cost of $ 698,683 ($4.07/SF).  The electrical consumption for the year totaled 5,438 MWh and annual natural gas consumption was 199,413 therms (19,941 MBtu) or 85.6 therms/hr. 

The final area of analysis is the Auditorium’s environmental impact on its surroundings.  Once again, based on the Trace energy consumption output, the CO2 emissions total approximately 8.5 million pounds of carbon per year.  The high percentage of electricity consumed on site, contribute to the large amount of CO2 released from off-site generation.  Additionally, further information is being gathered on the chilled water plant’s refrigerant composition and will be evaluated for environmental and legislative compliance.

Full Report