ASHRAE headquarters to be “living lab”

The renovated headquarters building for the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) will have two different HVAC systems as a way of being a “living lab.”
On its first floor, the living lab will have air-cooled multi-split variable refrigerant flow fan coil units. These units will have zoned inverter-driven outdoor heat pumps.
The second level system will feature ground source direct expansion heat pumps for cooling and heating.
Both systems will share a dedicated common outside air system with energy recovery.
Bill Harrison, Ashrae’s president elect, explained that the systems will be used as an education tool: “The Living lab will support the ASHRAE research program with a rich resource of data on building system and equipment performance, a demonstration of performance monitoring and space for “real world” investigations in an operating building.
The ASHRAE staff is moving into temporary offices in September while the $5.4 million renovations of their existing building are carried out.
The renovated building will have a new learning centre.