IAQ system at Paharpur Business Centre, saves Energy:  ‘We grow fresh air’ at PBC, with an IAQ system retrofitted in the building.  Paharpur Business Centre (www.pbcnet.com) is a 50,000 sqft office building offering “instant office” solutions. The IAQ system helps us save 30% on the fresh air load in our HVAC system.

Details:

‘We grow fresh air’ at PBC, with an IAQ system retrofitted in the building.

Natural bio method of purification has been adopted using green plants.

This was presented at TED 2009 Conference, held at Long Beach, California, ‘how to grow your own fresh air indoors’ with just three varieties of plants, namely, Areca palm, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue and Money Plant.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kamal_meattle_on_how_to_grow_your_own_fresh_air.html

Ambient air picked from a height of 120 feet is passed through an air washer having pre-filters of MERV 6 and scrubbed using UV treated soft water.

This pre-filtered air is made to flow into a Green House holding over 300 plants of the three specific species and grown in hydroponic culture.

These plants not only convert CO₂ into O₂, but also remove toxins like VOC’s from the air and absorb microbial pollutants.

This oxygenated air is then fed into a Heat Recovery Wheel, which increases the efficiency of HVAC system by pre cooling /pre-heating the incoming air.

Further, demand control ventilation system is used by means of CO₂ Sensors & fresh air dampers in the Air Handling Units (AHUs) located on each floor of the building.

Electronic filters are used to clean the incoming fresh air.

AHU has a combination of pre-filters (MERV 8 ) and bag filters (MERV 13 ) to clean the re-circulated air.

UV light installed on the cooling coil in AHU has a germicidal effect on micro-organisms.

This treated and conditioned air is supplied to building floors.

Regular duct inspection and cleaning ensures that the ducts are free of microbial growth.

As per ASHRAE 62.1: 2007, the fresh air ventilation rate required to control both, people related source and building related (or area based source), is the sum of ventilation required to control each of the sources for the breathing zone.

As per ASHRAE, for offices, fresh air base rate is 0.06 cfm/ft2 to handle building sources and to this is added the base occupant rate of 5 cfm per person. (For typical occupant densities and typical ventilation system efficiencies).

This total building fresh air ventilation rate usually results in an overall ventilation rate of about 20 cfm per person for office spaces.

The various IAQ initiatives resulting from use of Green Plants in the PBC building, have allowed the Facility Manager to maintain IAQ as per ASHRAE and USGBC LEED(for Platinum rated buildings – i.e. 30% over ASHRAE base) specs. with minimum 15.3 CFM per person fresh air, resulting in energy savings.

Thus, as compared to ASHRAE recommended 20 CFM, PBC saves 4.7 CFM/ person of fresh air load, on the HVAC system.

The fresh air load is 0.60 watts per ft2, a reduction of 0.18 watts/ft2.

This gives an energy saving of 30% in terms of reduced load.

For Reference:

PBC facility is rated as one of the healthiest buildings in Delhi, by Govt. of India, in a report published by Central Pollution Control Board in September 2008.

Compared to other buildings in the city, the incidence of eye irritation was found to be reduced by 52%, respiratory symptoms down by 34%, headaches by 24%, lung impairment by 12%, and incidence of asthma by 9% at PBC.

www.cpcb.nic.in/newitems.php

VOCs and RSPM samples have also been collected by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA in January, 2010 for validation of PBC’s IAQ system and results are expected by February, 2010.

The IAQ System not only leads to a fresher indoor air, but also increases productivity by almost 20%.

After studying the effects these plants had on air quality at PBC, it was found that there was a 42% probability of increasing saturated blood oxygen levels by 1% simply by being in the building for 8-10 hours compared to an adjoining building which did not have the green plants.

PBC runs a conference, interviews and training facility provider business, besides renting fully serviced offices for short and long term.

www.conferencespa.com

The Trainers find their students learning faster as retention of information in these learning events is higher for students, due to the healthy IAQ.

Besides having a well-defined IAQ system, we at PBC follow certain practices/rules that help us in maintaining a world class IAQ in our building. We have benefited from these practices; the results show higher productivity and fewer occupant sick days. These practices can be further improved upon.

IAQ Best Practices at PBC

• Smoking / Eating is allowed only in designated areas not connected to centrally air conditioned space.
• Elevator Area & building envelope are sealed to avoid any untreated air ingress.
• There are air curtains at all entrances into the building.
• To check spread of communicable diseases like active TB, occupants are tested. Visitors are not as it is not practical to do so.
• Door handles, telephones, elevator buttons etc are sanitized on a daily basis.
• Hand sanitizers are placed in all the washrooms and at relevant areas.
• Everyone entering the building is requested to wash their hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizers.
• All housekeeping chemicals used in the building are Green Seal Certified.
• Tight vacuuming of the carpet and upholstery is carried out on daily basis. The dust collected is measured and monitored.
• The outdoor mats are kept moist for increased dust removing efficiency.
• The carpet tiles placed in all the rooms are CRI Green label plus and are shampooed on weekly basis or as required.
• 30 feet entry way system (doormat) from 3M Company, removes most of the dust from shoes at the building entrance.
• The paint and polish is done only during the weekends using eco friendly, lead free and low VOC paint and polish.
• Building is flushed as per requirement after any paint work.
• All incoming parcels and courier packets are received outside the building and only brought inside after cleaning.

In Energy management we follow certain practices that help us in reducing our electricity bills without affecting the quality of life. We have benefitted from these practices; our results show maximum 30% reduction in our electricity bills. These practices can be further improved upon.

We at Paharpur Business Centre follow these best practices in energy management

• Instead of GLS lamps, we use PL lights, which are plug in CFL lamps, they use compact fluorescent (CFL) technology meaning they are efficient and less costly to replace.
• All fluorescent lights in our office are Philips trulite which are BEE 5 star rated with electronic ballast.
• Motion sensors are used to switch off lights in unoccupied common areas.
• All our displays are energy efficient LCDs/Plasma to save on energy.
• Energy consumption is monitored and analyzed on daily basis.
• Green mesh & heat reflective film has been put on the south wesh side of the building to block the direct sun heat into the building.
• High albedo paint has been put on the building envelope to reduce the indirect heat gain into the building.
• The heat gain into the building from the rooftop is minimum because of green house.
• Use of  five star rated equipments especially air conditioners.
• High Efficiency Super Diesel is used for all DG sets to reduce pollution.
• Diesel is centrifuged to clean it before use in the Generators.
• Energy consumption is monitored and analyzed on daily basis on a BAS system
• Green mesh & heat reflective film is put on the south west side windows of the building to block the direct sun heat into the building.
• High albedo paint has been put on the building envelope to reduce the indirect heat gain into the building.
• The heat gain into the building from the rooftop is minimum because of green house that has been created on the roof.

Energy Saving Features of our HVAC System

• Chiller has a COP of 6.15; it’s an efficient 212 TR water cooled screw chiller from Trane.
• Two way valve regulate the chilled water inlet into the AHU coil as per the heat load.
• CO2 sensors have been put to regulate the fresh air inlet inside the air conditioned space. Its demand controlled ventilation.
• New Pumps and all AHU motors are VFD controlled.
• UVC light have been installed on the AHU cooling coils to keep the air & coil clean of indoor air contaminants.
• The new system has VAV in air circuits to regulate the air supply as per heat load.
• New Double skin AHU help reduce the leakage & noise.
• Heat Recovery wheel unit ensures that incoming fresh air is precooled before it is let in into the system
• Complete system is managed centrally through BMS

To check spread of communicable diseases like active TB, occupants are tested for such diseases.

We also request our clients to fill in and forward forms for their visitors who have come from viral infested places- Swine Flu, SARS etc.

We have installed TFT screens and monitors in the entire building including the offices, conference rooms & even wash rooms and we use this to effectively communicate with our clients, visitors etc on the various initiatives taken for ensuring their well being at Paharpur Business Centre.

Paharpur Business Centre is a no-smoking building, however we have a dedicated area with a separate exhaust.

We measure our water consumption on a daily basis – water meters are installed at all points of consumption at Paharpur Business Centre.

At Paharpur Business Centre we have installed all water efficient fixtures i.e. waterless urinals, sensor taps, dual flush cistern based water closets.

We use drip irrigation for watering the plants.

Reject water from the RO plant is used to water the indoor plants.

As part of our 4R policy – Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle & Re-charge – we also harvest water and recharge it into the ground.

Dishwasher is used to clean all the dishes in our cafeteria and the first rinse water that is without the detergents is re-used by diverting it to our vermi-compost pit.

Waste is segregated at source at Paharpur Business Centre – we have separate bins for plastics, food, paper, tin, foil, glass, food.

We sell all paper, Plastic & Glass bottles; our business cards are made from recycled paper.

Wet waste is diverted to our vermi-compost pit where it gets converted into organic manure rich in micro nutrients and this is then used in all our indoor plants as manure.

E-waste generated by us is not thrown but we sell them to vendors who either recycle it or use the spare parts for further repair and use.

At Paharpur Business Centre, we have placed hand sanitizers at all strategic locations in our building i.e. at the reception, security desk, lobbies, cafeteria, toilets / wash rooms etc – to check the spread of communicable diseases i.e. H1N1 Flu.

Visitors / Guests entering the building are requested to wash their hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizers placed at the Front office & security desks.

We sanitize the doors, handles, knobs, elevator buttons; telephones etc are wiped with alcohol-based sanitizers on a daily basis.

All housekeeping chemicals used in the building are “Green Seal” certified & the crew wears hand gloves while cleaning the rest rooms / wash rooms.

Tight vacuuming of the carpet and upholstery is carried out on daily basis. The dust collected is measured and monitored.

Use of touch free taps and soap dispensers. (Touch free towel dispensers being planned in future).

Tight vacuuming of the carpet and upholstery is carried out on daily basis. The dust collected is measured and monitored.

The carpet tiles placed in all the guest and conference rooms are CRI Green label plus and are shampooed on weekly basis or as required.

The outdoor mats are kept moist for increased dust removing efficiency.

30 feet entryway system (doormat) from 3M Company, removes most of the dust from shoes at the building entrance.

Pest control is carried out twice a week with eco-friendly chemicals after office hours.

Housekeeping supervisor ensures that there are no unauthorized people in the premises when the pest control is being carried out.

All incoming parcels and courier packets are received outside the building and brought inside after cleaning.

Extensive regular training is imparted to the housekeeping Crewmembers with special emphasis on hygiene, health & safety.

We also have sustainable purchasing systems and as a result all the machines that we have in our housekeeping department are energy efficient i.e.  CRI certified vacuum cleaners and are star rated wherever possible.