I am currently working on a lab facility which has five labs of varying types. Our original intent was to create our energy model only using the base building equipment and technology since the owner's intent is to have a rotating mix of equipment in and out of the facility all year long. The equipment is also being installed under a different contract and while we are providing the fit-ups, we are not connecting the equipment as part of our contract.
However, where its complicated is that the initial (first) equipment will be installed at the time we seek building occupancy, so I want to know if we have to model all of the baseline equipment and the lab equipment knowing that it will be in constant flux.
I have more information if necessary, but I think that gives a good general concept of my question. Hopefully there is a simple answer.
Julia Weatherby
PresidentWeatherby Design & Co. Engineers
94 thumbs up
August 21, 2014 - 10:00 am
Brett-
The lab equipment is process equipment, which must be included in the model but is modeled identically in the base and the actual models. You don't necessarily need to model each piece of equipment individually and exactly though. Just include an approximate or estimated wattage for total lab/process equipment in each zone.
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5909 thumbs up
August 21, 2014 - 10:24 am
The best way to do this is to get the information you need to model this as accurately as you can. The fact that some equipment is outside your contract has nothing to do with it. We typically meet with the owner/occupant to find out what they anticipate being in each space and model it accordingly. You can use general W/sf values from a published source but this is generally far less accurate.
In general your model should reflect what is expected to be installed.