VAV Guidelines - Taylor Engineering

X14X INTRODUCTION
EARLY DESIGN ISSUES
According to an old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This holds
true for building design. An extra hour carefully spent in early design can save weeks of time
later in the process, not to mention improve client relations, reduce construction costs, and
reduce operating costs.
This chapter includes those items that provide the greatest leverage for energy efficient airside
system design. Each of these issues is described in detail in the following sections.
Integrated Design Issues
Traditional design is a fragmented process where each consultant (architect, mechanical
engineer, electrical engineer…) works exclusively on the aspects of the design that fall under
their scope of services. Integrated design is a process that has a more collaborative
multidisciplinary approach to better integrate the building design, systems and controls.
The purpose of this section is to emphasize the importance of teamwork in the design of
high performing buildings. Issues that are not traditionally the purview of the mechanical
designer none the less have great impact on the cost, efficiency and success of their design.
For example the glazing selected by the architect not only impacts the thermal loads but
might prevent occupants in perimeter spaces from being comfortable due to visual glare or
excessive radiant asymmetry. Use of high performance glazing or shading devices can
drastically reduce the size of the mechanical equipment and improve occupant comfort.
Similarly there can be a reduction in project cost and improvement of operation if the
lighting and mechanical controls are integrated in a single energy management and control
system (EMCS). Consider the issue of a tenant requesting lights and conditioning after
hours. With separate systems the tenant would have to initiate two requests, one for the