MacBride Museum of Yukon History - HVAC Modelling

Whitehorse

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reLoad Sustainable Design Inc. used the IESVE to carry out extensive energy modeling for a new addition to the MacBride Museum, predicting savings of 37% in Carbon Emissions and 38% in Energy Costs compared to Canadian Energy Code.

Key Facts

  • Cold northern location: Winter -49 ⁰C, Summer 29 ⁰C
  • 1650 sqm, 3 storey addition
  • 37% Carbon Emissions savings compared to NECB 11
  • 38% Energy Cost savings compared to NECB 11
  • 41% Peak Demand savings compared to NECB 11

The MacBride Museum of Yukon History is located in Whitehorse, Canada, a very cold northern location with temperatures of -49 ⁰C in winter time and up to around 29⁰C in summertime. The site currently has 4 low rise historical buildings.

Due to increased visitor numbers in the summer months, the museum wanted to build a low carbon, energy efficient addition to increase capacity. The addition, completed in 2018, is a 1650 sqm 3 storey building all above ground. It has an exhibit area and, as it’s not connected to the existing buildings, has its own HVAC and lighting systems.

Using IESVE, reLoad Sustainable Design performed extensive energy modeling to inform the design process and advise on the most energy efficient design options during all phases of design. It also set out to show compliance with the NECB 11 Canadian energy code, in which it revealed significant savings against in every category as shown in the table below.

Summary Annual Consumption  

MacBride Proposed Design

NECB 11 Compliant Building

Savings
Total Energy Use Intensity (EUI) kWh/m2 97 155 37%
Total Energy Consumption kWh/year 160,443 256,008 37%
Peak Demand kW 109 185 41%
Electricity Demand Cost $/year 11,358 19,277 41%
Electricity Consumption Cost $/year 24,650 39,272 37%
Total Energy Cost $/year 36,008 58,549 38%
Total Carbon Emissions tCO2e/year 1.28 2.05 37%

Cost savings were important to the museum, as was a reduction in peak demand because the energy modeling showed this really drove the yearly cost.

Based on the results from the IESVE, the team from reLoad Sustainable Design were able to advise on many energy conservation measures. This included, the decision to install high efficiency reverse flow heat recovery units. The team discovered that this would eliminate the need for electricity, so even though the system is more expensive, over time this would result in better cost savings and also reduced peak demand. CO2 sensors will also be installed in the space to reduce ventilation rates on the museum in occupancy and also to reduce morning start up peak, resulting in good cost savings for electricity.

The reLoad team also suggested that the operation of the system start up and the lighting system should be scheduled for a set sequence because the analysis showed that the peak happened in the morning which really drives the demand costs over the year.

“The IESVE helped us to meet our client’s needs and deliver an extremely energy and cost efficient design. The detailed results produced for different parts of the system within ApacheHVAC were very useful, as was the detailed output results which allowed us to really easily troubleshoot and track where any problems were.”

Martina Soderlund, reLoad Sustainable Design Inc.

Project Team

  • Owner: MacBride Museum
  • Architect: Kobayashi + Zedda Architects Ltd.
  • Building Performance Engineers: reLoad Sustainable Design Inc.

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