Grand Valley State University, Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall

Tremendous growth of GVSU’s nursing and health professions programs called for an expansion of the existing Cook DeVos Center for Health Sciences building located in the “Medical Mile” of downtown Grand Rapids. The project features 15 teaching labs, four classrooms, computer lab, departmental suites, and faculty offices.

ENERGY STUDIO was selected as the energy modeling consultant to evaluate the energy performance of several design concepts, including building mass and envelope performance, daylight strategies, building operational setpoints, HVAC system selection and energy recovery opportunities.

During the first round of energy modeling, two systems stood out as critical to meeting the project’s energy goals. First, the lighting was projected to account for 25% of the total energy consumption of the building. Second, conditioning the ventilation air required in the lab spaces was predicted to account for nearly 53% of the building’s space heating and space cooling energy consumption.

In close coordination with the design team, ENERGY STUDIO developed and tested strategies to offset the energy associated with these two energy loads. We initially focused on lighting load reduction strategies by testing multiple lighting power density reduction targets. Next, we evaluated the benefit of using lighting control options, like daylight harvesting, occupancy/vacancy sensors.

Extensive use of demand control ventilation throughout the facility proved to be a worthy load reduction strategy. We evaluated mechanical equipment performance by creating custom performance curves to accurately reflect the anticipated performance of specific water-cooled and air-cooled chiller selections. Finally, operational setpoints and pump arrangement options were considered.

The final design demonstrated an annual energy cost savings of 26.4% compared to ASHRAE 90.1-2007. Additionally, the project earned a LEED Gold certification.