The SLCan PD Committee is accepting abstracts from anyone interested in presenting a webinar. The PD Committee is also interested to know if there are any special topics that members are interested to learn more about. Please send your input and abstracts to info@slcan.ca. Thanks very much in advance.
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Adapting to a Changing Climate – Weather Data for Energy Calculations
Currently available weather data used for engineering and energy calculations are based on the historical weather events. Data available represent the extremes observed with various frequency (e.g. design heating temperature for January) or the climatic normal observed over a given period of time (e.g. the “average” for 1986-2005). Building energy modelling makes no exception: the weather file used in those models are designed to represent the climatic normal for a given location in order to predict the building typical energy consumption.
In order to better adapt to the changing climate, planning and engineering works undertaken by the federal government and other entities include performing energy audits and decarbonization studies, executing retrofits of existing buildings as well as designing new constructions to be “zero carbon.” Building energy modelling is an essential tool of those tasks, and weather files representing the climatic normal are considered inappropriate to evaluate the future energy consumption of those buildings.
For this purpose, weather files representing the climate of 2050 following a medium emission scenario were developed for 15 Canadian cities. These cities were selected to represent major population centres among all climate zones and most latitudes. These weather files are available to the building engineering community and to the public.
This presentation will introduce the audience to the weather data used for engineering and energy calculations, and more specifically to weather files used for building energy modelling. It will present an overview of global climate change modelling, and how the results from those models have been used to create these new weather files. A presentation of some results will follow, along with a comparison with other means of producing such files.
This presentation will be of specific interest to Owners, Facility Managers and Facility Maintenance personnel engaged in improving overall facility performance, including those performing energy audits and decarbonization studies.
The presentation will also be of particular interest to those stakeholders and SLCan memebers executing retrofits of existing buildings as well as designing new constructions to be “zero carbon.”
Speaker
Frédéric Genest, Natural Resources Canada / CanmetENERGY
Date and Time
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Understanding HEPA Filter Media and Its Potential Impact on Labs and Bio-safety Environments
Abstract: For decades, labs have employed HEPA filters, primarily constructed from fiberglass media, to protect from airborne particulate contamination and prevent dangerous particles from reaching the outside environment. Assuming these HEPA filters were properly pre-filtered, end users could see life spans of 8-10 years, or more. However, maintenance and certifiers must exercise considerable care during the installation, maintenance, and scanning of the filters as not to inadvertently damage the media material.
Although other HEPA filters utilizing synthetic media have been touted as more durable than fiberglass, their acceptance in critical spaces has been almost zero due to a lack of confidence in the filter’s ability to maintain low pressure drops and filtration efficiency when challenged with aerosol, or when exposed to high humidity and airborne particulate contamination events.
However, a proven technology exists that demonstrates improved performance over traditional HEPA media. So there are options to consider.
This presentation will review HEPA filtration (in brief), the media options available in the market, and the advantages and disadvantages to each. Which options save you energy? Which are damaged easily? How do you test them? The goal is to help you make the best, sustainable choices to protect your lab space and staff, as well as the environment.
This presentation will be of specific interest to Owners, Facility Managers and Facility Maintenance personnel tasked with maintaining, building or retrofitting facilities that are reliant on filtration and specifically HEPA filtration; and the impacts they have on sustainability.
Speaker:
Matthew Crouch, Camfil USA
Date and Time
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
McGill University – CERC in Green Chemistry – Major Renovation in Labs and HVAC – Challenges and Lessons Learned
Abstract: The Pulp and Paper building laboratory and infrastructure renovation project began at the end of 2013 when McGill University received a major grant from the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) Program. This grant allowed the University to establish a centre of excellence on research in the field of green chemistry. Green chemistry’s mission is to create processes and chemical reactions that have a reduced impact on the environment while being economically viable. This type of research can eventually be used to make various manufacturing processes of substances and materials more sustainable.
The building in which the project was carried out was built in 1927 and the exterior has retained many of its original features. The building is composed of 2 portions, the Mills area at the back and the Pulp and Paper sector.
Both portions communicate at the basement level, but Mills stops at Level 1, while the Pulp and Paper portion has 3 floors, in addition to the basement, and a mechanical penthouse on the roof. The entire basement was used for chemical laboratories and most of them were completely obsolete. The first floor of Pulp and Paper was dedicated to office use and one classroom, and the upper floors contained chemical laboratories renovated in the last 10 years. With the exception of a small ventilation system, all of the building’s basic mechanical and electrical infrastructure had largely exceeded its useful life and needed to be replaced, while maintaining the occupancy and use of the entire building, with the exception of the basement to be renovated. This important constraint, especially for the maintenance of several chemical laboratories, required a lot of planning and organization in the works.
The project consisted in renovating almost all of the building’s basement laboratories and replacing a significant portion of the mechanical and electrical infrastructure in the building. Some laboratories in the neighbouring building were also completely renovated. The new, much more modern wet laboratories are now used for advanced research.
During the project, a portion of the building was demolished and rebuilt with, in addition, a mechanical penthouse on the roof. This mechanical room is now used for all building air supply (100% fresh air ventilation), domestic and laboratory hot water production, emergency water production for emergency showers and eyewash, and the production of heating water, heating glycol and cooling glycol. The existing penthouse on the upper part of the building is now used almost exclusively for the treatment of the building’s air exhaust, including energy recovery.
The objective of this presentation is to present the architectural and engineering challenges associated with the major renovation of the building, including the replacement of most of the electrical and mechanical infrastructure while keeping the rest of the building running for many researchers.
This presentation will be of specific interest to Owners, Facility Managers and Facility Maintenance within the academic science industry interested in major lab systems overhaul and laboratory retrofits.
Speaker:
Pierre-Luc Baril, Pageau Morel
Date and Time
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Measuring Pedestrian-induced Vibrations to Assess Suitability of Existing Laboratory for Vibration-sensitive Equipment
Abstract: Specialized laboratory equipment often requires low-vibration environments for proper functionality. On elevated floors occupant footfalls are often the most critical source of vibration. When existing spaces are re-purposed to house sensitive equipment, there is an opportunity to conduct tests to quantify expected levels of pedestrian-induced vibration. A case study is presented discussing vibration issues encountered when an existing laboratory building at a university is renovated to house a new research group. This new group will be relocating vibration-sensitive microscopes from an existing CMU and concrete building to the newly renovated building. There is a reluctance among some researchers to move vibration-sensitive equipment to the newly renovated building because it was constructed using structural steel and composite deck and it is rumored to be vibration-prone. The University contracted for a vibration study to serve two purpose: 1) the levels of vibration at the existing and proposed microscope locations were quantified to assess the suitability of the new space and 2) the overall vibration “health” of the newly renovated building was quantified in order to dispel rumors about its poor vibration performance. This presentation discusses pedestrian-induced measurement techniques, and issues surrounding the definition of vibration criteria and the perception of vibration. Results and lessons learned from the project are discussed and mitigation techniques, for spaces that fail to meet the required criteria are presented.
This presentation will be of specific interest to Owners, Facility Managers and Facility Maintenance personnel engaged in vibration and acoustics studies, as well as those teams dealing with research and diagnostic environments potentially impacted by pedestrian-induced vibrations.
Speaker:
Julia Graham, RWDI
Date and Time
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Implementing an Allegorical Framework for Design, While Achieving Energy Efficiency in a Radioactive Isotope Production Facility
Abstract:The purpose of this presentation is to showcase a responsive design approach supporting programmatic and functional requirements in achieving energy efficiency, while balancing competing needs for an allegorical framework in articulating architectural forms, building elements and relationships to each other.
TRIUMF’s Institute for Advanced Medical Isotopes (IAMI) is a highly complex, challenging project that is designed by Architecture 49 Inc as a prime consultant, with AME providing Mechanical engineering. IAMI will keep Canada at the forefront in the research and manufacture of rare radiopharmaceuticals. IAMI project was designed on an accelerated schedule addressing exacting scientific needs for research and programmatic needs for radiopharmaceutical production, while trying to meet broadly ambitious energy efficiency developmental targets set by the municipality.
The IAMI programmatic arrangement was developed to maximize efficiency in manufacturing of radioactive isotopes and research within a clean-building environment while providing an environment that is within the safety thresholds set by CNSC for the (NEW) Nuclear Energy Workers Staff. The presentation illustrates how this programmatic arrangement is enhanced by the allegorical relationship between the building forms and complemented by the selection of the cladding materials. In this discussion, we will disprove the notion that implementing an allegorical framework for articulating architectural forms, while achieving energy efficiency including wellbeing of occupants within the space and lowering energy usage are competing issues in a responsive design approach.
Speaker:
Som Bose, Architect49 Inc.
Slatko Puljic, AME Group
Date and Time
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Air Change Rate (ACR) or HVAC Configuration—Which Makes Labs Safe?
AbstractOften high airflow rates or air change rates per hour (ACH) for laboratory spaces are presumed to cover the risk of chemical exposure. Previous analysis indicated that high ACH does not necessarily create diluted indoor environment at all the time for all the occupants. With increasing ACH the overall concentration levels in the space (detected in the exhaust duct) decrease, however, the flow path of the contaminants remains almost similar. The HVAC configuration including the location and type of supply diffusers, diffuser throws, size and locations of exhaust grilles, locations and strengths of heat sources, location and size of fume hoods, and arrangement of furniture and other airflow obstructions can influence the flow path of contaminants, which in turn, determines the strength and location of high concentration zones in labs.
This presentation with the help of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis will demonstrate the effect of HVAC configuration on the ventilation effectiveness of HVAC system. This study investigates the impact of number and location of exhaust grilles on the flow path of contaminants and the resulting transient and spatial distribution of contaminant concentrations in a typical lab. Time varying concentration levels are predicted at the face level of three occupants located at three different locations in the lab as well as in the exhaust duct. Based on these concentrations the time varying chemical exposure (dose) for each occupant is calculated. The ventilation effectiveness of the HVAC system is analyzed with the help of two non-dimensional indices: Spread Index (SI)TC and Purge Time (PT)TC. (SI)TC quantifies the percent of the room volume presumed to be the high risk zone, where the contaminant concentrations are higher than the desired target concentration (TC). Whereas the (PT)TC evaluates the time the ventilation system takes to bring the lab environment below the target concentration. This analysis shows the distributed exhaust strategy with three exhaust grilles significantly reduced the (SI)TC values resulting in reduced concentration levels and chemical exposure (dose) of occupants. Interestingly the occupant closer to the exhaust grilles shows high level of exposure than the one closer to the contaminant source. The analysis results will be presented with insightful animations showing the progression and movement of contaminant cloud in the space.
Speaker:
Dr. Kishor Khankari, President AnSight LLC.
Date and Time
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Fire Safety in the Laboratory
AbstractLaboratories contain many hazards including flammable chemicals. Flammable chemicals in the laboratory can be classified as three distinct types; Gases, Liquids and Solids. Flammable chemicals, the correct understanding and storage of them is essential to keep the building, occupants and assets of the building safe. Although perceived as very complex, fire safety in the laboratory can be narrowed to understanding the fire triangle and limiting one or more sides of the triangle with proper techniques and storage.
Learning Objectives:
- Understanding the fire triangle to enhance the safety of the occupants of the laboratory
- Codes vs available fire-resistant safe storage options
- Understanding the difference and similarities of the International Building code, UL, ULC and NFPA in regard to hazardous chemical storage
- Using ventilation to reduce the chances of fire, explosion and exposure to the chemicals
- Segregation and storage of chemicals per the Global Harmonized Systems and the MSDS sheets of each
- Education and empowerment to provide fire protection
Speaker:
Peter Caudle, Asecos Inc.
Date and Time
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Net-Zero Energy Mohawk College Joyce Centre for Partnership and Innovation: High-Performance lab supports High-Functioning People
AbstractThe Mohawk College Joyce Centre for Partnership and Innovation (Architects: McCallum Sather & B+H Architects, Principal-in-Charge: Kevin Stelzer) is the Fennell Campus new teaching and research engineering lab. It is a full net-zero energy performance facility, one of the largest in the country (96,000 ft2). It recently garnered CaGBC Zero Carbon Framwork certification and The 2019 Innovation in Architecture award from the RAIC.
This presentation will outline how the design team partnered with the College to make critical alignments between sustainability goals and academic goals. At the outset, the design team prepared an innovative benchmarking and energy budgeting analysis to establish early frameworks to ensure the net-zero energy performance target was achieved.
Both designers and client believed that controlling loads, providing superb comfort, providing natural light, and designing excellent ventilation all support human interaction and well-being – thereby improving human cognitive activity, encouraging social interaction and accelerating research and ideation.
Speaker:
Kevin Stelzer, ENFORM Archetects Inc.
Date and Time
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
The Future of Labs: Changes in Facility and Operational Design Panel Discussion
AbstractAs more staff are returning to work, how will the operational procedures change for the foreseeable future, and how can the design of labs and systems adapt to the new operation going forward?
The discussion will consider a number of ongoing questions and issues surrounding the Laboratory Environment and adapting to the new environment. Some of the questions that will be explored:
- What operational or design changes have been made to your existing organization since the start of the Pandemic?
- What protocols and/or policies has your organization instituted to change human behavior in the laboratory environment to suit the pandemic response and maintain operations?
- What in your current laboratory design has been successful during this time and what would you change if you were designing a new lab today?
Both designers and client believed that controlling loads, providing superb comfort, providing natural light, and designing excellent ventilation all support human interaction and well-being – thereby improving human cognitive activity, encouraging social interaction and accelerating research and ideation.
Panel Moderator and Speaker:
Ian McDermott
FM-PRO
Facilities Management – Planning, Redevelopment & Operations
Planning & Integration | Research Facilities
Speakers
Jennifer Wilshire PhD
Stemcell Technologies
Senior Lab Manager
Research & Development
Aurel Tamburri
Public Health Ontario Laboratory Headquarters
Operations Director
Date and Time
Thursday, September 24, 2020
12 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Sustainable Design of Energy Efficient Laboratory Exhaust Systems
AbstractSince high-plume dilution fans were first invented in the 1980’s, the fundamental fan design has changed very little. However, this doesn’t mean that there haven’t been considerable advances in how they are utilized and controlled. If these options are considered early in the engineering process, the performance improvements and energy savings can be considerable. The webinar will review the equipment considerations and control options necessary to achieve the most energy efficient and sustainable designs.
Speaker:
Daniel Lasalle
Strobic Air
Date and Time
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Wellness, Social Infrastructure, and a Low Carbon Narrative Revitalizes a Major Research Campus
AbstractCanadian Nuclear Laboratories deliver value by reimagining a future driven by the low-carbon narrative.
The birthplace of Canada’s nuclear industry and premier science and technology (S&T) organization, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) serves the nation as an enabler of business innovation and technology transfer. CNL fosters the development of creative and skilled teams delivering services ranging from research and development, design and engineering to specialized technology development.
CNL with HDR, have taken a resilient approach to a generational transformation of its 60-year-old, 200-acre, Chalk River Laboratories campus. Prioritizing values of employee wellness, creation of meaningful social infrastructure, and carbon literacy, drive the nearly $800M (CAD) revitalization of site infrastructure and investment in new, world-class science facilities with the goal to become CEDIR Park: Clean Energy Demonstration, Innovations & Research Park.
Carbon-balanced Mass Timber approach
A suite of four buildings totaling over $500M (CAD), are all in various stages of design, construction and occupancy. The projects are in alignment with the Government of Canada’s policy direction on climate change, the Pan-Canadian Framework and the Canadian Federal Guidelines on sustainability. Mass timber structures form a central strategy to address embodied carbon in the effort to respond to a low-carbon economy. All buildings from the six-storey Business & Innovations Hub and the high-bay Logistics and Support Buildings to the Advanced Nuclear Materials Research Centre are constructed wholly or all where possible in Mass Timber.
A Progressive Process for a Future-forward Facilities
Creating a suite of state-of-the-art facilities requires a state-of-the-art process. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) fits that bill and enabled the exploration and eventual deployment of mass timber design strategies. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a collaborative, transparent, and continuous improvement-based project delivery format built on a strong foundation of information sharing and intensive collaboration with shared risk and rewards. By bringing together a diverse team with a broad range of expertise including researchers, designers, constructors, and stakeholders into a shared and open working environment, pre-existing biases and the dreaded ‘we’ve always done it this way’ attitudes are challenged to deliver incredible results focused on a value proposition based on the low-carbon. Key features of IPD include early involvement of key participants, shared risk and reward based on project outcome, joint project control, just ownership project values and ambitions jointly developed and validated targets.
The session is a case study and will showcase how CNL’s sustainably goals transformed an aging business model into a future-facing, resilient and relevant innovations campus.
Speakers:
Donald Chong, OAA, MRAIC, LEED AP Design Principal HDR
Dathe Wong, OAA, MRAIC, LEED AP Principal, Education | Science | Tech HDR
Date and Time
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Leveraging Demand-Controlled Ventilation: A Success (and Retrocommissioning) Story
AbstractIn April of 2019, UBC enabled its first Aircuity system – the first of its kind installed in British Columbia. This presentation briefly discusses what the Aircuity system is and why air-contaminant demand-controlled ventilation is important in modern laboratory systems. It then details UBC’s implementation of the system, and the subsequent M&V and retro commissioning efforts by UBC staff to find the savings expected by the project, sharing lessons learned along the way, and pitfalls to be avoided by others pursuing the same project.
Speaker:
Blair Antcliffe
University of British Columbia
Date and Time
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST
Selection and Application of Materials and Casework Furniture Systems in Laboratory Design
AbstractScience and Medical laboratories require high performance furniture to meet the needs of the specialized processes and environment. An incorrect selection of materials or furniture systems can result in restricted workflows, shortened product lifespans and increased maintenance costs. We are challenged to design laboratories that improve workflow and safety while planning for both current and future needs. To assist in this process, we describe a 4-step plan.
- Determine the client needs; To begin the selection process we must first talk to the end user and determine their needs to assist us in making the proper application of the furniture materials and systems.
- Determine the correct materials; We then review the importance of SEFA, some of the testing and why furniture with SEFA testing is a requirement before reviewing the types of materials that are used in the Laboratory furniture construction of casework and their respective applications and considerations for use.
- Determine the correct laboratory work-surface materials; Using SEFA and the client needs as guides we discuss the different laboratory work-surface materials and the best applications for their use.
- Determine the correct furniture system. Finally, we review the major types of laboratory furniture systems, their applications, life cycles and uses for the clients while taking into account the information we have discussed on materials, budgets and client requirements.
Speaker:
Tyler Holmberg
Solutions
Date and Time
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST