When it came time to renovate its 30+-year-old administration Building, OWASA needed a sustainable, energy-efficient solution for its outdated HVAC equipment. McKim & Creed performed an energy model and subsequent life-cycle cost assessment for the replacement of the HVAC system at the OWASA Administration Building. For this project, the team selected a water source heat recovery system similar to a geothermal heat pump system. However, the project used domestic water in lieu of ground wells. After a thorough assessment of the building envelope, McKim & Creed identified numerous critical areas where improvement was necessary for successful HVAC operation. Our team then worked with OWASA on a complete building HVAC system renovation to improve efficiency, increase occupant comfort, and allow for easier operation and maintenance. This new HVAC system provided improved temperature and humidity control and lower greenhouse gas emissions through increased efficiency. It also uses domestic water coupled with heat recovery chillers to provide heating and cooling water to the variable air volume HVAC system. In addition, our team provided full commissioning services to ensure the system was installed consistently with the owner’s expectations. In its first year of operation, OWASA saved $28,000 in operational costs and 375,000 kWh of energy with this new system. This reflects a 59% savings in energy usage and a 45%savings in energy costs.

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