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A Design Guide for
Energy-Efficient Research Laboratories -
Version 4.0- is intended to assist facility
owners, architects, engineers, designers, facility managers, and utility
demand-side management specialists in identifying and applying advanced
energy-efficiency features in laboratory-type environments.
This Guide focuses
comprehensively on laboratory energy design issues with a "systems" design
approach. Although a laboratory-type facility includes many sub-system designs,
e.g., the heating system, we believe that a comprehensive design approach
should view the entire building as the essential "system." This means the
larger, macro energy-efficiency considerations during architectural programming
come before the smaller, micro component selection such as an energy-efficient
fan.
We encourage readers to consider the following points when utilizing the
Guide:
- Since the Guide's
design recommendations focus upon energy efficiency, it is best used in
conjunction with other design resources, manuals, handbooks, and guides.
This Guide is not meant to supplant these resources but rather to augment
them by facilitating the integration of energy-efficiency considerations
into the overall design process.
- Though the Guide
may seem to push the envelope of traditional engineering design practice,
its recommendations are widely used in actual installations in the United
States and abroad. We believe that successful design teams build from
the members' combined experience and feedback from previous work. Each
team should incorporate energy efficiency improvements, as appropriate,
by considering their interactions and life-cycle costs. We also recognize
that there is no single design solution for all situations; thus, the
Guide focuses on conceptual approaches rather than prescriptive measures.
- We have performed
an extensive literature search and present brief excerpts from many excellent
publications. We encourage readers to obtain the full citation of interesting
and pertinent documents.
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