American Honda Northwest Regional Facility
WHEN HONDA RAISES THE STAKES IN INTELLIGENT DESIGN, TRANE RAISES THE FLOOR
HONDA IS COMMITTED TO ENVIRONMENTALLY SMART DESIGN. TRANE MAKES SURE THEIR HVAC SYSTEM IS TOO.
Honda’s Northwest Regional Facility in Gresham, Oregon, is a parts distribution center, zone office, and training center for Honda and Acura employees. But it is also so much more. “The difference between this building and standard construction is dramatic,” said John Woelfle, Trane’s Facility Services Administrator at Honda. The building has won widespread recognition for its advanced environmental design. Most notable has been its Gold Rating under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. It is the first mixed-use building in the country to achieve this coveted rating, and it didn’t happen by accident. When the building was originally proposed, Honda’s management specified the goal would be attaining an LEED Gold Rating and high environmental standards. Trane’s experience with USGBC certifications made us the obvious choice for the HVAC system.
Trane is no stranger to highly ambitious projects or environmental concerns, but this Honda job was certainly very singular. The building’s extensive commitment to energy efficiency is evident in everything from flooring made from recycled auto tires, wallpaper made from recycled phone directories, to a system for collecting rainwater from the building roof for reuse in site irrigation and toilet flushing. The HVAC system design was just as groundbreaking. By creating a raised floor throughout the office, the entire floor cavity serves as a supply plenum for a system of variable air volume (VAV) terminal boxes with low-velocity floor diffuser outlets. According to Michael Kinne of System Design Consultants, said this system gives Honda incredible flexibility, “They can make lots of changes in the cubicle design and still have adequate ventilation and comfort management. The approach also fits Honda’s environmental philosophy because it reduces air-handling energy requirements, simplifies control and requires fewer zones. And eliminating all the overhead ducts reduced the amount of sheet metal needed for the job.
TRANE T-Series Climate Changer™ air handlers are mounted on the roof to conserve interior space in the building. The system features precise ventilation control and complete mixing of conditioned air; return air from the office area is received through a ceiling plenum. The T-Series is a modular design that was easily tailored to fit Honda’s specific application. It even collects recovered heat from an automotive workshop to use for ventilation air tempering. One single chiller—a TRANE 80-ton Series R Model RTWA helical rotary chiller—efficiently feeds this entire system. This chiller was chosen because of its known reliability and operating efficiency over a wide range of loads. But what insures that Honda’s high-quality IAQ is the TRANE Tracer Summit™ system with NIST-traceable sensors and 1400 data collection points. The system not only maintains comfort levels throughout the building, but also controls other features such as ventilation management, chiller operation, and even Honda’s unique rainwater collection system. The Summit also collects and logs all of this data for the continuing LEED building maintenance and verification plan. Woelfle says the sum of all of Honda’s efforts is impressive, “Visitors are absolutely amazed at what they are seeing. They are intrigued with the rainwater collection, heat-recovery systems, the building control system, the recycled building materials, and the level of commitment by the owners.” And Trane is very pleased to be a part of it.
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