ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 14

ENGINEER'S NOTEBOOK
COLUMN
James Del Monaco
Responsible Approach
To Decarbonization in
An Existing Building
BY JAMES DEL MONACO, P.E., MEMBER ASHRAE
Decarbonization in existing buildings presents many unique challenges and requires
a well thought out approach to perform responsibly. The author recently presented a
high-level approach to decarbonization in a campus setting in an Engineer's Notebook
column.1 This column will focus on the process of electrifying the hydronic heat
generating equipment in several buildings in a higher education setting.
Space heating needs have historically been met by
using fossil fuels and combustion-based equipment
to generate hydronic hot water. The primary generation
equipment is generally inexpensive (boilers are
~$12-$30 per MBH), has high turndown (a number of
manufacturers offer 20:1), and use an available, reliable
resource for fuel. Building operators are familiar with
operating and maintaining this equipment.
As we transition to electrifying the space heating system,
heat pumps offer a viable option. Heat pumps have
been commonplace in the industry for more traditional
airside HVAC applications. More recently, heat pump
technology is being used for hydronic heating applications
and domestic hot water heating. Heat pumps have
their own challenges, such as higher first costs, lower
operating efficiency at higher supply temperatures and
low ambient operating limitations.
The case study in this column involves a university
campus considering transitioning from a cogeneration
plant with steam-to-hot water converters at each
building to local heating hot water (HHW) plants. The
14
ASHRAE JOURNAL ashrae.o rg
F E B R U A RY 2023
client aspires to achieve carbon neutral status within
the next 15 years, and one key mandate is the elimination
of natural gas for hydronic and domestic hot water
heating. For this project, failing steam infrastructure at
a particular section of the distribution was the primary
motivation for a centralized heating plant to serve a
cluster of three buildings. Two of the buildings were
constructed circa 1960, and the third building was constructed
within the last five years (Table 1).
Recommended practice is to gather available trend
data from a facility to benchmark its operation, whereupon,
providing the data is granular enough, we can
dig into the specific systems. For this project, the university
had Btu meters installed on the HHW side of
the heat exchangers, which enabled us to analyze the
actual operation of the system rather than having to
rely on the existing equipment capacity or develop a
detailed load calculation to size the new plant. Table 2
shows that assuming the existing installed equipment
James Del Monaco, P.E, is an associate principal in mechanical engineering at P2S Inc.
in San Diego, Calif.

http://ashrae.org

ASHRAE Journal - February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - February 2023

Contents
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - Intro
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - Cover1
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - Cover2
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 1
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - Contents
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 3
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 4
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 5
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 6
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 7
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 8
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 9
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 10
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 11
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 12
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 13
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 14
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 15
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 16
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 17
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 18
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 19
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 20
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 21
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 22
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 23
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 24
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 25
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 26
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 27
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 28
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 29
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 30
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 31
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 32
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 33
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 34
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 35
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 36
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 37
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 38
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 39
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 40
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ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 45
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 46
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 47
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 48
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 49
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 50
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 51
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 52
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 53
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 54
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 55
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 56
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 57
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 58
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 59
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 60
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 61
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 62
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 63
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 64
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 65
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ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 67
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ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 69
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 70
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 71
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - 72
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - Cover3
ASHRAE Journal - February 2023 - Cover4
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