Penn State – Recreation Hall Energy Study + Implementation

The Penn State Energy Savings Program (ESP) team identified Recreation Hall as a facility with potential to yield significant energy savings and developed a list of preliminary Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs). Penn State’s historic field house, Recreation Hall, was constructed in 1929 with additions in 1950, 1963, and 2005.

Precis was asked to perform an energy evaluation that would validate and expand upon Penn State’s preliminary list of ECMs. The study aimed to quantify potential energy savings in order to identify funding for major mechanical maintenance activities. Precis evaluated the building’s energy use and identified and quantified energy conservation opportunities related to the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems. Precis then provided order-of-magnitude cost-benefit analyses to facilitate prioritization of the opportunities. The energy study identified over 30 ECMs. Of those, 10 were selected to move forward into the design phase.

Precis provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering design services to implement ECMs. The projects included converting an existing squash court in the Kinesiology building to a mechanical room containing new campus-to-building chilled water heat exchangers and pumps; routing campus and building chilled water, heating hot water, and domestic water piping underground between Recreation Hall and the adjacent Kinesiology building; removing an air-cooled chiller and connecting associated loads to campus chilled water; adding a chilled water return temperature sensor to more accurately measure system return conditions; converting four air-handling units (AHUs) from a single-zone, constant air volume (CAV) to single-zone variable air volume (VAV) system with demand-controlled ventilation; providing one-third/two-third control valves for the steam to hot water heat exchanger for better control during low loads; removing humidification from one AHU for steam energy reduction; replacing three-way control valves with two-way control valves to reduce pumping energy; and adding outside airflow monitoring on existing systems to allow for implementation of demand-controlled ventilation.