by Steve Carroll, P.E., Irvine Commissioning Agent

In 2003 the Cedar Fire raged through the Goodan Ranch preserve destroying not only the natural life but the Goodan Ranch House.  The Ranch house was built in the 1930's and made out of stone and wood.  Needless to say it did not fare well in the fires.  In 2005 San Diego County broke ground on the new Goodan Ranch Park Building.  Completed in the Summer of 2007, the new building houses a Park Ranger Office, exhibition space, and a learning center.  San Diego County Parks and Recreation adhering to their commitment to the environment specified the building would be rated under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. 

Consultants Platt/Whitelaw Architects worked closely with the county to design and specify a building that would achieve a LEED-NC rating. Glumac was involved early on as the Commissioning Authority, fulfilling the Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite Fundamental Commissioning as well as Energy and Atmosphere Credit 3, Enhanced Commissioning.
 
The building sits in the middle of a county park, miles away from city utilities and water, so energy and water conservation was a very important element of the design.  Specialty systems such as evaporative coolers, fan coil systems, a building energy management system, low-flush toilets, water conserving faucets, CO₂ sensors, automatic operable windows and a photovoltaic array were incorporate into the design.  With such integrated systems installed, commissioning the project was very important. 

During the design phase of the project, Glumac provided reviews of the design engineers,  E/C Engineering (mechanical and plumbing design) and Turpin & Rattan Engineering, Inc. (electrical design),  Basis of Design document and the construction documents to ensure that the project was designed according to the Owner's Project Requirements.

During construction Glumac made regular site visits to verify that the equipment and systems were being installed according to the project requirements and the design intent.  Once the systems were installed Glumac worked closely with the controls contractor and performed functional performance tests to verify that the systems were operating properly and at their maximum efficiency during the many different modes of operation. 

Taking advantage of outside air to provide 100% free cooling, when the outside air conditions were optimal, the fan coil units would use 100% outside air to cool or warm the building.  Using 100% outside air systems poses a building pressurization issue that was solved with the operable windows opening and closing automatically and controlled through the BMS.

The evaporative cooling system took further advantage of outside air and pre-cooled the 100% outside airflow using the evaporative cooler in the system.  If the indoor conditions required additional cooling, the lead heat pump would start in the cooling mode and if additional cooling was necessary, the lag heat pumps would also turn on.  Using the evaporative cooling system as a first stage of cooling conserved energy use and lowered the buildings electricity consumption.

During times when heat was needed, heat pumps would operate in much the same fashion, turning on the lead heat pump and then the lag heat pump if conditions warranted.

The system also incorporates a neutral mode, if the inside conditions do not call for heating or cooling only one fan coil will operate to ventilate the building when it is occupied.

The project also includes the following sustainable features:

•  A photovoltaic array was installed on the roof, which provides most of the electricity used by the building.
• Occupancy sensors were installed to control the lighting.
• The building and window orientation, window shading, and cool roof technology were taken into account during the design to decrease the need for cooling, thus reducing energy consumption.
• The use of decomposed granite in the roads, walkways, and parking areas, instead of asphalt decreased the pollution by eliminating toxic runoff from the asphalt into the natural environment.
• Drought resistant plants, efficient irrigation and low-flow toilets reduced the water consumption.
• As part of the LEED requirements under the Enhanced Commissioning procedure, Glumac returned to the site10 Months after the building was completed to review the operation of the systems and ensure the systems were still operating at peak efficiency.

The sustainable design features incorporated into the project allowed the Goodan Ranch Building to achieve 10 out of 10 points under the Energy and Atmosphere EA Credit 1, Optimize Energy Performance and an additional point for exceptional energy savings thereby achieving a silver rating under the USBGC LEED rating system.