Landmark Group Manufacturing Facility

Vital Engineering was contracted to analyze a variety of heating and cooling systems for an 83,000 sq ft. manufacturing facility in Edmonton, AB.  The building is an advanced center for prefabrication of wall assemblies for the Landmark Group of Builders.  The primary systems analyzed were air curtains, solar heating of ventilation air, heat recovery, cogeneration, biomass, and geothermal.  After an energy model of the building was completed, each technology was analyzed on the basis of capital cost, ROI, energy savings, and CO2 reduction. Several programs were used in the study, which also included a detailed life cycle cost analysis for optimizing insulation values of the walls and roof.  

A biomass boiler using waste wood from the construction processes can provide carbon neutral space heating, partial energy independence, and avoids having to dispose of the wood another way.  Much of the complexity arose from the impacts one technology would have on another, such as a solar transpired air collector affecting the performance of an HRV.  In the end, recommendations were made incorporating different technologies into one optimized and integrated system.

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