Why Go Green?

Air Zone International is leading the “Green” initiative with underfloor air distribution systems. Learn how going green and underfloor benefits you.

In recent years, green building design, construction and operational techniques have become increasing widespread. Several of the largest cities in the US have adopted or are planning to adopt amendments to their building code to require green buildings in some form.

The world’s leading climate scientists have documented a clear global warming trend and the unmistakable impact of human activities on that trend.

Because of this, the 2030 Challenge was adopted by ASHRAE as a major founding principle. With each new issue of ASHRAE 90.1, the minimum energy performance for new buildings get tighter forcing engineers to re-think how to design buildings in their on-going quest to go carbon neutral. Architects are being challenged to design the “Holistic” Building that is functional and capable of performing at these energy levels.

Underfloor air is a great strategy to achieve some of the benefits that green building boasts – that is, improved ventilation effectiveness, lower energy use, improved occupant control and lower noise levels.

But this isn’t just affecting new buildings as the demolition of an existing building results in the loss of the energy and materials that were embodied in the original construction and can result in the loss of a cultural resource as well. Demolition and new construction consumes still more energy and materials. Preservation, rehabilitation and the reuse of existing structures should be encouraged. For more information on Green Buildings, please visit www.usgbc.org.

Underfloor air is a great strategy being utilized by leading engineers to achieve some of the benefits that green building boasts – that is, improved ventilation effectiveness, lower energy use, improved occupant control and lower noise levels. Architects have been challenged in designing UFAD systems due to a lack of drawing details and general information about this type of building design – this is changing as ASHRAE has now established a task group to address the publishing of a guidelines document on How to Design an Underfloor System. Tate Access Floors has done a great job of developing building details for most design conditions – this “design guide” can be found at http://www.tateaccessfloors.com/resources/manuals.aspx.

For more information on UFAD research, please visit the Center for the Built Environment at Berkeley – http://www.cbe.berkeley.edu/underfloorair/Default.htm