Hotel Achieves LEED^® Certified Silver

In January 2008, the Terra Resort Group (TRG), Jackson, Wyo., opened the 72-room, six-story Hotel Terra, the first in a collection of green luxury hotels. Located at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Teton Village, Wyo., this “Eco-Boutique” hotel seeks to prove that luxury and environmental sustainability are not only similar in temperament but also ideal for delivering forward-thinking design and an exceptional guest experience.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED),the nationally accepted standardforgreen buildings, provided Rob DesLauriers, TRG’s chairman, with inventive strategies for sustainable site devel-opment, energy efficiency, healthy indoor  air quality and natural materials selection for the health and well-being of his guests. Energy-efficient cooling and heating systems designed to customize temperature by individual zones, limiting use to specific needs, also was high on his priority list. He insisted that the hotel’s HVAC system provide superior air quality by controlling moisture content, circulating large amounts of outside air into the guestrooms and employing energy recovery technology. By incorporating these traits into the building plan, Hotel Terra became the first LEED certified hotel in Jackson Hole and one of the first in the United States.

Cornerstone Architectural Group, Seattle, Wash., called on local contractors Todd Wilson, MECHCO, Inc., Jackson, Wyo., and Mike Cook, CN Engineers, Jackson, Wyo., to design the hotel’s HVAC system. Both men had recently learned about a pioneering HVAC system from Mitsubishi Electric Cooling and Heating Solutions, Suwanee, Ga. The R2-Series Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) zoning system is the first two-pipe simultaneous cooling and heating system available in the United States. Successfully deployed throughout Asia and Europe for over two decades, the men saw this innovative VRF technology as an ideal application for hospitality environments and the industry’s best means for achieving LEED certification for new construction. It didn’t take much to convince the Cornerstone design team that other HVAC system alternatives were no match for Mitsubishi Electric VRF systems.

Ideal System for the Job
Wilson made it clear to DesLauriers’ design team that the Mitsubishi Electric VRF system was ideal because it allows TRG to provide each individual space (guest rooms, lobby, spa, restaurants and retail) with its own zoned comfort system while realizing energy savings in the process. VRF zoning systems cool and/or heat only the spaces occupied, thus saving valuable resources that would otherwise be wasted by conditioning air in unoccupied spaces.

Reasoning from an engineering perspective, Cook listed the many benefits of the R2-Series VRF zoning system that would help TRG earn essential LEED credits: the unique INVERTER-driven Variable Frequency Drive compressor which provides highly responsive cooling and heating performance in each guestroom; the ultra-quiet performance—as low as 25 dB(A) for the indoor units and 61 dB(A) for the outdoor units—which are perfectly suited for hotel environments; and how the outdoor units, with the smallest footprint in the industry, could be concealed on the hotel roof. “Especially for hotel owners and property managers, these combined benefits mean enhanced comfort, effective use of energy and quiet operations for sound-sensitive hotel rooms,” Cook explained.

Mitsubishi Electric VRF Systems Help Hotel Earn LEED Certification
VRF systems helped Hotel Terra earn LEED certified Silver by meeting three prerequisites and earning three points based on the LEED New Construction (NC) v2.2 rating system.

Under the “Energy & Atmosphere” section, Hotel Terra met the prerequisites for Minimum Energy Performance and Fundamental Refrigerant Management and earned one point for Enhanced Refrigerant Management.

Under the “Indoor Air Quality” section, Hotel Terra met the prerequisite for Minimum IAQ Performance and earned one point each for Outdoor Air Delivery Monitoring, Controllability of Systems – Thermal Comfort and Thermal Comfort Design.

First Season Success Leads to Repeat Performance
“Mitsubishi Electric systems brought us through our first winter and summer season with flying colors,” DesLauriers said. “All of us at TRG have been impressed with the simplicity, reliability, comfort and success of its performance. Because of this achievement, I have asked my design team to specify Mitsubishi Electric VRF zoning systems for our 36-suite Hotel Terra II, which is now under construction.”