Energy Costs Drop to Net-Zero for Historic Town Hall

Challenge:

The September 14, 2009 Buffalo News announced, “Town officials say the conversion of the old Miller Hose Fire Company building into the Newfane Town Hall and Community Center will be completed in coming weeks – months ahead of schedule and right on budget. Main Street businesses eagerly await its opening.”

The newspaper account hinted that the historic renovation would include the latest in sustainable design and building practices – “Solar Liberty of Williamsville (N.Y.) will soon be installing a 30 kW photovoltaic (solar panel) system.” Project architect William L. Henderson, Clarence, N.Y., reported that, working through Town Supervisor Timothy R. Horanburg, the Town Council asked the 13,000-square-foot building be designed with the most forward looking energy-saving technologies and equipment.

“For the HVAC system we first looked into a ground loop, water-source system,” Henderson said, “but when the bids came in, we discovered the cost of drilling wells along with the pumping required would elevate the price far above a conventional heating system. Conventional heat pumps were out of the question because of their reputation of freezing up during New York winters.” With this hurdle to overcome, the design team set out to identify a system that could meet the requirements.

Solution:

Henderson said it was at this time he discovered the “anything-but conventional” Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) zoning system from Mitsubishi Electric Cooling and Heating Solutions, Suwanee, Ga. “We found this VRF system – two Hyperheating (H2i^™) INVERTER outdoor units with 40 tons of cooling and heating – that would immediately save us in monthly energy costs and drop the 300 amps of electrical service demanded by the groundsource equipment. When the 32 kilowatts from the solar array kicks in, we will actually be returning electrical service to the electric provider, New York’s National Grid,” Henderson said.

Daily visitors to the new Town Hall are able to see their tax dollars at work from the lobby monitor that displays the energy created by the solar voltaic system on a real time basis and the energy saved by the combined Mitsubishi Electric VRF system and solar voltaic electric generating panels. The building has shown a substantial reduction in energy consumption that can be attributed to the change in heating system to the Hyper-heating units.

“This system is great,” said Town Supervisor Tim Horanburg. “You don’t hear it even when it is running, it’s so quiet.” Horanburg and Henderson surprised themselves one day when standing outside next to the Mitsubishi Electric compressors. They observed, “These things are actually running!” Horanburg also says that the flexibility of temperature controls from room to room mean a lot to his staff, and, the anticipated return on investment is projected to be a 50 percent savings on the Town Hall electrical/heating bill. The level of savings could not have been achieved without the Mitsubishi Electric VRF zoning system.

Newfane’s Town Council and the business community are delighted with the relocation of the Town Hall to the center of Newfane’s business district. They anticipate the stimulus created by this project will create a renaissance for this picturesque upstate New York town.