Hudson County Community College - Library HVAC. Photovoltaic & LEED Certified Cx
Hudson County Community College constructed a new seven story, 92,350 sf multifunctional library building. The new facility is an integral part of the College’s expansion program. The library building was designed and built with sustainable, energy efficient mechanical and electrical systems.
Wick Fisher White was retained to commission the HVAC systems and the lighting and photovoltaic system. The HVAC commissioning involved writing the test procedures based on the engineer’s requirements and the functional testing of the building automation system; the central chiller and boiler plant; seven roof top air handling units and associated variable air volume boxes and many smaller supply and exhaust systems. Seven high efficiency roof top units with energy recovery wheels provided conditioned air to each floor along with a central condensing boiler plant that provided hot water for heating. Every individual space in the building had a dedicated VAV with heating coil for precise climate and ventilation control in each room. Monitoring and control of this system was accomplished by the central building automation system.
The lighting systems were checked for proper illumination levels, and the occupied /unoccupied timers were checked so that the occupancy sensors and daylight sensors all operated per design. The photovoltaic systems were checked to ensure that their actual electrical output matched their advertised rating. At the conclusion of our testing all systems were operating in accordance with the owner’s and engineer’s requirements.
The commissioning process performed by Wick Fisher White ensured that the systems were accurately calibrated and the central systems with each individual VAV box operated as designed. Wick Fisher White also provided enhanced commissioning at this location and the two LEED points awarded for this enhanced commissioning enabled to the building to attain LEED Silver status.