The Lee H. Nelson Hall is a historic structure built in 1923. It was built originally as a gymnasium, however in 2001 after 30 years as a storage facility, it was repurposed as office, conference, and laboratory space for the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT). The NCPTT was established in 1994 and aims to use technology to preserve and restore building across America.
BAC Architecture requested our consultants visit the site to perform a Level 1 energy audit, conforming to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) guidelines. Their goal was to improve the building envelope and mechanical systems and achieve LEED for Existing Buildings Certification.
Our findings indicated that the historic structure had an Energy Star rating of 54, 4% better than a median building of similar type, age, and use. In order to obtain LEED Certification, the building was required to score an Energy Star rating of 69. To achieve this, we recommended they reduce energy consumption by 16%. Our team was able to provide the building owners and operators with recommendations to reduce energy consumption and we performed an air leakage testing presentation on both windows and doors to visually demonstrate our findings to the members of NCPTT.
During our air leakage tests, we found that the building to be four times the typically air leakage rate for a similarly sized building. Also, by testing the windows with a pressurized chamber, we found the leakage through windows accounted for 30-50% of the total building air leakage. We recommended that sealing the building to modern standards would result in 6-15% total energy savings. In our final report, our consultants also recommended reducing the office lighting to meet ASHRAE Standards, installing occupancy sensors, performing retro-commissioning, and replacing the outdated HVAC system.
Related Project Experience
Lee H. Nelson Hall
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Services:
- Whole Building Air Leakage Testing
Pressurized Chamber Testing
Energy Audit
Sustainability Management Plan
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