SDB1 Office Building Energy Showdown:

Side-by-side installations of mechanical systems show savings from radiant cooling

The east wing (right) has radiant cooling instead of variable air volume (VAV) systems. {right click on photo for larger view, or visit link}

July 2012 - With 130,000 employees at 10 locations in India, technology giant Infosys manages a whopping 28 million square feet of floorspace and uses about one million kilowatt-hours per workday. Until 2008 its buildings were designed to impress visitors but not necessarily to save energy. That changed, however, when Rohan Parikh was hired as head of green initiatives and charged with making the company's SDB1 office building on its Hyderabad campus the most energy-efficient building in the world.

After extensive research, and with the support of Peter Rumsey, managing partner of the consulting engineers Integral Group in San Francisco, Parikh recommended radiant cooling in the slabs instead of standard variable air volume (VAV) systems for the 240,000-square-foot building. Radiant cooling has been used for centuries to enhance comfort in open-air palaces throughout India, but its use in sealed office buildings is relatively rare, and unheard of in India.

Not surprisingly, engineers at Infosys's local firm, ARCOV, were skeptical that a radiant system could work in Hyderabad's climate, which Rumsey describes as feeling like "Houston half the year and Phoenix the other half." ARCOV's team argued that radiant slabs wouldn't be able to maintain comfort and that the cool surfaces of the slabs would attract condensation in the humid months. read more>>>