Going green with building certifications like LEED, WELL, and Energy Star can be a significant step towards reaching net zero carbon emission goals, but ESD, now Stantec Energy Engineer Matthew Zweibruck says don’t stop there. (Learn more about the FacilitiesNet summit.)
Hosted by ESD, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Chicago recently sponsored a webinar focused on building cooling systems and their impact on the environment.
As a 2021 Education Partner with BOMA Chicago, ESD and presenter Andrew Lehrer led a discussion about building refrigerants and their impact on facilities and the environment.
Studies suggest if almost every commercial building over 300,000 square feet originally built in Chicago between 1980 and 1995 replaces their chillers at the end of their useful life with new chillers using reduced hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), global warming potential (GWP) can be reduced by 252,892 tons CO2 – the equivalent of removing 55,000 cars from the road each year.
During his presentation, Lehrer reviewed a case study of ESD’s recent work on the CME Center in Chicago.
Click on “Upgrade Your Chiller Plant for the Future” to view the entire presentation and to see the steps to take to replace legacy refrigerants with low global warming potential GWP alternatives.
The program also featured insights from the Senior Strategic Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), David Doniger, who reviewed case studies and recent federal legislation expected to change the construction industry in the near future.
Events like this BOMA Chicago webinar are part of ESD’s commitment to promoting education and communicating industry best practices as part of its mission to improve society through the built environment. Andrew Lehrer is a frequent contributor to this effort.
Reach out to Andrew, ESD’s Practice Leader for High Performance Buildings, to learn more about upgrading aging cooling systems, adaptive reuse, and building repositioning for high rise facilities.
