A Leader in Sustainable Design
CMTA is a regional leader in high performance, sustainable design. Our design team (mechanical and electrical engineers) incorporates energy efficiency into every design document that leaves our offices. We are constantly looking for ways to create buildings that sustain the environment. We interpret sustainable design as meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of future generations. Conserving energy is just one aspect of sustainable design and we accomplish this through geothermal systems, daylighting, commissioned buildings, energy recovery systems, photovoltaic electric generation and other design solutions.
Geothermal: We have completed over 50 geothermal HVAC projects. Most of our ENERGY STAR award buildings used this HVAC system design concept. A geothermal system is energy efficient because 75 percent of the energy to heat and cool the building comes from the earth. A closed loop hydronic water system circulates water between vertical wells and the heat pump units. Geothermal systems using vertical drilled wells have been the most cost effective. Other well field options are a lake system or horizontal buried piping.
Central Boiler Plant Efficiencies: A typical steam fired tube boiler with deaeration and condensate return operates in the 70 to 75 percent efficient range. Decoupling the building’s hot water heating system, domestic water heating systems, humidifier steam generation and CSR steam generation can increase system efficiencies from 90 to 100 percent.
HVAC System Reheat Reduction: Reheat of supply air to maintain air change requirements as dictated by codes is a large consumer of energy. Design strategies that reduce this energy consumption can significantly improve efficiency.
Daylighting: Allowing natural light in lieu of artificial light reduces energy consumption while creating a better building environment. Effective daylighting begins during the schematic phase, orienting the building to achieve generally a north/south axis. As the side chart indicates, the south/north exposures provide the least solar heat gain in the summer, but the south exposure
maximizes the heat from the sun in the winter when it is desired.
Energy Efficient Lighting: We advocate using new lighting technologies to obtain lower watt per square foot usage. Lighting is the second largest consumer of electrical energy in a building.
Domestic Solar Water Heating Systems: Solar water heating systems provide a good return on the investment. CMTA recently installed a system for a local middle school to provide all the domestic hot water.
Solar Photovoltaics: These systems can generate electrical energy and shed the power to the utility grid if not needed by the building. CMTA has designed one megawatt of solar PV systems to date (May 1, 2009).