Case Study Introduction

Burlingham Hall

Students study in comfort.

Recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of America’s Best Colleges 2008, Pacific University is a private liberal arts organization with professional programs in education and five health professions. The main campus is located 24 miles west of Portland on 55 acres in downtown Forest Grove, Ore. The University enrolls more than 2,500 full-time students from 30 states and 28 foreign countries. The school was founded in 1849 by Congregational pioneers as the Tualatin Academy and became Pacific University in 1854.

With a history of practicing green building, Pacific University has four LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings, three of which are Gold: Burlingham Hall, the main library and the Health Professions building in Hillsboro, Ore. Berglund Hall, home to the College of Education, was recently completed and is certified LEED Silver. “Pacific University is committed to sustainability and Burlingham Hall is a terrific example of eco-friendly construction and comfortable amenities for our students,” said Julie Murray-Jensen, assistant dean of students.

Experienced with the LEED design, construction and certification process, Pacific University designed its newest residence hall as an environmentally-sensitive building that would foster a sense of community among classmates. Burlingham Hall provides a bridge between the main campus and Vandervelden Court, an existing student housing complex.

The 59,000-square-foot, 49-unit, fully wireless building houses 161 sophomores, juniors and seniors in two-bedroom suites and four-to-six person, four-bedroom apartments. A typical apartment has two bedrooms and a bathroom on either side of a living room and kitchen. The ground floor has a main lobby, formal lounge and two large rooms that can be used for studying, conferences, classrooms, social gatherings and movie nights. A common laundry room adjoins the reception area and main lobby.

In addition to high-performance windows, high-efficiency lighting systems, stormwater bioswales and low-flow kitchen and bath fixtures, the innovative Burlingham Hall design incorporates high-performance mechanical and energy recovery systems. This is where the CITY MULTI® R2-Series Variable Refrigerant Flow Zoning (VRFZ) system comes into play.

Charles Arvidson, director of construction, Pacific University, hired Mahlum Architects, Portland, Ore., and Lease Crutcher Lewis (general contractor), Portland, to design and build Burlingham Hall. Interface Engineering (a Mitsubishi Diamond Designer), Portland, was hired for consulting engineering services and they assigned Mark R. Heizer, PE, LEED AP, senior mechanical engineer, to the job. American Heating Inc., Portland, which was part of the construction team for three of the four LEED projects at Pacific University, was engaged as the air-conditioning contractor.

Heizer expressed an interest in specifying CITY MULTI VRFZ technology for this project. In turn, Brian Shea, project manager, American Heating, Inc., contacted Jim Benville, regional manager, Mitsubishi Electric HVAC, in fall 2005 to recommend CITY MULTI systems for Burlingham Hall.

American Heating is a Mitsubishi Electric HVAC Diamond Designer and has several service technicians trained in the CITY MULTI specification program. Shea and Benville reviewed the Mahlum blueprints and developed a budget. Arvidson verified American Heating’s specifications with Interface Engineering, who also provided energy consulting services. Kurt Haapala, associate, Mahlum Architects, led the design team in establishing both the design and energy goals. He said, “Given a tight budget, aggressive schedule and our primary focus on sustainability, the CITY MULTI VRFZ system was the perfect choice as it provided the design team with a compact, localized HVAC system. This, in turn, provided the students with the flexibility of heating and cooling—independent of seasonal or directional variations—while maximizing energy efficiency. The CITY MULTI indoor units were tucked neatly up above bathroom ceilings, out of the way for students, but still readily accessible for longterm University maintenance.

“CITY MULTI gave us a huge boost in our efforts towards LEED Gold Certification. The CITY MULTI systems installed in Burlingham Hall worked so well for us—both for energy-savings and sustainability—it was natural for us to specify CITY MULTI VRFZ as the system of choice for Burlingham Hall phase two now under construction and going for LEED Gold Certification again.”

CITY MULTI systems take advantage of INVERTER technology by varying the speed of the compressor to match the load requirements of each space. With CITY MULTI systems, each zone has its own indoor unit that precisely controls the temperature while operating at optimum energy savings levels. The INVERTER technology varies the capacity of the system to meet indoor space load requirements while saving energy and providing the ultimate in indoor comfort. By responding to indoor and outdoor temperature fluctuations, the system varies power consumption by adjusting the compressor speed to optimize energy usage. VRFZ technology offers maximum comfort and energy savings because zones are only cooled and heated when in use or occupied.

Many advantages of the CITY MULTI VRFZ technology caught Heizer’s attention. He noticed the system’s overall efficiency due to the INVERTER-driven Variable Frequency Drive compressor, as well the natural ability of the system to take advantage of the diversity in the building’s cooling and heating load. The system also provided advantages from a structural and architectural standpoint. The small footprint and light weight of the R2-Series outdoor units enabled them to be placed in a convenient well on the roof. This allowed the building design to provide more space for student rooms because the considerable costs and space requirements of a much larger chiller and boiler system were eliminated. Because of the R2-Series high performance heat pump technology and the mild temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, Heizer realized that no additional heat source (backup electric heat) was required for each suite. He took advantage of heat pump efficiency throughout the heating season, eliminating the buildings’ peak electric draw on the power grid.

Shea understood the CITY MULTI VRFZ system’s ability to provide occupants with simultaneous cooling and heating using a two-pipe system. He recognized this would play an important role in obtaining the ultimate LEED Gold certification. Because of the VRFZ technology, the energy effectiveness and individual zone comfort realized would earn critical points in the LEED categories of Energy and Atmosphere as well as Indoor Environmental Quality. The system’s efficiency also exceeded local building codes. The whisper-like quietness of both outdoor and indoor units would be significant, along with the fact that a CITY MULTI system would have minimal impact on the surrounding campus architecture. These professional findings, together with a realistic equipment and budget proposal convinced Arvidson to incorporate CITY MULTI VRFZ technology into the Burlingham Hall building program.

After the first 12 months of operation, Heizer computed a cost data comparison. He said, “Total gas use was 67 percent less than our baseline energy model. It used 17 percent fewer therms than we anticipated (modeled) for the building.

“The electrical use was 33.5 percent fewer kilowatt-hours (kwh) than we modeled the baseline building to use. The electricity (kwh) used was 28.9 percent less than we expected our simulated building to consume. In terms of real monetary costs for energy today, this means that Burlingham Hall used $11,600 less electricity and gas than we forecast through our energy simulation. That’s an amazing 25 percent less than anticipated.”

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