DATE: XX/XX/YYYY TO: CLIENT & DESIGN TEAM

SAMPLE A3 PROJECT REPORT – HVAC SYSTEM LIFECYCLE COST ANALYSIS FROM: ENGINEER

BACKGROUND & CURRENT CONDITION (Problem) Plan HVAC System Annual Energy Cost HVAC System Annual O&M Cost
 Owner’s project parameters: Total focus on managing overall costs. $840,000 $720,000
 HVAC system selection: Major impact to Hospital construction and operating costs
$820,000
 Drivers of proper HVAC system selection: $700,000
o Rising energy costs $800,000
o Increasingly stringent energy design standards $780,000 $680,000
 Owner willingness to consider non-standard system approaches $760,000
$660,000
 LEED Certification: not a guarantee of energy performance $740,000
$720,000 $640,000
$700,000
GOAL Plan $680,000
$620,000
Mechanical system with the most attractive Lifecycle Cost: optimal balance of first cost, energy efficiency and maintenance. $660,000 $600,000
GSHP WSHP VRF Chiller Chilled GSHP WSHP VRF Chiller Chilled
CAUSE ANALYSIS Plan VAV Beam VAV Beam
Tunnel Vision: Fixated on First Cost
 Initial cost versus proper Lifecycle Cost analysis
Resistance to Change: “This is the Way We’ve Always Done It”  Ground Source Heat Pump systems offering the most attractive Lifecycle Costs of the 5 evaluated systems.
 Building designs frequently based on previous projects
Alternate mechanical system analysis forces project team to think “outside the box” Cumulative 7 Year Evaluation Timeline Total 7 Year
HVAC System EUI* Annual Energy $ / ft² MEP First Cost Energy O&M Total Investment
COUNTERMEASURES (Proposal) Do GSHP 158.3 $3.59 $ 27,206,429 $ 5,059,705 $ 4,532,776 $ 9,592,481 $ 36,798,909
 To kickoff the design process for Owner, we held an MEP Innovative Systems meeting where we evaluated the benefits and WSHP 173.9 $4.09 $ 26,805,383 $ 5,757,045 $ 4,688,433 $ 10,445,478 $ 37,250,861
drawbacks of multiple HVAC systems and narrowed our focus to the following systems: VRF 169.6 $3.88 $ 28,272,794 $ 5,467,189 $ 4,571,920 $ 10,039,109 $ 38,311,903
o Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) Chiller - VAV 182.7 $4.09 $ 28,387,134 $ 5,764,808 $ 5,017,941 $ 10,782,749 $ 39,169,883
The Lifecycle Cost analysis was a collaborative effort by the Integrated
o Water Source Heat Pump (WSHP) Chilled Beam 176.2 $3.98 $ 28,023,893 $ 5,606,685 $ 4,781,578 $ 10,388,263 $ 38,412,156
o Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) Team made up of CM, Architect and Engineer Team and our
o Traditional Chiller / Boiler Variable Air Volume subcontractor partners. The experience and expertise of each team  * Energy Use Intensity – kBTU / (ft² - year) – Average EUI for hospitals is 240
o Chilled Beam member was leveraged and shared to enhance the collective results of

Lifecycle Cost of each system was evaluated, considering the

CONFIRMATION (Tools) Check
following: HVAC System First Cost  Uncharted Waters
 First Cost: o GSHP Systems have recently proven to be effective in healthcare applications
Determined by reconciling subcontractor pricing with CM $28,500,000 o Integrated Team visited an existing water source heat pump Healthcare installation to “kick the tires”
mechanical, electrical and structural estimates. Historical  Design Enhancement
data was also used for comparison. $28,000,000 o Minimize pumping energy – decentralized pump scheme
 Energy Consumption o Hybrid system to address load imbalance for Project’s specific climate region
Developed from system energy models built by Engineer. $27,500,000 o WTWHP for domestic hot water generation – helps address load imbalance
 Operation & Maintenance  Proven Technology / New Application
$27,000,000 o WSHP Manufacturer hurdles
Costs mined from CM database.
 Overcoming Healthcare filtration requirements
$26,500,000  Variable speed compressors for load matching
Other factors considered in our evaluation:
 Impacts to site – e.g. GSHP option requires a bore field  Seismic certification
$26,000,000
that potentially hinders goals for the site (preserve native GSHP WSHP VRF Chiller Chilled
wetlands and stream, future expansion, etc.). VAV Beam FOLLOW-UP (Actions) Act
 Impact to building structure – e.g. WSHP, VRF and Chilled  You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure
Beam options allow for reduced floor to floor height. To capture the HVAC system impacts to building structure and
o HVAC system design incorporates provisions for Measurement and Verification.
 Impact to program space – e.g. WSHP requires program space, we incorporated the architectural cost differences o The project team will monitor the performance of the system to ensure GSHP energy benefits are realized and system
decentralized mechanical space vs. large central spaces between systems into our First Cost estimates. energy performance is optimized as the building continues to operate.
and larger CEP required for Chilled Water VAV system.