According to F&S, Management Engineer, Mike Halm:

1. Currently, this unit is in occupied mode on weekdays, 6AM to midnight.  Normally the occupancy schedule will more closely follow the hours the building is open, but runtimes were extended across campus as a precaution during the pandemic.

2. When the building was originally designed, there likely wasn’t a set amount of air changes per hour applied to every classroom.  Typically for classrooms the heating and cooling airflows are determined based on the specific loads in each room, rather than applying a flat rate based on the volume of the room.  If it would help, we could share the original ventilation drawings from 1989.  Regarding the ASHRAE standards, any new construction or renovation work on campus should have mechanical ventilation provided in accordance with ASHRAE 62.1.  However, there were different codes and standards in place when this building was constructed 30 years ago.  The current version of ASHRAE 62.1 may have slightly different requirements than the codes in place when the building was built.

In Fall 2021, the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) announced that it has successfully acquired or facilitated $34.7 million in external grants from various agencies during the past several months. Some highlights:

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced funding for a new project led by iSEE Interim Director Madhu Khanna to optimize design for “agrivoltaic” systems — fields with both crops and solar panels — that will maintain crop production, produce renewable energy, and increase farm profitability.

This $10 million, four-year project, funded through the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Sustainable Agriculture Systems program with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as the lead institution, will study agrivoltaics in a variety of land types and climate scenarios in Illinois, Colorado, and Arizona. The goal is to maintain or increase crop yield, improve the combined energy and food productivity of the land, and diversify and increase farmers’ profits with row crops, forage, and specialty crops across a range of environments

• iSEE has helped facilitate funding to enable geospatial data-driven scientific discovery at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the resulting research will lead to better understanding of the risks and impacts of climate change and disasters

The $15 million Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE) will receive the funding over five years as part of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Harnessing the Data Revolution, which establishes five institutes across the United States to explore questions at the frontiers of science and engineering. Shaowen Wang, Professor and Head of Geography and Geographic Information Science and Founding Director of the CyberGIS Center for Advanced Digital and Spatial Studies, will lead the institute. Collaborating scientists and institutions will work with the CyberGIS Center in partnership with iSEE and the U of I’s Discovery Partners Institute.

• $2.1M in additional five-year funding from the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation for U of I researchers, led by Evan DeLucia (Emeritus Professor of Plant Biology), Carl Bernacchi (U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service), and new co-PI Lisa Ainsworth (USDA ARS) to extend the campus’s enhanced weathering experiments using basalt rock on farm fields.
• $2M+ from NSF’s Smart & Connected Communities program for a team led by Crop Sciences Assistant Professor Andrew Margenot to build a “Nutrient Management Community (NuMC)” to help farmers adopt effective and trusted tools that will help address critical water quality issues.
• A $1.7M USDA NIFA subaward for Margenot and Crop Sciences Professor Emily Heaton to help identify ways to diversify the corn belt ecosystem and increase rural prosperity.
• A $1M, two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to bolster an iSEE 2020 seed-funded project to turn ash into energy. The Rapid AI-based Dissection of Ashes using Raman and XRF Spectroscopy (RADAR-X) Project is led by Civil & Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Nishant Garg.
• Several other awards of $1M or less.

See the attached file for the iQ Fall 2021 to read this article in its original form.

Over the summer and fall, iSEE has certified...

• Two new green offices:
  • The Oak Street Library Facility Conservation Unit
  • iSEE
• One new green chapter:
  • Zeta Psi
• 17 green events:
  • ​​​​​​​Including Illini Lights Out.

See the attached file for the iQ Fall 2021 to read this article in its original form.

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A#: This is the answer to that question.

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Dhruv and Ali provided the following answers to Sterling with SafeTraces:

Q1: Please provide PDFs of the full floor plan layout drawings for the entire building. Be sure to include 
square footage for each room and common areas. It is also very important to identify operable windows, if any? 

A1: Floor plans with room areas attached. 
Following files are attached for floor plans 
B0300-01-11X17 Astronomy Building-(1st floor plan)-2021 
B0300-02-11X17 Astronomy Building-(2nd Floor plan)-2021 
(current/anticipated occupancy assumptions would be helpful) 

 

Q2: What are the Astronomy Building's normal hours of operation?

A2: Monday to Friday (0800 hrs-1700 hrs.). Saturday and Sunday the building is locked. 

Q3: What is the air filtration rating for the spaces?

A3: MERV :: HEPA Filters at AHU, currently MERV-13. 

 

Q4: What is the Make/Model, age, specs and replacement/upgrade history of the existing HVAC system?

A4: Original AHU from 1990, Trane Model 41A, Serial K89H24684. Original AHU equipment schedule attached. AHU controls originally pneumatic, upgraded to DDC (Siemens) in 2016 to allow occupancy schedules to be implemented. Zone level (VAVs) are still pneumatic.  I believe the fume hoods are only energized when in use.  Heating in the building is hot water radiators and hot water VAV reheat (no heating coil at AHU) fed from hot water boilers. 30% glycol cooling coil in AHU, fed from air cooled chiller on site. 

Q5: What is the Make/Model and full specifications of the portable air purifiers expected to be used or are being used in the building? 

A5: I don’t believe any portable air purifiers are currently in use. 

 

Q6: Please identify all HVAC zones in the drawings. (Note: This is a command, not a question)

A6: See zone map drawings Paul sent previously. Please review the attached file 
CC-0300_09_V-700_RCX-Astronomy Building-Zones plan-AHU-EFU-2017 

 

Q7: How many air-changes per hour is the HVAC system currently providing?

A7: Will vary from room to room based on VAV damper position, ceiling height, etc. Based on a peak airflow of AHU (21,200 CFM), overall building area, and typical ceiling height (9’-0”), we’d have about 11.3 air changes per hour at peak load. 

 

Q8: What are the basic assumptions for outside air intake to aid in dilution/ventilation for all interior spaces? 

A8: AHU has a minimum OA position, and runs based on an occupancy schedule. We’ve temporarily changed our AHUs to run in occupied mode from 6AM to midnight for most of our units due to COVID-19 precautions. Unit is also sized for economizer when OA conditions allow. 

Q9: What are the weather assumptions for heating and cooling the interior spaces along with outdoor temperature and humidity estimates?

A9: I’m not positive what conditions the original designers used in 1990, but see page 2 of the “HVAC Systems” attachment from our facilities standards for our typical OA design conditions.