2010 03 ASHRAE's Best - Commercial Refrigeration Green Warehouse - Roy
2010 03 ASHRAE's Best - Commercial Refrigeration Green Warehouse - Roy
2010 03 ASHRAE's Best - Commercial Refrigeration Green Warehouse - Roy
This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, March 2010. Copyright 2010 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers, Inc. Posted at www.ashrae.org. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission
of ASHRAE. For more information about ASHRAE Journal, visit www.ashrae.org.
Green Warehouse
By Martin Roy, P.Eng., Associate Member ASHRAE
S
ustainability isn’t only for commercial, institutional and residential buildings. Warehouses need to be sustain-
able, too. Sobeys warehouse of Trois-Rivières is a refrigerated warehouse that demonstrates that a high level of
Building at a Glance
Name: Sobeys, Centre de distribu-
Owner: Sobeys
3 2
5 1
4 6
Natural
Ammonia Gas Ammonia
h Boilers Chiller h
Chiller
Evaporative Evaporative
Condenser Condenser
2 1 To 2 1
Radiant
Floor
High
Pressure
Tank
Flood
Tank 6
From
Radiant
5 Floor
2°C –11°C
Compressor Compressor
Electricity 2 1
Drive
3 4
Warehouse Warehouse
Fan Coil Fan Coil
Office
Fan Coil Thermosiphon
Cooling With Compressor Cooling Without Compressor
Figure 2: The normal operation cycle is shown at left with the thermosiphon cooling principle on the right.
gives an energy consumption 62% lower compared to that two different temperatures: 26°F (2°C) for the office area
reference building. and 12°F (–11°C) for the warehouse. The left half of Figure
2 shows the normal operation cycle. The right half shows the
Cooling System thermosiphon cooling principle.
Unlike typical refrigerated warehouses using direct expansion
evaporators, Sobey’s warehouse uses an ammonia central chiller. Lighting
Having one big system instead of several small ones allows for Natural light in a refrigerated warehouse is certainly in-
higher efficiency. Ammonia is one of the best refrigerants to get novative. Advanced glazing system with R-7.5 insulation is
high efficiency, and has no ozone deple- used. Lighting can be diminished by the
tion potential and zero global warming Energy at a Glance controls when there is enough natural
potential. The cooling distribution system lighting and with the use of motion
is also using secondary fluid (glycol) Energy Use Intensity (Site): detector in the alley. While providing
instead of direct expansion of ammonia, 32.29 kBtu/ft 2 energy savings, indoor environment
which is much safer for the employees. quality for workers is also increased.
Natural Gas: 8.49 kBtu/ft2
Chiller Free-Cooling Electricity: 23.8 kBtu/ft2 Warehouse Ventilation
The cooling system uses a thermo- It is not known if ventilated refriger-
siphon cycle to produce cooling with- Annual Source Energy: ated warehouses are a common practice,
out using compressors when outdoor 32.69 kBtu/ft2 but this feature is new to Sobey’s design
temperatures are under 10°F (–12°C). habits in the province of Quebec. As
This is a definite innovation for en- Savings vs. Standards 90.1-2004 stated in the section on indoor air qual-
ergy efficiency considering 844 hours Design Building: 62% ity, applying outdoor air requirement
occurring below 10°F (–12°C) on a by CO 2 concentration (0.015 cfm/ft²
normalized Quebec City weather file. [0.08 L/(s·m2)]) led to a huge reduc-
The warehouse chiller is also used to produce cooling for the tion compared to warehouse (0.06 cfm/ft² [0.30 L/(s·m2)])
office areas. To maximize energy efficiency in cooling the of- or shipping/receiving (0.12 cfm/ft² [0.61 L/(s·m2)]). As
fices, the chiller has two different pressure inputs to produce recommended by Advanced Energy Design Guide, an en-