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Las Vegas MGM Mirage City Center – Tour of Mechanical Facility

Just getting back from the Uponor radiant cooling engineering conference and have to say the tour of the Las Vegas MGM Mirage City Center Mechanical Facility was outstanding.   The entire MGM project covers approximately 18,000,000 square feet and spans 67 acres which includes the Aria, Mandarin, Veer, Harmon, and Vdara Hotels/condos as well as Crystals retail and entertainment district which is the largest retail facility to receive LEED™ Gold Core and Shell certification.

Crystals uses a fully automated mechanical system which includes radiant floor cooling to meet ASHRAE and LEED’s energy and thermal comfort requirements, additional specifications include:

• Remote Central Plant for chilled water allowing more usable space within the complex
• Two 4,000 kW gas turbine generators
• Two 400 BHP waste heat hot water boilers
• Six 5,740 ton dual-compressors, 12.47 kV water chillers for a total of 34,440 tons of cooling
• Six 10,890 gpm of field-erected cooling towers for a total of 65,340 GPM of
condenser water
• Three 1000-BHP hot water boilers which are integrated with the cogeneration system waste heat recover units
• Three 2,500 kW, 12.47 kV, diesel fired emergency generators 

A big thank you to my co-presenter, Peter Simmonds, Ph.D., event host Uponor, and the 700 plus invited conference attendees who made this engineering conference possible.
 

Learn more about radiant cooling:
http://www.healthyheating.com/Page%2055/Page_55_i_cooling_eq.htm

Press release excerpt:  

If you’re a homeowner who likes to stay dry, NRC’s dynamic wall testing facility (DWTF) has you covered.

The DWTF is used to assess the water tightness of wall sections and find ways to improve the sealing around pipes, wiring, vents, windows or anything else that passes through the “building envelope.” The results are then shared with architects, builders, construction associations, regulatory bodies and other government agencies, which have produced guidelines based on this work. “

In different climate zones across Canada, indeed in North America, rainfall varies in terms of intensity and duration. In Canada, we often see fairly substantial wind-driven rain conditions,” says Dr. Michael Lacasse, head of the team that runs the facility. “The DWTF can mimic the basic climate conditions that bring about wind-driven rain.” The team custom-builds in-house wall sections for performance assessment and also assesses structures submitted by the building industry. It features different sized test rigs that spray water at building components. On the largest unit, a huge 2.44 metre-diameter piston is used to change air pressure on the outside of full-sized test walls. While labs exist elsewhere that can simulate hurricane conditions, the DWTF is unique because the level and rate of pressure fluctuations together with the water spray can be pre-set for desired test conditions, says Dr. Lacasse.

For more information on this NRC wall research facility
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/news/nrc/2010/04/04/wall-testing.html

RBc: Working towards net zero energy homes requires a thorough understanding of building envelope systems , for further studies read:

1. www.healthyheating.com/downloads/Geoff%20McDonell%202.pdf
2. www.healthyheating.com/Radiant…/Radiant_Thermography2.htm
3. www.healthyheating.com/Definitions/radiant_based_HVAC.htm

The Department of Defense will break ground this month on a $12.5 million Hazardous Material Response Facility (HMRF) targeting LEED Silver certification.

When completed in summer 2011, the new two-story building will house laboratory, storage, training, and administrative spaces. It will be home to members of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), a DoD agency charged with protecting the Pentagon Reservation and other DoD-occupied facilities in the National Capital Region.

The design/build team of architecture firm Lord, Aeck & Sargent and construction firm The Christman Company was selected from among four shortlisted teams to design and construct the HMRF.

You can read more about the HMRT and its sustainable design features in the attached news release.

For further information contact:

Anne Taylor Carros, Lord, Aeck & Sargent, 404-253-6710, acarros(@)lasarchitect.com , or
Ann Kohut, Kohut Communications Consulting, 770-913-9747, annielk(@)bellsouth.net, www.kohutcommunications.com or http://twitter.com/kohutcomm

Renderings courtesy of courtesy of Lord, Aeck & Sargent.

RBc: This project represents an underlying theme with LEED based projects; practical structures, design build construction process, use of recycled materials, regionally sourced goods, high performance windows and proper management of solar loads.

First of its kind collaboration designed to boost critical green building practices across the country ICC, ASHRAE, USGBC and IES Announce Nation’s First Set of Model Codes and Standards for Green Building in the U.S.

The International Code Council (ICC), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) announced the launch of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC), representing the merger of two national efforts to develop adoptable and enforceable green building codes. The IGCC provides the building industry with language that both broadens and strengthens building codes in a way that will accelerate the construction of high performance green buildings across the U.S. On Monday, March 15, ASHRAE, IES and USGBC will join ICC at its Washington, DC headquarters as they and their co-authors (the American Institute of Architects and the American Society for Testing Materials) launch the IGCC. On Monday, Standard 189 .1 and the IGCC will be available for wide distribution, providing much-needed content, code language, and vision for more safe and sustainable future.

For more information on IGCC: http://www.intlcode.org/cs/IGCC/Pages/default.aspx and on Standard 189.1: www.ashrae.org/greenstandard.

See also:
International Code Council (ICC) www.intlcode.org 
U.S. Green Building Council www.usgbc.org 
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers www.ashrae.org 
Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) www.ies.org.

For further information contact: Contact: Jodi Scott, Public Relations, 678-539-1140,
jscott(at)ashrae.org

RBc: There is power in collaboration – and this is a great example of what organizations with a common vision can achieve. If Peter Drucker were alive today he would be applauding this outstanding effort.

Excerpt: "Understanding the effects of the built environment on our health is a complex business. Thorough research addressing questions such as “What is the best way to construct a house to reduce the stressful effects of noise exposure?” or “Which ventilation strategies both conserve energy and reduce exposure to potential allergens?” requires expertise from many scientific disciplines, including acoustics, architecture, biology, chemistry, engineering, epidemiology, geography, mathematics, medicine, physics, psychology, public health, and urban planning – and probably others as well. Although there exist international associations bringing together some of these disciplines, there has been no co-ordinated effort to bring together Canadian scientists to study these questions, across all building types, in the Canadian geographical and cultural context. Similarly, there are few examples of co-ordinated Canadian design guidelines, recommended practices, regulations, standards, or codes that address the full breadth of built environment effects on Canadian’s health and wellbeing.

Faced with requests for guidance on how to design, construct, operate, and maintain healthful indoor environments, the NRC Institute for Research in Construction (NRC-IRC) began in 2005 to develop the Canadian Building and Health Sciences Network (CBHSN). The network is intended to facilitate the development of collaborative teams that will conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research intended to improve the health of Canadians by improving the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the built environment."

RBc: We highly recommend our readers download and read the proceedings.
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/pubs/nrcc51222/nrcc51222.pdf

Other suggested readings:

Indoor Environmental Ergonomics
http://www.healthyheating.com/Human_Factors/Human_Factors.htm

Healthy Buildings Conference
http://www.healthyheating.com/IEQ_Radiant.htm

Alvar Aalto as a Healthy Building Architect
http://www.healthyheating.com/what_makes_a_good_%20architect.htm

 
Join us for the 2010 Uponor Convention — our largest gathering of professionals who install, design and specify PEX radiant cooling and heating systems, plumbing and fire sprinkler systems.

Taking place at the fabulous five-diamond Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, you won’t want to miss our major industry announcement as well as the premiere of the new Uponor Advantage program.

We’ll also offer product and program seminars and exhibits, fun speakers, evening events and of course, lots of fun. Only Uponor can put on an event like this.

Convention Details Date: April 8 and 9, 2010
Time: Kick off meeting Thursday, 2 p.m.; wind down with a reception Friday evening
Cost: $649 USD initial guests; $300 USD each additional companion sharing the same room
Includes: Two nights lodging at the Bellagio, meals, convention activities and a registration gift

To make registration changes, contact the Uponor Travel Team at 866.247.7478.
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RBc: I’m looking forward to presenting at this convention…lots of great stuff including the opportunity to hear Peter Simmonds, Ph.D. of IBE Consulting Engineers, talk about some of the unique projects he’s worked on including New Yorks Cooper Union…bonus for those attending is to see the City Center Las Vegas project with over 500,000 square feet of radiant cooling courtesy of the summit host – Uponor.