ASHRAE Technology Award: Hot, Humid Lab Hood Facility PDF

Lab hood facilities are one of the most wasteful types of buildings constructed because tremendous quantities of fresh air are needed to make up the lab hood exhaust air. In South Carolina, air conditioning hot, humid outside air can be expensive. Also, it must be dry and cool in the lab, but it's difficult to recover the energy in chemical lab exhaust air because the toxic fumes and vapors can destroy the wheel substrate in an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) or cross contaminate the incoming fresh air and harm occupants. A lab hood facility in hot, humid South Carolina overcame these challenges and saved energy using chilled water energy recovery ventilator and creative sash management strategies.