Energy Recovery for Ventilation Air in Laboratories; Laboratories for the 21st Century: Best Practices (Brochure)

This publication is one of a series of best practices guides for 'Laboratories for the 21st Century,' a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program. It is intended for all those who plan, design, and construct public and private-sector laboratory buildings. Laboratory buildings typically consume 5 to 10 times moreenergy for heating, cooling, and fans than most office buildings, because they need to be ventilated so well, primarily for safety reasons. This publication describes how using air-to-air energy recovery methods-such as enthalpy (desiccant) wheels, heat pipes, or run-around loops-allows laboratory building designers to specify smaller heating and cooling systems. This in turn reduces the totalamount of energy they use.