It was interesting to discover that the part of our hypothesis that appeared to be logically intuitive was contradicted by this case study. New energy efficient materials do not make up for the fact that the envelope of the space is exposed on top making it more susceptible to heat loss.

LEED temperature standard for winter thermostat setting is 68 degrees. Findings revealed that the temperatures and settings for both spaces observed were several degrees higher than this standard. One may be able to retain this minimum temperature setting if the HVAC is able to throw conditioned air more efficiently. Currently, it is believed that the air flow through the terminal VAV boxes are not pushing enough volume of air through the diffusers to adequately throw air to the occupied zones.

Possibly increasing the minimum air flow through the terminal VAV box would require more energy to pump this greater volume through, however, because the heated air would throw more, the resulting increase in air speed would possibly create a heated comfort zone at a lower temperature setting. The warm air would be better distributed into the occupied space, resulting in an increased energy draw via fan operation but would warm the space better.

An investigation of the energy drawn by additional fan use versus additional heating work caused by higher settings because the CFPC occupants appear to be uncomfortable. Comparison of energy use may be a topic of further investigation for a future case study.