Research facilities, as most commercial facilities, are typically significant users of energy due to the large number of air movements required to maintain the air quality in the animal rooms. Sinclair has implemented a number of environmentally conscious strategies to minimize the energy expenditure and improve the comfort of the animals.

Energy Recovery Units: The single most significant energy reduction strategy is the introduction of energy recovery units (ERU) in the exhaust air stream. The ERUs recover the energy residing in the exhausted air expelled from the animal rooms and transfer this energy in the incoming or outside air stream, thus, preconditioning the fresh air prior to being introduced in the animal rooms. The ERUs use the building exhaust air to precool and dry the incoming hot and humid outside fresh air or preheat and humidify the incoming cold and dry outside fresh air. This drastically reduces the energy consumption of the entire HVAC system.

Sinclair is using two different types of ERUs, namely the desiccant wheel or the plate type exchangers. Energy recovery is maximized by utilizing an enthalpy wheel as the heat exchanger. This device transfers sensible and latent energy between the exhaust and outside air streams, and provides substantially more heat exchange than any other type of heat exchanger. The enthalpy wheels used at Sinclair have an efficiency up to 82%. The plate type exchangers are still recovering up to 65% of the otherwise disposed energy. In other words, a plate exchanger can cool (or heat) the outside air approximately 65% of the difference between the outside air and the exhaust air. The energy savings come from the reduction of the cooling or heating load. A much smaller HVAC system can be used to make up the difference. The energy consumed by the ERU is far less than the energy saved. The following diagram illustrates a typical energy wheel schematic:

Insulation: Sinclair uses solid core insulation in its buildings. This type of insulation forms a built-in air-seal that is not disturbed by wind or air movement. This insulation fills every crevice, virtually eliminating air leakage, convection, and airborne moisture movement. By contrast, fiberglass batts, the most common product installed today because of its lower price, cannot stop air-infiltration. It has been estimated that most building are losing between 30% and 40% of efficiency because of fast, shoddy workmanship and fiberglass can lose as much as 45% of its R-Value under "REAL" weather conditions. The combination of solid air-tight construction with high efficiency insulation reduces greatly the energy expenditure of the facility.

Geothermal Heat Pump: Sinclair used ground source heat pump to supplement the HVAC system. This marvelous technology relies primarily on the Earth’s natural thermal energy, a renewable resource, to heat or cool a house or multi-family dwelling. The only additional energy geoexchange systems require is the small amount of electricity they employ to concentrate what Mother Nature provides and then to circulate high-quality heating and cooling throughout the home. Geoexchange works differently than conventional heat pumps that use the outdoor air as their heat source or heat sink. Geoexchange systems don’t have to work as hard (which means they use less energy) because they draw heat from a source whose temperature is moderate. The temperature of the ground or groundwater a few feet beneath the Earth’s surface remains relatively constant throughout the year, even though the outdoor air temperature may fluctuate greatly with the change of seasons. At a depth of approximately six feet, for example, the temperature of soil in most of the world’s regions remains stable between 45 F and 70 F. This is why well water drawn from below ground tastes so cool even on the hottest summer days. In winter, it’s much easier to capture heat from the soil at a moderate 50o F. than from the atmosphere when the air temperature is below zero. This is also why geoexchange systems encounter no difficulty blowing comfortably warm air through a home’s ventilation system, even when the outdoor air temperature is extremely cold. Conversely, in summer, the relatively cool ground absorbs a home’s waste heat more readily than the warm outdoor air. Studies show that approximately 70 percent of the energy used in a geoexchange heating and cooling system is renewable energy from the ground. The remainder is clean, electrical energy which is employed to concentrate heat and transport it from one location to another. In winter, the ground soaks up solar energy and provides a barrier to cold air. In summer, the ground heats up more slowly than the outside air.

Water usage: Sinclair uses thousands of gallons of water on a daily basis to clean and water the animals. Sinclair developed a strategy to eliminate water wastage. The water strategy consists of three folds. At first, the energy of the water is captured to supplement the ground source loop system of the geothermal heat pump system. The transfer to the energy of the ground water through energy recovery systems improves the efficiency of the geothermal heat pumps, particularly in the summer and winter, when the demand peaks. The water is pumped from deep wells that are about 1,200 feet deep which result in a very thermo neutral water year around, regardless of the season. Second, the water is used for its primary intention, e.g. watering the animals or washing the facility. Third, the water is captured through the sewage system in giant lagoons and it is used to grow crops. Thus, the water is utilized three times!

Lighting: Sinclair uses a electronic ballasts fluorescent lighting which consume much less energy than conventional lighting. This is particularly important as there are hundreds of lights inside the Sinclair buildings.

Sinclair is very proud to have developed an enviable strategy toward minimizing the energy expenditure. We hope that other facilities and not only research facilities will follow in our foot step.