Big Ass Fans LEED Gold R&D Laboratory

From the USGBC Cincinnati Regional Chapter Events Calendar, ”

From the Big Ass Fan site http://www.bigassfans.com/news/article/35,
“Big Ass Fans continues its commitment to engineering the world’s best fans, commencing fan testing in a new, LEED Gold, 46,000-ft2 research and development laboratory. Specifically designed for the unique requirements and challenges of testing very large Big Ass Fans (6-ft to 24-ft in diameter), this facility is the first and only of its kind. In this new space, Big Ass Fans is able to fully conduct fan performance testing including air velocity profiles, fatigue testing of fan assemblies and components, and prototype builds of the newest and most cutting-edge fan innovations.

The Big Ass Fans Research and Development building has been awarded LEED Gold Certification. By utilizing our own Big Ass Fans to achieve LEED credits and as part of our commitment to sustainable practices, we have designed a modern facility that uses 35% less energy, 58% less water, 51% less waste to the landfill during construction, and used 9% less materials to build. Big Ass Fans were utilized to meet the requirements of the following LEED prerequisites and credits: Minimum Energy Performance; Optimize Energy Performance; Minimum IAQ Performance; Increased Ventilation; Thermal Comfort, Design; Innovation in Design: Materials Minimization.

The performance testing area is a 42,000-ft2 space with 60-ft high ceilings and minimal floor obstructions. Large, heavy curtains allow the space to be divided into four quadrants and the curtains can be pulled back to create a single space to allow for the testing of the largest fans. Additionally, the new R&D building is large and flexible enough that it can be reconfigured to simulate various applications. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) mapping is also utilized to determine the performance of Big Ass Fans in a space.

From the highly reflective roof to the low VOC floor, the new Big Ass Fans R&D laboratory is state-of-the-art from top to bottom – exactly what you would expect from the largest and most versatile fan manufacturer on the planet.”