Does anyone know when an Air Cooled Chiller can be used as the baseline
for a building that requires a Standard VAV System as the baseline HVAC
system for LEED V2.2 New Construction.
ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Appendix G makes it clear that a Cooling Tower must be
used.
Yet an old Credit Interpretation Report (CIR) for LEED V2.0 states that
an Air Cooled Chiller can be used as the baseline for any chiller under
150 tons.
Ian,
LEED 2.0 referenced the old ECB method, LEED 2.2 references the PRM and depending on the building size, the baseline VAV systems jump from a DX/VAV to a "Standard" VAV with CHW from either screw or centrifugal chillers (under 2007 revisions, the choice of which is dependent on the baseline load).
There is no such beast as an air-cooled chiller anywhere in the PRM baseline, unless it serves a process load same as in the proposed building.
Fred