In an effort to maintain the aesthetically pleasing and historically important appearance of the building’s façade, Montana State University turned to secondary windows to easily and more cost-effectively increase the building's energy efficiency and occupant comfort.
Flathead Electric’s district office is a single-story 1960s-vintage building with offices at the front and a combination of storage space and garage bays for utility trucks in the back. Their former HVAC system had been pieced together from several years of changes and modifications and it was no longer providing indoor comfort or an adequate level of heating efficiency. Flathead Electric took advantage of an innovative approach to HVAC they knew all to well—a very high efficiency dedicated outside air system (also referred to as very high efficiency DOAS).
The Trapper Creek Dormitory is a federal government work campus in rural Montana. When restricted airflow caused summertime overheating, ventilation issues, and unsafe C02 levels in their dormitories, the facility managers decided to partner with Ravalli Electric Co-op and Bonneville Power Administration to implement a high-performance HVAC conversion.
A ground source heat pump (GSHP) is a central heating and/or cooling system that transfers heat to or from the ground. As ground temperatures in Montana tend to be stable at 55F, there is almost always a temperature difference between the ground and the air. GSHPs exploit this natural differential for heating and cooling purposes to provide energy savings in the range of 20–45% for typical efficiency GSHPs and 45–60% for high efficiency GSHPs.