Press Releases

MIT Engages Aircuity to Significantly Improve Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality across its Hayden Library Facility

Aircuity's OptiNet^® System will Provide Significant Cost Savings in Support of MIT's Energy Efficiency Initiative

NEWTON, Mass., USA – August 16, 2010 – Aircuity, the smart airside efficiency company, today announced that it has been engaged by MIT to develop a ventilation optimization program that will significantly improve overall energy efficiency and optimize building ventilation across its Hayden Library facility. Leveraging Aircuity's OptiNet system, MIT will be able to cost effectively reduce energy usage in support of its Institute-wide initiative to significantly reduce electricity across all of its facilities.

In May, MIT and NSTAR announced the 'Efficiency Forward' program, an aggressive initiative to reduce electricity use by 15% over the next three years. In effort to do this, MIT is looking to modernize its existing equipment, with a significant focus on heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).

MIT will implement Aircuity's OptiNet system, a comprehensive suite of intelligent ventilation measurement and optimization technologies, to continuously sense and analyze the building's indoor environment and provide intelligent inputs to the building management systems, making adjustments to the ventilation flow as needed and allowing the facility to optimize airflow as efficiently as possible. The project is anticipated to save approximately $100,000 in total annual energy costs by reducing electrical, heating and cooling energy use.

“The combination of new, more efficient air handling equipment with Aircuity's intelligent monitoring system will provide MIT with significant cost savings while maintaining comfortable levels of indoor environmental quality," said Gordon Sharp, chairman, Aircuity. “Aircuity's Demand Control Ventilation (DCV) technology will allow colleges and universities to make significant progress toward their sustainability goals, and the rapid payback based on energy savings enables them to reinvest in many more efficiency programs."

The Aircuity OptiNet system is also installed in the new Sloan School of Management building to help optimize ventilation. Accurate measurements of indoor and outdoor enthalpy levels insures the proper operation of the HVAC system's economizer mode, while other indoor environmental quality measurements drive the DCV system to optimize ventilation rates saving significant energy costs, while maintaining overall occupant comfort and productivity. 

About Aircuity
Aircuity is the smart airside efficiency company providing building owners with sustained energy savings through its intelligent measurement solutions. By combining real-time sensing and continuous analysis of indoor environments, the company has helped commercial, institutional and lab building owners lower operating costs, improve safety and become more energy efficient. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Newton, MA, Aircuity’s solutions have benefited organizations such as the University of Pennsylvania, Eli Lilly, Masdar City, the Bank of America Tower and the University of California-Irvine.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Chooses Aircuity for Safe, Energy Efficient Labs

Leading Teaching Hospital to Lower Energy Costs and Reduce Carbon Footprint by Optimizing Ventilation of Its Research and Lab Facilities

NEWTON, Mass., USA – July 12, 2010 – Aircuity, the smart airside efficiency company, today announced that it has been selected to improve overall energy efficiency and optimize building ventilation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School known for excellence in patient care, biomedical research, teaching and community service. 

Aircuity's OptiNet system, a comprehensive suite of intelligent ventilation measurement and optimization technologies, will be installed in BIDMC's research laboratories. The system's Lab Demand Control Ventilation (Lab DCV) technology will continuously sense and analyze the lab environments and provide ventilation inputs to adjust the air changes per hour (ACH) in the facilities as needed.

By reducing the air changes when lab conditions are determined to be clean – and increasing the ventilation only when needed, Lab DCV helps to maintain safe and energy efficient ventilation to the hospital's research and lab facilities. In addition, OptiNet's continuous monitoring provides lab managers with critical information that they can use to analyze and improve lab procedures.

“Because of the enormous energy cost of ventilating these critical environments, lab and research facility managers around the world are looking for ways to be more energy efficient without sacrificing lab safety for their researchers and staff," said Rob Brierley, president and COO of Aircuity. “Lab DCV is one of the most impactful solutions that lab managers can implement to achieve the dual objectives of safety and savings."  

About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
A teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is renowned for excellence in patient care, biomedical research, teaching and community service. Located in the hear of Boston's medical community, it hosts nearly three quarters of a million patient visits annually in and around Boston. The medical center is renowned for excellence in surgery (including general, cardiovascular, thoracic, gastrointestinal, solid organ transplant and vascular surgery), with minimally invasive approaches to many procedures. BIDMC is also known for treatment of cardiac conditions, cancer and pulmonary and thoracic disorders; and for their expertise in neurosciences, gastroenterology and liver disease, obstetrics and women's health, podiatry and emergency and trauma medicine. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, please visit: http://www.bidmc.org/Home.aspx.

About Aircuity
Aircuity is the smart airside efficiency company providing building owners with sustained energy savings through its intelligent measurement solutions.  By combining real-time sensing and continuous analysis of indoor environments, the company has helped commercial, institutional and lab building owners lower operating costs, improve safety and become more energy efficient.  Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Newton, MA, Aircuity’s solutions have benefited organizations such as the University of Pennsylvania, Eli Lilly, Masdar City, the Bank of America Tower and the University of California-Irvine.

The Bank of America Tower Earns LEED Platinum Rating
with Help of Aircuity

The Durst Organization Expands Its Implementation of Aircuity at One Bryant Park

NEWTON, Mass., USA – June 21, 2010 – Aircuity, the smart airside efficiency company, today announced that the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park in New York City has achieved an "Innovation in Design"  Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credit because of Aircuity's contribution to the project.

The LEED "Innovation in Design" credit awarded for this approach to the building's IEQ, along with other credits that the Aircuity system contributed to, has improved the overall energy efficiency of the 55-story building and aided in it becoming the first commercial high-rise building in U.S. history to be awarded a LEED platinum rating by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Aircuity's system of intelligent ventilation measurement and optimization – called OptiNet is helping the Bank of America Tower continuously monitor multiple Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) parameters such as CO2, CO, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and small particulates. Because of Aircuity, New York City's second-tallest building can ensure a consistently high quality of ventilation air for its tenants, while reducing the energy needed to heat, cool and circulate that air within its walls. 

The indoor environmental performance information collected by Aircuity has become the central component and driver behind the building's comprehensive approach to ensuring a safe and comfortable environment for its tenants. In fact, due to the success of the initial deployment, the developer of the project – The Durst Organization – has recently expanded its implementation of Aircuity to additional areas within the tower. 

“The Bank of America Tower project shows that the principles of sustainability and energy efficiency can be applied to any structure - even a skyscraper,"said Patrick T. Romich, CEO of Aircuity. “We at Aircuity are honored to be a part of this monumental achievement in green building." 

The skyscraper today serves as Bank of America's New York headquarters and houses its corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management and consumer and commercial banking businesses. Aircuity was brought into the project by Cook + Fox Architects and The Durst Organization.

For more information on the project and its LEED Platinum rating, please see: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/05/prweb4029114.htm.

The Durst Organization
The Durst Organization, founded in 1915 by Joseph Durst, is the owner, manager and builder of 10 million square feet of premiere mid-town Manhattan office and residential properties. The Organization is recognized as a world leader in the development of high-performance and environmentally advanced commercial and residential property. For more information please visit: http://www.durst.org.

About Aircuity
Aircuity is the smart airside efficiency company providing building owners with sustained energy savings through its intelligent measurement solutions.  By combining real-time sensing and continuous analysis of indoor environments, the company has helped commercial, institutional and lab building owners lower operating costs, improve safety and become more energy efficient.  Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Newton, MA, Aircuity’s solutions have benefited organizations such as the University of Pennsylvania, Eli Lilly, Masdar City, the Bank of America Tower and the University of California-Irvine.

Aircuity Customer Chicago Botanic Garden Recognized as
R&D Magazine’s 2010 Laboratory of the Year

Aircuity’s Building Ventilation Optimization Technology a Key Part of Plant Conservation Science Center’s Energy Efficiency Program

Aircuity Customer Texas Children’s Hospital also Recognized with an Honorable Mention

NEWTON, Mass., USA – June 1, 2010 – Aircuity, the smart airside efficiency company, today announced that its customer, The Plant Conservation Science Center at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, IL, has been selected as the 2010 Laboratory of the Year in R&D Magazine’s annual competition. Aircuity was also recognized as a key player in the Texas Children’s Hospital, Feigin Center expansion project, which received honorable mention in the competition. Aircuity’s OptiNet system, a comprehensive suite of intelligent ventilation measurement and optimization technologies, was implemented in both facilities as a way for the organizations to lower operating costs, improve safety and become more energy efficient.

The goal of the Plant Conservation Science Center, owned by the Chicago Horticultural Society, is to train a new generation of plant conservation scientists, increase public awareness of the issues affecting today’s plant species and develop new policies for the future. Architect Booth Hansen and engineering firm Grumman/Butkus Associates wanted to make the building accessible not only to scientists, but to the visiting public as well. Aircuity was brought in to develop and implement a state-of the-art airside monitoring and measurement solution that would improve ventilation performance throughout the facility. The judges recognized that the overall design quality of this project was highly superior, leading it to win the Laboratory of the Year highest honors.

“Despite the drastic differences between the uses of each building, both of these projects are excellent examples of how to improve energy efficiency while also enhancing occupant safety,” said Gordon Sharp, chairman, Aircuity. “They are truly deserving of the recognition from R&D Magazine and we’d like to offer our congratulations.” 

Aircuity’s multiplexed air sensing and measurement solution continuously senses and analyzes a lab room’s indoor environment to implement a demand based control approach to laboratory ventilation. The result is typically the single most impactful and cost effective energy conservation measure for a lab facility.  Intelligent outputs to the lab airflow control system and the building management systems provide real time adjustment of the lab room ventilation flow based on the quality of the lab room environment. A potentially safer lab environment can be achieved by increasing lab room dilution ventilation above traditionally fixed levels to purge the lab room more quickly when potential contaminants are sensed.  Lower airflows are then used to save energy when the lab rooms are “clean” which occurs about 98% or more of the time.

An eight-story vertical expansion to the Texas Children’s Hospital, the Feigin Center added 200,000 square feet of space specifically designed for the advancement of pediatric medicine. The architect for the project, FKP Architects, recommended the hospital investigate Aircuity’s OptiNet system as a way to provide additional energy savings while improving the indoor environmental conditions throughout the facility.

“Aircuity was the perfect partner to help us meet our energy efficiency goals and their demand based approach to lab ventilation was an important aspect of the building design. In fact, we devoted a chapter of our Lab of the Year submission to discussing the Aircuity system and its impact on the project,”said Cynthia Walston, principal, FKP Architects. 

The projects have been featured in the May 2010 issue of Laboratory Design and will also be included in the June issue of R&D Magazine. For more information on the competition and winners, visithttp://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/02/Lab-Of-The-Year-Brings-Science-To-The-Public/. 

About R&D Magazine
Since its founding in 1959 as Industrial Research, R&D Magazine has served research scientists, engineers and technical staff at laboratories around the world, providing timely, informative news and useful technical articles that broaden readers’ knowledge of the research and development industry and improve the quality of their work. R&D Magazine is a publication of Advantage Business Media (www.advantagebusinessmedia.com). For additional information about R&D Magazine, please visit: www.rdmag.com.

About Aircuity
Aircuity is the smart airside efficiency company providing building owners with sustained energy savings through its intelligent measurement solutions.  By combining real-time sensing and continuous analysis of indoor environments, the company has helped commercial, institutional and lab building owners lower operating costs, improve safety and become more energy efficient.  Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Newton, MA, Aircuity’s solutions have benefited organizations such as the University of Pennsylvania, Eli Lilly, Masdar City, the Bank of America Tower and the University of California-Irvine.

Aircuity to Provide Improved Energy Efficiency in New Student Complex at Harvard Law School

Aircuity’s OptiNet System will help Reduce Facilities’ Energy Costs while Supporting HLS’ Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

NEWTON, Mass., USA – May 26, 2010 – Aircuity, the smart airside efficiency company, today announced that Harvard Law School (HLS) has selected Aircuity’s OptiNet system to help improve indoor air efficiency and decrease the maintenance and energy costs associated with the new Wasserstein Hall, Caspersen Student Center and Clinical Wing complex.  Aircuity believes that in leveraging its intelligent measurement and analysis solutions for the new complex, HLS will not only be able to reduce Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels in this facility, but will be able to meet strict energy efficiency standards that have been established as part of a University-wide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Using demand control ventilation (DCV) technology, Aircuity’s multiplexed air sensing and measurement system will be able to continuously sense and analyze the new building’s indoor environment and provide intelligent inputs to the building management systems, making adjustments to the ventilation flow as needed and allowing the facility to optimize airflow in an efficient manner.

“By providing a smarter, safer and more energy efficient alternative to traditional discreet sensors, Aircuity was able to lower the number of sensors down to a total of four, while providing a significantly reduced lifecycle cost,” said Gordon Sharp, chairman, Aircuity.  “In fact, in only 1.1 years this system will have paid for itself.”

The Wasserstein Hall, Caspersen Student Center and Clinical Wing complex will comprise of approximately 250,000 square feet and will provide new spaces for student activities, and significantly strengthen the learning community. In addition, the project will apply for and is expected to receive LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

HLS’ original building design had 101 CO2 sensors built into the project. After further investigation by the facilities and sustainability departments, HLS realized that by utilizing Aircuity’s system of multiplexed air sampling units they could significantly reduce the number of sensors needed to sample the same number of locations. Not only did this decrease HLS’ maintenance costs, it improved energy savings and further reduced their carbon footprint. 

About Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School offers an energetic and creative learning environment, a diverse and dedicated faculty—whose expertise spans a broad array of legal subjects—and a student body that comes from every state in the U.S. and more than 70 countries around the world. Approximately 1,900 students attend HLS each year: 1,680 J.D. students, 160 LL.M. students, and 50 S.J.D. candidates. The faculty includes more than 100 full-time professors and more than 150 visiting professors, lecturers on law, and instructors. The curriculum features more than 260 courses and seminars that cover a broad range of traditional and emerging legal fields. For additional information about Harvard Law School, please visit:www.law .harvard.edu.

About Aircuity
Aircuity is the smart airside efficiency company providing building owners with sustained energy savings through its intelligent measurement solutions. By combining real-time sensing and continuous analysis of indoor environments, the company has helped commercial, institutional and lab building owners lower operating costs, improve safety and become more energy efficient. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Newton, MA, Aircuity’s solutions have benefited organizations such as the University of Pennsylvania, Eli Lilly, Masdar City the Bank of America Tower and the University of California-Irvine.

Aircuity, Inc. is honored to receive the
Equipment Manufacturers’ 2009 GO BEYOND AWARD

NEWTON, MA, September 2009 -- The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), in partnership with R&D Magazine has recognized Aircuity for “contributing significantly to reducing the environmental footprint of a whole facility through innovative design and engineering of sustainable equipment.” The award recognizes manufacturers that “Go Beyond” the status quo to minimize the environmental impacts of laboratories and other high-technology facilities.

 
TheLabs21 Approach is a fundamental base to Aircuity’s mission: To be the recognized leader in optimizing building ventilation for energy efficient performance without sacrificing occupant comfort, health or productivity. OptiNet multi-point sampling system senses a multitude of indoor environmental parameters throughout a facility to deliver cost effective, accurate, and reliable knowledge on ventilation performance.

Click the link above to learn more about the Labs 21 Approach which is referenced in part below.

Labs21 is dedicated to the pursuit of sustainable, high performance, and low-energy laboratories that will:

• Minimize overall environmental impacts.
• Protect occupant safety.
• Optimize whole building efficiency on a life-cycle basis.
• Establish goals, track performance, and share results for continuous improvement.
  

NEWTON, MA, April 30, 2009 -- Gordon Sharp, Chairman and founder of Aircuity, Inc., testified yesterday to the House Small Business Committee in a hearing entitled “Climate Change Solutions for Small Businesses and Family Farmers." Mr. Sharp informed the committee about how innovation from small businesses such as Aircuity are helping to address climate change and gave some suggestions on how Congress might help spur the development and commercialization of innovative technologies that can address climate change.

Chairwoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) set the stage for the hearing by stating that: “Entrepreneurs and family farmers are pioneering innovative ways to reduce carbon in the atmosphere…As legislation to address climate change goes forward we need to make sure that the final proposal not only protects our environment, but creates jobs.”

Following up on her comments, Mr. Sharp testified on two small businesses he founded, namely Aircuity and also Phoenix Controls, which was sold to Honeywell (HON) in 1998. Both firms have commercialized technologies that are making a difference to the environment by saving significant amounts of energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Sharp described how Aircuity has commercialized technology to optimize ventilation for commercial and institutional buildings without sacrificing comfort, safety, or occupant productivity. With most commercial buildings being over-ventilated, properly controlling outside air and building ventilation is the single largest factor affecting both building HVAC energy efficiency and indoor environmental performance. Aircuity’s innovation was to develop an improved means to enable reliable demand based ventilation in response to dynamic changes in a building’s proper ventilation requirements. Aircuity’s forecast of 2009 system sales should represent more than $7.5 million in annual energy savings or an annual reduction of 38,700 metric tons of CO2 for those customers.

Sharp commented that while cost is often raised as an obstacle to implementing energy efficiency and climate change solutions, in reality these solutions are very cost-justified. Aircuity’s systems consistently deliver paybacks of 1 to 4 years which equates to internal rates of return from 100% to about 20%. He also suggested utility and government incentives that would further reduce perceived financial barriers for early adopters.

A link to Mr. Sharp’s 5-minute verbal testimony in video and text form can be found byclicking here.

ASHRAE completes their Headquarters Renewal Project – Walking the Talk

(Newton, MA): ASHRAE has returned home to its newly renovated international headquarters, which now features a variety of sustainable design measures. Throughout the headquarters, Aircuity’s OptiNet Facility Monitoring System senses a broad array of indoor environmental parameters (Carbon Dioxide, Dewpoint, VOCs, Small Airborne Particulates, Carbon Monoxide) and integrates this information with the onsite Building Management System for the control of the indoor environment. All of the data is accessible through a protected website and a BACnet interface allowing the information to be easily viewed, downloaded and graphically analyzed.

“ASHRAE is committed to making its headquarters a “living lab” for its members and the HVAC&R industry. Generous donations from companies such as Aircuity, have helped to make this goal a reality,” says William A. Harrison, ASHRAE president and chair of the ASHRAE Headquarters Renovation Ad Hoc Committee. “With its sustainability and productivity focus, this project showcases Aircuity’s commitment to environmental leadership and healthy environments. ASHRAE is grateful for not only their donation, but their dedication to the technologies we are embracing as past of the renewal”.

Commenting on the completion of the facility, Gordon P. Sharp – Aircuity Chairman, notes, “Aircuity is delighted to be part of this historic occasion and we welcome the opportunity to continue to partner with ASHRAE in advancing the goals for healthy, efficient, sustainable buildings and indoor environments”.

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Aircuity is a leader in providing technology enabled, commercial building energy efficiency solutions. By combining advanced building sensing technology, with web based building performance data acquisition & analysis, Aircuity has developed a building energy and environment information platform (OptiNet®) capable of supporting an array of energy performance solutions and services. Several of the currently implemented solutions and services are aimed at optimizing building ventilation management - the single largest controllable factor affecting building energy efficiency and indoor environmental performance.

Yale's New LEED Platinum Sculpture Building features an extensive OptiNet system.

(Newton, MA): Yale’s new Sculpture Building is a 51,000 sq. ft. space that houses undergraduate and graduate Sculpture programs of the School of Art located on the west side of the main campus (on the block bound by Edgewood Ave. and Park, Chapel and Howe Streets). The Building provides three floors of individual and group studios above ground and basement floors of classrooms, machine shops, and administrative spaces. Attached to the building via a lower level ramp is a 3,000 sq. ft. single room gallery with mezzanine space that will be used to display year-end shows, ongoing exhibitions, and occasional lectures. Adjacent to the Sculpture Building, on the west side, is a four-story, 288 space parking garage, the ground floor of which will be rented out as retail, restaurant, and Yale Security Services space. As a studio building, the quality of the interior space and the provision of a high quality and encouraging indoor environment is of top importance. The building's design features and construction process earned it a LEED Platinum (USGBC's web site) rating from the US Green Building Council. Some of the sustainable design features of the Sculpture Building are highlighted below. Read the entire Article (Yale's web site)

Aircuity’s OptiNet system installed at Texas Children’s Hospital to save $78,000 per year in energy.

(Newton, MA): Aircuity’s OptiNet system featured in the June edition of Laboratory Design News

“Texas Children’s Hospital is seeking ways to reduce the operational costs of labs in the Feigin Center as it plans its vertical expansion. To that end, during the observation study, TCH installed the Aircuity system on the fourth and seventh lab floors to study the impact of reducing air exchange rates. With the Aircuity design, laboratory air is continuously sampled and analyzed for levels of key parameters (i.e., chemicals or particulates). These measurements serve as the basis to vary room ventilation rates if contaminant levels rise due to spills or releases.

As a result of installation of the test system, outdoor airflow rates have been reduced significantly. The fourth floor ft3/min (cfm) was reduced by 7,898 cfm and the seventh floor reduced by 5,827 cfm. The monitoring data showed that even the “worst” lab was well below acceptable parts per million 99.5% of the time. By reducing outdoor airflow rates, the operating speeds of the main supply and exhaust fans were reduced by ~30%.

The fan speed reduction, coupled with the subsequent reduction in heating and cooling requirements of the outdoor air, will result in energy savings of ~$78,000/yr. The payback for this retrofitted system is estimated to be less than one year.”

OptiNet’s Laboratory Demand Controlled Ventilation application produces dramatic savings in mechanical system first costs and energy costs by matching the ventilation rates to the environment. OptiNet dynamically reduces the laboratory or vivarium air change rates when the air is sensed to be clean – saving vast amounts of energy, while dynamically raising the rates during those occasional times when a spill or release occurs that creates a dirty environment.

To view the entire article, visit:

U.S. Green Building Council Goes Platinum: New headquarters earns LEED® Platinum certification, showcases green building principles

(Washington, DC) - The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the creators of the LEED Green Building Rating System, announces that its new Washington, DC headquarters has earned LEED Platinum Commercial Interiors certification for its office suite. The new space offers 22,000 square feet of open work areas and underscores USGBC's commitment to green building innovations.

The interior architect was Perkins & Will and the contractor was Davis Construction. USGBC also wishes to thank the following generous sponsors who have made the new energy-efficient office space possible: 3form; Aircuity; American Standard; Armstrong Commercial Ceiling Systems; Benjamin Moore...USGBC Project Profile (2mb PDF)

Dynamically Varying Laboratory Air Change Rates
New white paper describes energy savings, safety enhancement

(Newton,  MA) - Aircuity is pleased to offer a new white paper titled Dynamic Variation of Laboratory Air Change Rates: A New Approach to Save Energy & Enhance Safety. The 6-page paper addresses the air change rate dilemma faced by designers of research facilities in light of changing laboratory practices. A variety of factors have led to debate over the ‘correct’ value for setting ventilation air change rates.

With the ability to continuously measure the indoor air quality of a space comes the opportunity to dynamically vary air change rates based on situational factors, as opposed to relying only on the status of the fume hoods and the thermal loads. This is significant because even minor rate reductions have the potential to produce dramatic energy savings. Research facilities use far more energy per square foot than the typical office building due to intensive ventilation requirements and other health and safety concerns. In one case a 100,000 sq. ft. lab/animal research facility applying a dynamic ventilation approach calculated a $250,000 reduction in annual energy costs.

The concept described by the paper is particularly relevant given current initiatives by the sustainable design movement and the Labs21 Program (www.labs21century.gov) to improve energy efficiency and environmental performance. Copies of the paper may be obtained through the company’s web site.