On January 4, 2021, Elara Engineering was recognized by the Illinois Chapter of ASHRAE with five 2020 Excellence-in-Engineering Awards. Cumulatively, Elara has earned a total number of 29 ASHRAE awards, several of which also represent projects that have secured awards at ASHRAE’s regional and international levels.
Taken together, the five awards exemplify Elara’s passion and ongoing commitment to the sustainable design of energy efficient building infrastructure systems. The five awards also showcase the breadth and depth of our team’s experience and expertise to deliver practical solutions and designs for a wide variety of project types (new construction, retrofits), building types (high-rise residential, hospitality, higher education), and innovative applications of existing and new technologies.
We congratulate our dedicated and talented project teams on their achievement and recognition by their peers in the Illinois Chapter of ASHRAE. We also extend our thanks to the owners, managers, and staff of these award-winning buildings for their vision and commitment to sustainable, energy efficiency projects.
The Elm at Clark (1122 N. Clark) Makeup Air Unit Replacemen
t
- $82,539 in utility incentives
- New chiller plant, condensing boiler plant and MAU for operational flexibility, comfort, performance, reliability, and efficiency
- New BAS system and dual temperature changeover
- Project implementation prioritization plan reduced overall project cost
- Full project details can be found here.
3383 North Broadway Urban Geothermal New Construction
- New construction 8-story mixed-use building with 134 residential units, an indoor heated parking, retail spaces, and shared amenity areas
- Geothermal heating and cooling, solar PV, exhaust air heat recovery, shower drain heat recovery, sidewalk snowmelt and demand control strategies
- Actual EUI: 21 kbtu/ft²
- Full project details can be found here.
Hilton Washington, DC Hotel High Pressure Boiler Plant Conversion/Upgrad
e
- $56,000 in utility incentives
- Energy opportunities identified by Elara Energy Audit and Engineering Analysis
- Boiler conversion from medium to low pressure, burner upgrades, and DA tank modifications in lieu of replacement due to space constraints
- Required collaboration with local authorities to gain required project approvals
- Significant energy savings and reduced operating costs due to elimination of stationary engineers required for high-pressure steam plants
- Full project details can be found here.
Loyola University Chicago Francis Hall MEPFP New Constructio
n
- New Construction 8-Story, 133,400 sq. ft. residence hall
- LEED Silver
- Heat recovery VRF units and DOAS system with CO2 controls, energy recovery exhaust air, high-efficiency boilers, and variable speed VRF compressors
- Natural ventilation design includes a motorized façade that opens to outdoors
- Ultra-low flow toilets, low-flow showers, and separate irrigation/non-potable water loop
- LED lighting/automatic light controls, automatic plug load control, and continuous power monitoring
- Full project details can be found here.
The Legacy at Millennium Park Electric to Gas Makeup Air Heating Conversio
n
- 73-story, existing mixed-use building
- Elara ventilation study identified opportunity to convert makeup air system from electric to natural gas heating
- New hot water heating and re-heat coils sized to maximize efficiency, with negligible fan energy penalty and minimum boiler efficiencies of 94%
- Parallel ECM pumps reduced pump energy usage
- Phased implementation to minimize interruption
- $330,000 in annual energy cost savings
- Full project details can be found here.
Additional Recognitions
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Academic and Residential Complex New Construction
- Multifamily Pillars of the Industry Award for Best On-Campus Student Housing Community from the National Association of Home Builders
- 2020 Architizer A+ Awards: Popular Choice Award for Higher Education and Research Facilities from Architizer
- Full project details can be found here.
Fields Lofts Renovation and Adaptive Use (Chicago, IL)
- 2020 Metamorphosis Award, First Place Winner in the Multi-Family Residential Category by Retrofit Magazine, a national journal covering renovations and adaptive use projects
- The link to the official announcement and article can be found here.
29 North Wacker (Sun Life Assurance Building; Chicago, IL)
- Featured in Building Energy Exchange Report High-Rise/Low Carbon – Office Deep Retrofit Profiles
- The link to a PDF of the report can be found here.
