When it set out to restore its classic clubhouse, the Army Navy Country Club set a goal of transforming it into “the nation’s premier advanced-technology and energy-saving clubhouse.”
Renovating a 110,000-sq. ft. building is a daunting enough task, even without setting the goal of transforming it into “the nation’s premier advanced-technology and energy-saving clubhouse.”
But when it set out to restore its classic clubhouse, the Army Navy Country Club (ANCC) in Arlington, Va., established that lofty objective as part of a massive $58 million project it completed in 2014 (the project, for which the clubhouse makeover was the cornerstone, also included redesigns and upgrades of the club’s golf practice and tennis facilities).
Verification that ANCC successfully achieved its goal came through the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Silver Certification that the renovated clubhouse has earned from the U.S. Green Building Council. With its submission in the Environmental Impact category (for which ANCC, not surprisingly, took first-place blue-ribbon honors), as part of the 2016 Idea Fair conducted by the Club Managers Association of America at this year’s World Conference in San Diego, the club provided these details about all that went into earning the coveted LEED Silver status—and even more importantly, how the revitalized building will now help the club reach and sustain unprecedented levels of operating efficiency:
•Electrical Energy Savings—Electrical demand in ANCC’s clubhouse building has been reduced significantly by the incorporation of “peak energy shaving,” the club reports. This process involves the utilization of stand-by generators to augment the electrical power supplied by the utility company. Computer-based lighting controls maintain lighting levels and reduce electrical lighting loads by dimming fixtures’ brightness levels whenever the ambient light level from outdoors is sufficient.
Solar measurements also help to control the use of exterior building light levels, the club reports. And other simple modifications, such as conversion to LED lamps, have contributed favorably to energy savings.
• Mechanical Energy Savings—Mechanical energy consumption accounts for the single largest source of energy cost in most buildings, the club notes. At ANCC, clubhouse energy consumption has been significantly reduced by the use of frictionless water chillers to cool the building. When outdoor temperatures and humidity levels allow, the chillers can be throttled back, or shut off completely, and the building is then cooled using outdoor air primarily, or even exclusively. This air is then filtered and distributed by highly efficient central-building air handling units.
When additional cooling beyond outdoor air is needed to maintain a desired interior building temperature, chilled water is circulated from the chillers to the coils internal to the air handlers. The chilled water is circulated by variable speed pumps that exactly match the pumping power with the demand, to avoid wasting unneeded energy.
For heating, the building’s system uses high-efficiency boilers with temperature set-back capability and variable speed pumps, to exactly match availability with demand.
• Automation System & Controls—Electrical and mechanical systems are monitored and controlled by a sophisticated, computer-based energy management system that performs thousands of calculations per second. This ensures that all of the building’s systems are operating at peak efficiency, and that all available energy-saving opportunities are constantly maximized.
• LEED Silver Certification—Wherever possible, all of the interior- and exterior-finish materials used in ANCC’s clubhouse building were from recycled and repurposed materials. A large portion of the flooring was fabricated from recycled materials. The roof shingles are imitation slate, fabricated from recycled plastics and polymers.
The stormwater drainage system collects and reuses stormwater to assist with the irrigation demands for the club’s golf course and other parts of the property. Any stormwater that is not reused on site is collected and filtered before being discharged, to ensure that the majority of trash and solids that would otherwise end up in local streams or rivers are captured.
INSTANT IDEA: If You Build It…. The inventive resourcefulness that characterizes all aspects of the operation, inside and out, at The Country Club of Virginia (CCV) in Richmond, Va., is also evident in the special displays and equipment that its staff regularly produces. As farm-to-table events and outdoor dining have grown in popularity, the CCV staff has crafted special furniture for the occasions. The club reports that table-building has also proved to be a valuable teambuilding exercise, and that the pieces the staff produces have become talking points during events. Creative and customized bar set-ups, such as the “beer boat” shown at left that was created for the club’s annual “Bal du Bois” event (a special Richmond-based debutante and charity affair), have also helped the club provide distinctive setups that frequently prove to generate upselling opportunities through their added appeal. |
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