Greening Airport Terminals
Burns Engineering’s LEED certified professionals have a deep understanding of both green building initiatives and the latest in airport operations and terminal buildings. This allows for unique design schemes that balance the goal of green buildings and continuous, customer-friendly airport operations.
Airport terminals are vital to transportation and commerce throughout the world. With this important mission, sustainable design, energy efficiency and other green building initiatives can often be overlooked, especially if they are perceived as causing potential interference with security, airline operations or travelers. LEED or Leadership in Environmental and Energy Efficient Design guidelines challenge building owners, engineers, architects and contractors to consider a building’s impact on the environment.
There is a groundswell to make airport terminals more environmentally friendly, especially as municipalities are mandating green building goals such as LEED gold or silver certification. However, many airport owners and operators are left wondering how to balance airport operations and inherently complex terminal buildings while achieving LEED credits. Airport terminal operations are far less predictable than office buildings and have significantly more air infiltration holes in the building envelope. In addition, big energy consumers such as baggage systems, people movers, HVAC and lighting run constantly in 24-hour-a day operations. Within these parameters, solutions Burns has developed include:
• Water Efficiency – Use of roof watershed and greywater for HVAC and irrigation, waterless urinals.
• Energy Efficiency – High energy efficiency HVAC, tight building control schemes, energy optimization, occupancy sensors, effective use of daylight, geothermal storage systems, solar energy.
• Materials and Resources – structural and building component reuse, local sourcing of building materials
• IAQ – HVAC systems that balance comfort, ventilation and efficiency.
• Innovation and Design – Accommodate operations with less square feet of building by multi-tasking spaces, occupancy controls and sensors, CUTE and IT systems to optimize gate use to delay expansion needs, flexible systems design to accommodate ever-changing terminal functions, low energy airfield lighting, displacement ventilation, air infiltration limitation at entrances and cargo areas, systems commissioning.
• Sustainable Sites – Brownfield development and reuse for expansion projects.
If you would like to learn more about unique green airport terminal solutions that Burns has developed, please call John Burns, PE, Sr. Vice President at 215-979-7702, or email him at jburns@burns-group.com.
Posted on May 6, 08:23 AM