Attendees at the Uponor Radiant Cooling Engineering Summit toured Crystals, the retail and entertainment district at CityCenter in Las Vegas that received LEED Gold Core & Shell certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

LAS VEGAS - Uponor recently welcomed approximately 60 consulting and specifying engineers from across North America to its first Radiant Cooling Engineering Summit. The summit consisted of a day and a half of lectures and discussions, a product exposition, and project tours, all focused on this energy-saving technology for commercial buildings. Held April 8-9 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, the event took place concurrently with the 2010 Uponor Convention, which itself drew a record 688 attendees - mainly plumbing and mechanical contractors, as well as distributors and independent sales agents.

Summit attendees also visited the Central Plant at CityCenter, which provides mechanical-systems support for the entire 18 million-square-foot complex, including residential and hotel condominium spaces. Here, the group views the facility water-chiller area that provides a total 34,440 tons of cooling.

Citing the American Institute of Architecture’s 2030 Challenge, which calls for a 50 percent cut in fossil-fuel consumption by new commercial buildings, Uponor’s summit program host Dan Sullivan, LEED® AP, CEM, stressed the contribution that radiant cooling - and radiant technology in general - now makes to the drive for increased efficiency and sustainability in commercial construction. According to Sullivan, Uponor radiant cooling systems have been specified and installed on many new LEED projects in recent years.

Among the highlights of the summit was an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer Program, “Human Factors in HVAC and Radiant-Based HVAC,” jointly presented by Robert Bean, R.E.T., and Peter Simmonds, Ph. D. of IBE Consulting Engineers. While Bean focused on the positive impact of radiant technology on indoor environments and personal health, Simmonds offered guidelines for incorporating the technology into the building design and planning process. By attending the lecture, Summit registrants who attended the lecture received three Professional Development Hour credits from the state of Nevada.

Publication date:06/28/2010