Efficient enclosed garage

Underground enclosed parking garages provide several environmental benefits over surface lots. Major benefits include more
efficient land use, no stormwater runoff, no contribution to the heat island effect, and more effective containment of pollut-
ants. An underground enclosed parking garage does require mechanical ventilation and more lighting than a surface lot. But
careful design and control of these two systems can nearly eliminate the already minimal energy footprint of the underground
garage.
Lights in a parking garage are typically on at all times, yet occupants are only in the space for short intervals of time. An effi-
cient lighting solution is LED lights with bi-level occupancy sensors. In contrast to typical occupancy sensors, bi-level occupan-
cy sensors reduce light output to a lower level when the parking garage is vacant, rather than turning them off completely. This
makes occupants feel safer because they are never walking into a dark parking garage.
Solutions for controlling the amount of energy needed to ventilate and heat an underground parking garage begin with
demand-control ventilation, which most building energy codes require. Minimizing unnecessary ventilation in underground
parking garages also reduces heating load. Heating energy can be minimized ever further by using a high efficiency heater and
pre-heating the outdoor air using a lower temperature heat source.

Parking garage design at

749 University Row
The building at 749 University Row is a highly
energy efficient, multi-tenant office building with an
underground parking garage constructed in Madison,
Wisconsin in 2013. Because the parking garage is
underground, it has a mechanical ventilation system
and electric lighting. Additionally, it is semi-heated to
protect plumbing and mechanical systems throughout
the basement of the building.

Heating and ventilating the enclosed garage

Figure 1: Condensing heater

Demand-control ventilation with carbon monoxide

and nitrogen oxide sensors controls the ventilation in
the garage. Condensing unit heaters and geothermal
preheat regulate the temperature. Outside air entering
the garage is preheated using a hydronic coil tied to
the building’s geothermal loop. Because the garage
is heated only to 50 degrees, the geothermal loop—
which operates in the low 40s much of the winter—is
able to heat the outside air almost to the garage set
point. Using heat from the geothermal loop to preheat
the outside air going into the garage also helps to
balance the geothermal borefield—the coil gets rid
of some heat that would have gone into the ground. Figure 2: Bike racks in 749 University Row garage.
The coil is used to preheat the outside air only when
the temperature of the water in the geothermal loop is (continued on reverse)

GS2180 2/12/2016

printed on recycled paper your community energy company


Figure 3: LED parking garage light
higher than the outside air temperature (which is true
throughout most of Wisconsin’s winter).
The remainder of the heat required to get to the
garage set point is supplied by a 92 percent efficient
condensing unit heater. Condensing heaters are a
good option in places where the condensate they
produce won’t freeze, making them a good choice for
this application. Additionally, a continuous gravity
drain was installed to avoid maintenance issues with
removing the condensate.
A direct fired heater is another common choice for high
efficiency heat in a garage. But instead of collecting
the condensate like a condensing heater, it distributes
moisture throughout the garage, which may result in
water condensing on cooler surfaces including the
floor or vehicles.
Lighting the enclosed garage
In the early design phase of the building at 749
University Row, the designers considered using
fluorescent lights controlled by a time switch to light
the underground garage. The time switch would shut
off all but three light fixtures after business hours
so the parking garage would never be completely
dark. The building designers decided against this
option and opted for LED lighting because it offered a
GARAGE LIGHTING POWER DENSITY REDUCTIONS
0.3 W/sf
IECC 2009 required lighting power density
0.083 W/sf
Installed lighting power density
0.037 W/sf
Operating lighting power density
number of benefits and its cost had recently dropped
significantly. LED lights are easily dimmable and
have much longer operating lives, resulting in less
maintenance.
The inherently dimmable quality of LED lights pushed
bi-level occupancy sensors into the design as dimming
all of the lights is much more aesthetically pleasing
than leaving some lights on and turning other lights
off. The garage lights were dimmed to 20 percent light
output with a delay of five minutes. Using motion
sensors rather than timers provides light when it’s
needed rather than on a pre-determined schedule.
Each fixture in the parking garage at 749 University
Row has its own dimming control and control
sequence. As seen in Figure 4, only very rarely are all
the lights delivering 100 percent of their light output.
MONITORED PARKING GARAGE LIGHTING POWER
100%
PERCENT LIGHTING POWER (MONITORED/MAX)
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Figure 4: Monitored parking garage lighting power for 749 University Row
Though the lights dim to 20 percent of their full light
output, the power used at these lower light levels is
not directly proportional. Monitored data from the
parking garage indicates that about 42 percent power
is being used at low light levels.
The end result of using bi-level occupancy sensors is
an operating lighting power density of 0.037 W/sf, an
88 percent reduction from energy code recommended
lighting power density. Using the actual cost of the LED
lights and controls, the payback period is under four
years. However, LED cost is decreasing so rapidly that
if this project were built in 2015 instead of 2013, the
payback period would be less than two years.
ENERGY SAVINGS FROM LED LIGHTS AND CONTROLS
IN 749 UNIVERSITY ROW GARAGE
Incremental lighting Annual energy Incremental Payback
energy reduction cost savings cost period
LED lights 72% $2,900 $11,000 3.7 years
Bi-level controls 55% $620 $2,300 3.8 years
Design best practices for enclosed parking garages
• Use LED lighting. LED lighting typically results in more
than 50 percent savings over fluorescent lighting, reduces
maintenance cost, and is inherently dimmable. Not all
LED lights are created equal. Look for LED lights that are
DesignLights Consortium (DLC) listed; have an efficacy
higher than 70 lumens per watt; have a color rendering index
(CRI) less than 65; and a reported L70 rating (hours before
light source depreciates below 70 percent original lumens)
greater than 50,000 hours.
• Set the bi-level motion sensor delay to its lowest setting.
• Commission motion sensors to ensure they are dimming to
the desired light level and have a short delay.
• Commission and monitor the demand-control ventilation
to ensure the right amount of outside air is being brought
into the space.
• Use low temperature heat sources to meet the garage’s
space heating requirements. Because most underground
parking garages are only semi-heated, low temperature
heat from a condenser, process load, or ground source
loop can be used to preheat the outdoor air to reach nearly
the desired temperature. Some sources, such as return
Written by Seventhwave.
Visit seventhwave.org.
hot water, can provide benefits to the heating plant as well
(heating plants perform better with low temperature return
water).
• Install at least two inches of continuous insulation
(R-10) on below grade walls. Energy code requires R-7.5
continuous insulation, which is about 1.5 inches. Increasing
continuous insulation will reduce heating load and minimize
condensation.
Other resources
[1] “Low-Energy Parking Structure Design.” NREL, January
2013. Web.
[2] Cautley, Dan, and Andy Mendyk. “The Brewery Parking
Structure: Performance of an LED Lighting System in a
Parking Application.” Seventhwave, 28 Jan. 2013. Web.
[3] Kinzey, BR, et al. “Use of Occupancy Sensors in LED
Parking Lot and Garage Applications: Early Experiences.”
Gateway Demonstrations. Department of Energy, Oct 2012.
For more information, contact an
MGE Business Representative at 608-252-7007.