In April 2024, Shenling has once again brought good news to the field of green building—The R&D building at Shenling Production Base III has successfully obtained the global LEED V4 BD+C:NC Platinum certification. Prior to this, the building had already received dual certifications for “Zero-Energy Building” in both design and operation.
Δ LEED PLATINUM CERTIFICATE
LEED, which stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”, was established by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1998. At present, among the various standards used by countries around the world to evaluate the green and sustainable aspects of buildings, LEED is one of the most comprehensive, authoritative, and influential standards, known as the “Oscar of the green building industry”.
The purpose of LEED is to effectively reduce the negative impact on the environment and occupants in the design, symbolizing pioneering, innovation, environmental protection, and social responsibility.
The LEED scoring system includes 9 major indicators:
- Integrative process
- Location and transportation
- Sustainable Site
- Water Efficiency
- Energy and Atmosphere
- Materials and Resources
- Indoor Environmental Quality
- Innovation and Design Process
- Regional Priority
Buildings earn points based on each scoring item. The higher the score, the higher the certification level achieved, which is categorized as follows:
The Platinum certification is the highest honor in the LEED rating system, with only 10% of completed projects worldwide receiving this accolade. Among them, newly constructed buildings that receive Platinum certification account for only 5% of this proportion, indicating the high value of this certification.
The certification level obtained by the R&D building at Shenling Production Base III is the highest level: Platinum.
Highlights of the R&D building at Shenling Production Base III Earned LEED Platinum Certification
01 Passive Building Technology
The R&D building at Shenling Production Base III fully utilizes passive building technology in its planning and design. By enhancing the thermal performance of the building envelope, it significantly reduces the air conditioning load originating from the envelope and improves thermal comfort. In addition, the Low-E glass is used for external windows, which has a high visible light transmittance and a low solar heat radiation transmittance, resulting in good energy-saving effects. And, the building design similar to an atrium is adopted, with a small depth and multi-faceted lighting, complemented by a light intensity sensing system, which can reduce the time that lights are on. In terms of natural ventilation, operable panels are installed to extend the transitional season as much as possible and reduce the time that air conditioning is turned on.
02 High-Efficiency Cooling and Heating Source System
The central air conditioning cooling source system of the R&D building at Shenling Production Base III uses Shenling’s self-developed water-cooled Magnetic Levitation Variable Frequency Centrifugal Chiller on dual energy-efficient level . The chilled water system is designed with a large temperature difference of 4°C/17°C for supply and return water temperatures, compared to the conventional 7°C/12°C central air conditioning system. This results in reduced circulating water flow, smaller pipe diameters, lower investment in the cooling water system, and significantly reducing energy and material consumption. The heating source system consists of four ultra efficient modular air-cooled heat pump units, meeting the heating needs of several building’s areas in winter.
The system undergoes refined design, construction, and maintenance throughout the process, with the Refrigeration room system achieving an annual energy efficiency ratio of over 5.5 (in water storage conditions), reaching the “leading level” of the “High-Efficiency Refrigeration Room System of Energy Efficiency Monitoring and Grading Standards.”
03 Air terminal units (ATU)
The building employs high-efficiency, low-noise modular air conditioning units, ultra-large temperature difference DC fans, and fresh air units designed by Shenling, with fully variable frequency and variable air volume design. In addition, the unit return air outlets are equipped with CO2 concentration sensors, which enable the fresh air intake valve to be dynamically adjusted in response to the interior CO2 concentration. This results in the provision of the fresh air volume as required and reduces the energy consumption of fresh air. Electric control valves are set in the fresh air main pipes, which can adjust the amount of fresh air according to the indoor CO₂concentration sensors, supplying fresh air volume as needed. This achieves precisely control of indoor temperature and humidity, creating a healthy and comfortable indoor environment while avoiding overcooling and energy waste.
04 Large Temperature Difference Water Storage Cooling Technology
The R&D building at Shenling Production Base III employs an engineering implementation plan of a 4/17°C large temperature difference water storage cooling. The large temperature difference water storage cooling technology stores cold energy at night and releases it during the day, utilizing in electricity peak-valley difference prices to significantly reduce the operating costs of the air conditioning system. It also reduces the daytime electricity load of the park, ensuring that production of the factory is not affected by power rationing. At the same time, it is beneficial for the power grid to shift peaks and fill valleys, improve the efficiency of primary energy utilization, and reduce carbon emissions and pollution.
The water storage technology can also reduce the installed capacity of refrigeration units and their supporting equipment, lower the corresponding distribution capacity, and save initial investment.
The large temperature difference chilled water system results in reducing circulating water flow and lowering operating energy consumption of the system, while also reducing the model of the pump and the diameter of the cold water pipe, achieving energy and material conservation.
05 Solar Photovoltaic System
Shenling Production Base III fully utilize renewable energy and adopt a photovoltaic power generation + solar thermal collection system to provide necessary electricity and heat demand for the building. There are solar photovoltaic panels installed on the roof of the factory building. On the basis of fully ensuring the installed capacity and power generation efficiency of the project, the layout of the roof area is maximized. And, the annual power generation is 7.3 million kWh. A photovoltaic-thermal hybrid (PVT) system and a solar thermal system are deployed on the roof of the R&D building is a typical demonstration of “photovoltaic storage and charging”.
06 Intelligent lighting system
The energy-saving lamps with high color rendering indexes are used indoors, with multi-mode settings, and the luminous efficiency of LED lamps is considered to be 90-100 lm/W. The lighting system adopts energy-saving control including zoning, timing, and sensing control. Intelligent lighting control uses automatic control technology to intelligently control the switching of zoned lighting. And, the natural light intensity controls lighting switches intelligently.
07 Energy-Saving Elevator System
This project has a total of four elevators, with an energy efficiency level of A, a specific operating energy requirement of 0.34mWh/(kgm), and a standby power requirement of 73W. The elevator energy feedback recovers the energy generated when the elevator is fully loaded and descending or lightly loaded and ascending. Also, combined with group control and variable frequency speed regulation, it reduces their operational energy consumption.
08 Application of BIM and Simulation Technology
In the construction process of this project, Shenling adopted BIM technology to model the entire building structure. The equipment and pipelines were prefabricated in Shenling’s factory, which significantly shortened the construction period, reduced on-site management costs, and enhanced the quality of delivery. Shenling’s technical experts ensured energy efficiency throughout the life cycle of the air conditioning system by conducting annual dynamic load simulations and simulations of various air conditioning cooling and heating source systems.
09 Smart Energy Management Platform
Shenling IoT management platform provides comprehensive, multi-dimensional transparent monitoring and life-cycle management of the building’s energy and carbon emissions. Starting with the system, space, scene, and behavior, it deeply integrates digital technology with platform management.It integrates various modules, including the building’s HVAC, photovoltaics, energy storage, and lighting, and coordinates automatic energy-saving systems to achieve dynamic monitoring of energy use and carbon emissions, optimization of the park system and equipment operation, and adaptive adjustment of energy use strategies. More importantly, it provides a fast, comfortable, and efficient digital environment guarantee.
Based on more than 20 years of cultivation and accumulation in the field of environmental control, Shenling has developed into a comprehensive energy system’s solution provider that integrates energy planning, in-depth design, equipment customization, integrated implementation, commissioning and acceptance, intelligent control, and intelligent maintenance. Additionally, with “Digital, Energy and Environment” as the guiding principle, low-carbon technology as the core, and user needs as the starting point, it integrates low-carbon energy technology of cold, heat, electricity, and storage throughout different industry scenarios.
Over the years, Shenling has accumulated practical experience that is deeply integrated with the industry, such as high-efficiency machine rooms, large temperature difference water storage energy, waste heat recovery, natural cooling, high-efficiency prefabricated energy stations, renewable energy application, and Shenling IoT platform and so on. This experience provide customers with lower initial investment, better energy-saving effects, better performance, and convenient full-process maintenance services.
Shenling’s integrated implementation case based on green and low-carbon has won widespread recognition from customers in industries such as industrial factory, new energy, IDC, healthcare, power grid, chemical, civil aviation, and pharmaceuticals.
Against the backdrop of climate change and carbon neutrality, LEED buildings have planted the seeds of sustainability globally, bringing a perceptible green living and working experience to more people. Furthermore, obtaining LEED certification is an important achievement for Shenling in the field of green and energy-saving. And, it is also an important milestone in our continuous promotion of sustainable development strategy. In the future, Shenling will continue to practice the concept of green and low-carbon and empower innovative technology to achieve higher quality sustainable development.