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Washington County Hospital and Clinics are going green. Alliant Energy worked with Iowa Insulation Inc to apply insulation to piping and valve areas in the hospital's boiler room. This will help conserve energy and provide savings for years. Alliant Energy presented a rebate check totaling $22,916 to hospital officials at the Washington County Hospital.

The cost of the project was $78,950, but the projected annual energy savings for the hospital is more than $30,000. The energy savings, along with the custom rebates, mean that the insulation upgrade will pay for itself in approximately two years. These improvements result in the hospital lowering its expected energy usage by an estimated 35,856 therms of natural gas each year. This represents approximately 13% of the hospital's annual usage.

"Faced with rising energy costs, our hospital was challenged to explore projects that could impact energy savings. Following an energy analysis, it was determined that installing insulation blankets throughout the powerhouse on steam components would conserve heat loss," said Rick Distelhorst-Director of Support Services, Washington County Hospital and Clinics. "The insulation project will provide an annual energy cost savings that will be beneficial for years to come."

"We enjoyed partnering with the hospital to identify and implement an energy savings plan," said Chad Wiltz-Strategic Account Manager, Alliant Energy. "Washington County Hospital and Clinics officials were enthusiastic about the project and are looking at additional opportunities to work with us to reduce future energy costs."

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, one of the fastest and most effective ways to reduce heating costs is to reduce heat losses by insulating pipes, values, and fittings with insulated coverings. By using advanced, custom-made reusable insulation, heat and energy losses can be reduced by up to 90%.

"Energy savings is only one benefit," adds Distelhorst. "Employees will experience fewer burns, mechanical room temperatures are more comfortable, and the appearance of the room has improved significantly."

In addition to lowering its energy bill and receiving a cash incentive from Alliant Energy, Washington County Hospital is also doing its part to reduce its environmental impact. The hospital is avoiding more than 179 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. This is equal to removing 32 passenger vehicles from Iowa roads or planting 40 acres of trees.

Custom rebates are available to Alliant Energy IPL commercial, industrial, and agricultural customers, replacing standard efficiency equipment or measures with components that reduce electricity or natural gas usage. Custom rebates are designed to promote energy efficiency practices and improved energy utilization.

It is a great honor for Iowa Insulation Inc to be a part of the ISU Student Innovation Center Project. Manning Seivert was the mechanical contractor, and they put together the team of Manning Seivert on mechanical, Dahl Air Conditioning on sheet metal, and Iowa Insulation Inc for the mechanical insulation. This ABC contractor group represented team spirit and enthusiasm for craftsmanship and safety.

The project showcased spectacular glass panels throughout the exterior of the building that equaled 140 thousand square feet of space. Iowa State University designed the project to be LEED Gold. There are five categories for this LEED evaluation: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

According to ISU LEED AP Kerry Anne Dixon, “Iowa Insulation contributed in the energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.”

The student innovation center is an $84 million project, designed to serve the entire university for flexible, multi-functional space. Several large donations made the project possible, including Boing ($6 million), HNI of Muscatine, Iowa ($1 million), Land O Lakes ($5 million), Steve and Sharon Hagee ($1 million), and an anonymous couple ($22 million). The Student Innovation Center supports the passion for learning, innovating, and creating. For many years, this beautifully designed building will be used to demonstrate the quality and abilities of our contracting team.

During the pre-construction planning, it was recommended by Luke Miller of Dahl Air Conditioning to hire Twin Rivers Engineering of Des Moines. Twin Rivers could help with design quality and team collaboration by using Building Information Modeling (BIM). BIM is an intelligent 3D model-based process that helped our ABC construction team by providing insight and pointing us toward more efficient construction flows. BIM improved the overall design quality and provided real-time support for our team during the construction process. Working in a coordinated manner provided quality control and scheduling for our installed insulation by limiting damage from other tradesmen working through a finished area. The BIM modeling helped with quality by directing the installation process in the cleanest, most productive manner.

Our first major obstacle affected us before our insulation work began. The project was two months behind schedule due to weather, which delayed the completion of the precast building shell. Every major trade was pushed back. This affected the phasing of the work. Our general contractor, JE Dunn, had phased the project to start at the lowest level and work up. This changed when the flooring contractor had to be accommodated on the fourth, third, and second floors, when raised access floors were being installed. Underneath these raised floors was (yet to be installed) the majority of the duct and piping. The phasing had to be changed back to work from the top level down to the lower level to keep the project moving. We supported the general contractor’s decision by keeping a good attitude and cooperating for the benefit of our customers. We also knew the insulation could be installed more carefully and efficiently if done before the floor went in.

The second major obstacle was spacing issues for the piping and duct on the first floor and lower level. They were exposed and very tight. In addition to the mechanical work, electrical conduits and sprinkler piping made the limited spacing even more congested. To insulate to specification thicknesses and manufacturer standards required more thought and patience. Our insulators had to think through and plan their work in order to get the final appearance right. It was like all the work was in a congested mechanical room — tight, difficult, complicated — and still had to look great.

The main difficulty of this project was applying the colored PVC jacketing. The colored jacketing is a custom-ordered product that identifies the mechanical system by color. When installed carefully, the resulting appearance is remarkable. In the basement mechanical room, we had light blue jackets for the process-chilled water, yellow jacketing for the low-pressure steam, red-orange jackets for the heating water, and royal blue jackets for the domestic cold-water system. The most productive way to apply this is from a top-down approach and system-by-system, one color at a time.

Another difficulty was the installation of the ductwork in the kitchen area of the third floor. The area was so congested that we had to develop an innovative solution. The solution was to coordinate with Dahl Air Conditioning and have us wrap the section of the ductwork on the ground before hanging the duct in the air. This method allowed us to ensure the integrity of the manufacturer’s application standard for energy savings and quality.

The Iowa State Student Innovation Center is a unique facility that inspires students and faculty to innovate and collaborate on changing technology, with deliberate attention to the environmental impact. The balance between fixed and flexible spacing will accommodate a wide range of users and multidisciplinary collaboration. As noted by Leroy Brown, Senior Construction Manager for Iowa State Construction Services, “The work serves as an example to students who will be designing buildings and systems in the future.”

Our mechanical team led by Manning-Sievert took on the challenging schedule through the use of BIM modeling for quality control, scheduling, and productivity. “What will stand out for the duration of the building’s lifetime is the quality of craftsmanship,” said Luke Miller, project manager of Dahl Air Conditioning. Achieving LEED Gold building certification (currently in process) will encourage students to a high standard of excellence and environmental stewardship. Miller continued by saying of Iowa Insulation, “Their professionalism, quality of work, and team mentality is the best there is.”

Kerry Anne Dixon LEED AP-BD&C

Facilities Sustainable Design and Accessibility Coordinator

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Facilities Planning & Management

200 General Services Building

700 Wallace Road

Ames, IA 50011-4013

Telephone: (515) 294-8028

Iowa Insulation Inc was the recipient of the 2006 ABC of Iowa Excellence in Construction Awards, Specialty Category for the USDA BSL-3 Ag Large Animal Facility in Ames, Iowa. This 157,000-square-foot facility was a $70,000,000 project and contains nearly 52,000 square feet of high-security, high-biocontainment lab areas. The owner is the United States Department of Agriculture, and this project is a key part of the $460 million expansion done in Ames, IA.

The supervisor for our project was Jason Hast, and 16 of our employees worked on this job. The mechanical contractor was ACI Mechanical in Ames, IA, and their senior project manager was Don Sienknecht. On-site management from ACI also included Monty Muller and Chris Kayser.

The following is a letter of recommendation from Don Sienknecht, ACI Mechanical, Inc.

Dear Darrell,

As the project is entering into the final checkout stages, ACI Mechanical is looking back at what made this project successful and needs to recognize Iowa Insulation Inc as a key player. The Iowa Insulation team made the commitment prior to starting the project that they would staff the project with the proper materials, manpower, and equipment to do quality work and complete the project on time, and that is exactly what you did. It was a pleasure for ACI to work with the Iowa Insulation team on this project, as they were involved with maintaining the construction schedule and installing top-quality work in a safe and responsible manner.

Working with a quality company like Iowa Insulation made this a successful project for all parties involved. ACI would like to thank the Iowa Insulation team for their commitment to the project and for completing quality work as a member of this construction team.

Sincerely,

ACI Mechanical, Inc.

Don Sienknecht

Senior Project Manager