Case StudiesCustom HVAC Configurations for Custom Spaces

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Detroit lost 60 percent of its population from 1950 to 2010. The decline meant bankruptcy, myriad abandoned homes and buildings, high crime rates, even thousands of stray dogs on the street. In the last two years, though, something has shifted; downtown activity has picked up greatly thanks to a focus on rehabilitating historic central city buildings. Several projects are credited with this revitalization—among them the $94.5 million renovation of the David Whitney Building (David Whitney), a class-A skyscraper. The building has been restored to its previous grandeur, and now offers luxury residences, the Aloft Detroit at the David Whitney (Aloft), a restaurant and a bar. Key to that renovation was retrofitting the entire building with over 600 tons cooling/heating of Variable Refrigerant Flow from Mitsubishi Electric.

Located in the Miracle Mile between Beverly Hills and Hollywood, The Hotel Wilshire is a luxury 74-room boutique hotel created from a 1950s six-story medical office building. Less than 12 months after its September 2011 opening, the hotel was awarded a Four Diamond Ranking by AAA, listed as one of the top 10 new hotels by Fox News, received kudos from Redbook and Harper’s Bazaar, and made California Home + Design magazine’s list of “The Top 50 Best Designed Hotels.”

On February 17, 1809, just 15 days before James Madison succeeded Thomas Jefferson as the fourth President of the United States, Miami University (Miami) was founded. Established in Oxford, Ohio, on land set aside under the conditions of the Miami Purchase of 1794, Miami University of Ohio is the 10th oldest public university in the U.S.

St. Joseph School (St. Joseph’s), a small, private Catholic school in Pilot Grove, Missouri, has been in operation since 1902. Since its establishment, the school has been educating students between grades one through eight. After many years running on an outdated boiler system and noisy window units, the school needed to find a system that could efficiently cool and heat the 5,400-square-foot building year-round without disrupting day-to-day activities. The solution: Zoned Comfort Solutions® from Mitsubishi Electric.

Village Square is a new development in Paoli, Pennsylvania. The project is constructing a 30-townhouse community1. With a handful of homes already completed, and the rest slated for completion through the end of 2018, it is already evident that Village Square brings something important to the area. Each home in the community offers residents 2,711 square feet of space spread across four floors. And each offers an advanced cooling and heating system that ensures year-round performance and utility savings for owners: Hyper-Heating INVERTER® (H2i®) technology from Mitsubishi Electric Zoned Comfort Solutions®.

Megin and Adam Wolfman lived in their 19-year-old home in New Canaan, Connecticut, for two years before wanting an updated HVAC system. Instead of treating the situation as a hassle, the couple treated it as an opportunity – a chance to explore their carbon footprint and think about more effective zoning. A Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system from Mitsubishi Electric offered them the next-generation technology they desired, alongside a host of benefits.

Viewpoint is an eight-year-old high-rise located along Atlanta’s vibrant Peachtree Street, and was also the first taste of city living for Chris and Jodi Laumer-Giddens. Jodi said, “We were moving from a circa 1916 bungalow in Florida. We wanted to really ‘do city life,’ so we downsized our space and got rid of half our stuff.” The promise of a streamlined space and fewer possessions made it logical to assume that energy costs would be lower and storage space would be no issue. When neither assumption proved true, the couple knew that both problems could be solved by Zoned Comfort Solutions® from Mitsubishi Electric.

For University of Florida alumni and residents, Gainesville, Florida, is affectionately referred to as “The Swamp,” but when it comes to the world of HVAC, such epithets are loaded with thoughts of high temperatures and muggy humidity. These were exactly the challenges faced when the university looked into renovating two residence halls: North Hall and Simpson Hall. Both buildings were products of the 1950s and only had the HVAC renovated once in the mid-70s – a project that equipped both buildings with chilled water systems for cooling and hot-water for heating. When the department of housing and residence education recently completed a second renovation to the 34,847-square-foot Simpson Hall, it selected Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) from Mitsubishi Electric.

In 2010, civil engineer Nicholas Parker decided to bring sustainable living to North Carolina. He wanted to offer homebuyers a sustainable lifestyle for the same price as. traditional construction. To do so, Parker started planning a community that would be filled with some of the Carolinas’ greenest single-family homes in addition to multifamily housing, retail and office space. To make this dream a reality, Parker formed his own company called Green Street Cottages, Charlotte, North Carolina. Within six years, Parker built The Villages at Cramerton Mills (Cramerton Mills) – a housing development in the city of Cramerton. So far, the development has five energy-efficient homes certified under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Home program, and there are plans to erect 500 more. To provide a great living environment for each family, Parker needed a cost-saving, comfort providing cooling and heating system. That’s where Hyper-Heating INVERTER. (H2i.) technology from Mitsubishi Electric Zoned Comfort Solutions enters the story.

A 1953 suburban house in Garland, Texas, is making waves. It’s the first home Bonnie Sanchez, veteran and vehicle inspector, has ever owned. It’s also the country’s first “deep rehab” home to earn certification from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Home program. Certified homes are at least 40 to 50 percent more energy-efficient than a typical new home, with a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) score in the low- to mid-50s. HVAC is a big part of that accomplishment in any house, so it’s no surprise that a ductless heating and air conditioning system from Mitsubishi Electric was installed in the Sanchez home.