Magnetic Bearing Chiller Helps Atlanta Property Lead in Sustainability

By: Joe Crawford

Quick: what’s the first thing you think of when you think about commercial building sustainability upgrades and improvements, beyond the basics of LED lighting, waterefficient fixtures, and other improvements the average tenant today might notice (and perhaps even expect)?

If you didn’t say “game-changing magnetic bearing water cooled chillers”…don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s easy to call out the high-visibility and publicity-friendly capital improvements: solar photovoltaics, low energy elevators, water-bottle filling stations and more. But at the Palisades Office Park, where Atlanta Property Group received the 2022 Building of the Year: Earth Award, it’s what you don’t hear that’s having a big impact (it’s incredibly quiet).

In 2021 APG made a major investment to upgrade the HVAC distribution system at its LEED Gold Palisades Office Park, furthering company goals to become “the premier choice of companies seeking a reduced carbon workplace in the Central Perimeter.”

Producing no Scope 1 emissions, the site is 100 percent electric, including an all-electric commercial kitchen. And while it’s easy to see the 1 megawatt of solar photovoltaic panels already under construction, you must head below ground to see one of the real ‘wizards behind the curtain’: an industry-leading Trane Agility Magnetic Bearing Water-Cooled Chiller. Wesley Parr, the Chief Engineer on site, pointed out that this incredible piece of equipment is delivering over 40percent better IPLV than the ASHRAE 90.1-2016 requirement, with a 25 percent lower refrigerant charge than other medium pressure chillers. To put that in dollars and cents: this marvel is beating other high efficiency chiller solutions on the utility bill by 9 percent. Trane designed the Agility to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Palisades Office Park is one of fewer than a dozen buildings in the Southeast to boast this innovative technology.

But this unique solution doesn’t just perform better, it also avoids the use of R-134a refrigerant, instead using R-513A a nextgeneration

low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerant, further reducing the carbon footprint of the building in the longer term. This magnetic chiller is one of the most reliable, efficient and compact chillers on the market. Decisions and investments like this emphasize what matters to APG most: tenants, talent, investors and sustainable solutions.

Palisades’ team of engineers and managers pride themselves on their ability to ‘tune in’ every building under their care. Choosing highly reliable equipment is critical to that strategy. The Agility chiller’s innovative magnetic bearings aren’t just oil-free, they offer such a level of quiet heat exchanging power that, according to the maintenance team. Of course, the unusual remark there is that you have to get close to it to know it’s running! That lack of friction isn’t just carving out costs and carbon, it’s carving out noise pollution that makes this a better place to work for the team that chooses to bring their talent here every day. In the past, they had to have on ear protection just to be inside the room with other chillers, and even then, you only wanted to be inside as long as was critical. Now, it’s so quiet, we can carry on a conversation the same as if we were standing in the lobby. It’s at that moment that you begin to see the bigger picture: we don’t build and operate greener and healthier buildings just to see if we can. Palisades Office Park has several energy conservation projects on its radar for 2022 in order to bring increasing excellence to their sustainability journey. Committed to their environmental impact, but to a positive one. APG’s goal highlights a too-often-missed truth in the pitched war of words over climate matters: just ‘stopping the digging’ won’t get us out of the climate change and generation of commercial building tenants wants to know that ownership and management are doing their part to make better possible in tomorrow’s workplace. This is the kind of solution everyone can enjoy.

About the Author Joe Crawford

Joe Crawford is a Partner and Senior Property Manager with Atlanta Property Group. Joe has worked with APG for 10 years and has worked in the CRE industry for 16 years. He oversees approx. 1.5M SF of CRE, including office, industrial, retail, and adaptive reuse. APG specializes in owning and operating labor-intensive real estate and growing our 3rd party property management business around our ownership experience.

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