19.11.2010

Halton’s HRU selected as a BuildingGreen Top-10 Product for 2010

CHICAGO, IL, November 18, 2010 – Halton’s HRU has been selected as one of BuildingGreen’s Top-10 products of the year by the editors of Environmental Building News and GreenSpec®. This ninth annual award recognizes the most innovative and exciting green building products added to the GreenSpec® Directory during the past year or covered in Environmental Building News.

“Our selections of the Top-10 Green Building Products represent a wide range of product types in many different application areas,” noted BuildingGreen founder and GreenSpec executive editor Alex Wilson. This year’s list is particularly diverse, ranging from a decking product made from recycled carpeting, to a window glass with UV-reflective patterning that is highly visible to birds (to minimize collisions), an ingenious toilet that uses a passive vacuum-assist mechanism to achieve excellent performance using just 0.8 gallons, an LED lighting module that offers comparable light quality to that of halogen, and an advanced, cellulose-insulated modular wall system for residential building. “Many of our Top-10 products this year have multiple environmental attributes,” said Wilson.

BuildingGreen’s Top-10 product selections, as in previous years, are drawn primarily from new additions to the company’s GreenSpec Product Directory. Over 170 products have been added to the GreenSpec database during the past year. “New products are being introduced all the time, making it a challenge for our staff to keep up,” said Wilson. The GreenSpec database includes more than 2,200 product listings, representing several times as many actual products.

A big driver in the development of green products continues to be the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® Rating System (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which awards points for the use of certain product types or for the energy or water savings that certain green products can achieve. “Designers of LEED buildings are looking for green products, and manufacturers are responding,” said Wilson. In the online version of GreenSpec, users can find products organized by LEED credits.

First introduced in 2006 by Martin Air Systems, the Halton Heat Recovery Unit (HRU) is now distributed worldwide by Halton Group. The HRU is a pre-packaged exhaust and make-up air unit for commercial kitchens that incorporates energy recovery. Energy savings can be dramatic, since commercial kitchen ventilation systems often exhaust 8,000 cubic feet per minute (cfm) or more at a temperature of 110°F or higher. Payback is typically in the two- to five-year range. The system uses demand-control ventilation to adjust the fan speed of the exhaust fan (based on feedback from heat and infrared sensors) and the make-up-air fan. A fin tube heat exchanger captures heat from the exhaust and transfers it to a glycol loop that can be routed to pre-heat make-up air, water or both depending on outside conditions.  Exhaust air speeds through a 90° bend, which “impinges” most of the grease out of the air. The grease is then collected for disposal, and any that remains can be removed during routine cleaning. Approximately 100 Halton ’s HRU systems have been installed to date, mostly in Canada, though the first units are being installed in the northern U.S. Systems that preheat make-up air in the winter can be configured to heat water dur ing the summer months.

GreenSpec is the leading national directory of green building products. Products are selected based on criteria developed over the past 18 years. Manufacturers do not pay to be listed in GreenSpec, and neither GreenSpec nor Environmental Building News carry advertising; both are supported by users of the information. “Our policy of not accepting money from product manufacturers allows us to be objective in our review of products,” said Wilson. The GreenSpec product database is also available online as part of the BuildingGreen Suite.

Other BuildingGreen resources include Environmental Building News, the oldest and most widely respected newsletter in the green building field, and LEEDuser.com, a resource for teams pursuing certification through the LEED Rating System. BuildingGreen celebrates its 25th year in business this year. For information on BuildingGreen resources, visit www.BuildingGreen.com or call 800-861-0954.

For more information on Halton's HRU contact:
Rich Catan
V.P. Sales & Marketing
Halton Group North Americas
Tel: 443.249.3397
Email: rcatan@haltoncompany.com
 
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Halton Group
Halton is a family-owned company specializing in indoor climate products and solutions and in indoor environment services. Halton’s aim is to create safe, comfortable, and energy-efficient indoor environments that have a sustainable life cycle. Halton delivers solutions for applications ranging from public and commercial buildings to industry, commercial kitchen, and restaurant uses. Halton is also among the most respected providers of indoor climate solutions for marine and offshore applications. The company’s areas of expertise and product ranges cover air diffusion, air-flow management, fire safety, kitchen ventilation, and indoor environment management. Halton was founded in Finland in 1969. Today the company operates in 23 countries. Its 2009 turnover was 148 million euros.

Halton on the Web: http://www.haltoncompany.com/ or www.halton.com

Halton is a corporate partner of the Millennium Prize, the world’s largest technology prize. The prize celebrates innovations that have a favorable impact on quality of life and well-being. It seeks to highlight technological innovations that have a positive influence on our everyday life.  Millennium online: http://www.millenniumprize.fi/

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