Energy costs of open plenum and dropped ceilings compared

BD + C ran a nice summary of a study comparing the construction and heating costs of open plenum with dropped ceiling systems in retail and commercial settings. The Ceilings and Interior Systems Construction Association (CISCA) conducted the study.
[Note: For those who don’t traffic in HVAC jargon open plenum means you can see the vent work (think warehouses) while dropped ceiling means the ceiling is hung off of the bottom of the upper floor and all the mechanical systems are hidden (think law office)]

Although construction costs were cheaper for the open plenum design regardless of building type, the energy savings generated by the dropped ceiling system generated a payback period of 5 years in commercial buildings and as little as 11 months for food stores.

I’m a little surprised at the stark energy savings, but when you consider that you’re heating and cooling perhaps 20% more volume in an open plenum system it starts to make more sense. In a Memphis clubhouse project, we’re going with open plenums, but that’s largely because we’ve installed some passive cooling designs that would be obstructed by a dropped ceiling system.

Open Plenum v. Dropped Ceiling — CISCA Study