Panama. The Panamanian Association of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, Apayre, headed by its president, Eng. Pedro Vasquez McKay, offered the Government of this country technical advice on everything that has to do with the air conditioning and ventilation system of the Torre Financiera project.
Although it claims to have little information about the work, the Association evidenced its concern about the extensive energy consumption that the building may have if some considerations are not taken into account. According to its members, it is estimated that the heat transmission coefficient "U" of the glass walls of the Financial Tower is much higher than that of the walls of ordinary cement blocks, which will imply an enormous thermal load for the air conditioning system, and therefore an "impressive" demand and consumption of electrical energy. Likewise, they assure that "to comply with the ventilation required for the users of the internal environments of the place, it is necessary to inject and extract at each level a large volume of fresh air", something that they do not see possible in a building with glass walls. Additionally, according to Apayre, there is no indication of where the polluted air will leave the parking area, a situation that worries because there is a hospital nearby where these toxic gases can reach. Finally, the engineers indicate that for a work of this class it requires "large mechanical equipment" that must be installed outside the building, usually on the roof. However, the design does not have a place for it and for this reason they must be located "in the external parking lots or in the gardens of the HST hospital".
