COLUMNS: Design Solutions
Transport Membrane Condenser Key to Advanced Heat-Recovery System
Boiler upgrade captures waste heat, water vapor...
N.Y Rental-Housing Development Optimizes Heat-Plant Operations
A high-density low-rise rental-housing development in East Brooklyn, N.Y., Spring Creek Gardens recently underwent a top-to-bottom renovation, which included the replacement of all original hydronic heating equipment, a measure that has reduced the amount of natural gas consumed by residents by 30 percent....
Energy-Management System Reduces Restaurants’ Electricity Consumption
The vice president of operations for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Arby's-restaurant franchisee FX4 ("Fantastic Food, Fast & Friendly"), Jay Johnson had tried everything to reduce electricity consumption at each of the company's 55 locations, including reminding employees to turn off air conditioners at night and covering programmable thermostats with lockboxes. Nothing worked. Invariably, employees would forget to turn off air conditioners, or they would poke a straw or toothpick through a lockbox to override a thermostat's programs. At some locations, electricity bills were as high as $4,000 a month....
Test Tool and Power Logger Help Make the Case for Law-School HVAC Upgrade
In Columbus, Ohio, a six-story law-school building requires cooling year-round. "A lot of buildings we can cool with outside air," Mike Klingler, service manager for HVACR contractor Farber Corp., said. "When we get down to 50 to 52°F and below, we can just draw that outside air in and use it for free cooling. But because of the setup of the law-school building, they had to run one of the chillers even when it was 20 to 25°F outside. Because of the duct distribution system, we couldn't rely on outside air in certain areas of the building." ...
Rooftop-Ventilation Upgrade Saving Condo Development $17,100 a Year
At Kalele Kai, a residential community in Oahu's Hawaii Kai, aging centrifugal roof exhaust fans provided no adjustability and were consuming a lot of energy. Hoping to find a more energy-efficient solution, one that would help the condominiums qualify for rebates offered by the local electric company, Alex Dean, president of The Alexander Group Inc. and energy consultant for Kalele Kai's board of directors, approached HVAC manufacturers’ representative Norman S. Wright Co. in June 2008....
Building-Information-Modeling Software Streamlines Design of Entire Campus
In 2002, the government of Trinidad and Tobago gave architects and builders a rare opportunity: to design an entire university from the ground up. Because of the sheer scope of the project, acla:works challenged the team of consultants to adopt a comprehensive integrated virtual building and construction approach using building-information-modeling (BIM) software. ...
Gas-to-Steam Humidifier Helps Museum Preserve Artifacts, Reduce Energy Costs
Dedicated to the memory of Glenn H. Curtiss, who in 1908 manned the first pre-announced public flight in America, the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, N.Y., is filled with hundreds of historical artifacts. Made of a variety of materials (wood, canvas, fabric, paint), those artifacts are subject to cracking, chipping, peeling, and distortion without the right amount of humidity—ideally, 40- to 60-percent relative humidity (RH). The museum, however, lacked a humidification system, and RH hovered between 3 and 10 percent....
New Purge System Removes Excess Oil
At its plant in Charleston, S.C., the Bosch Group, global supplier of automotive, industrial, and building technology, was having trouble maintaining sufficiently low temperatures in each of seven 1,000- and 1,250-ton chillers. One chiller in particular was underperforming. ...
Controls Help Put Salt Lake City Library on Cutting Edge of Public Facilities
For its new library complex, Salt Lake City envisioned three six-story buildings—one for administration, one for the library’s collections, and one with reading galleries and meeting rooms—connected by walkways. The city wanted control systems to manage everything from the environment and access to smoke alarms, window-blind adjustment, sidewalk snow melting, lighting, and ventilation. With numerous windows throughout the facility and a requirement for underfloor installation of HVAC and electrical equipment, the project presented some interesting challenges. ...
Large-Diameter, Low-Speed Fan Solves Air-Movement Problems in Housing Office
Located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Tonopah Residence Complex is a six-story residence building and home to the Office of Housing Services. In the lobby, air-circulation problems were making conditions uncomfortable for the dozen employees who work there and the continuous stream of students who pass through to pay bills or make housing inquiries....
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