HPAC Engineering August 2008 cover
August 2008

Articles

Taking the LEED

While it has been credited as a driving force behind the green-building movement, the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC's) Leadership in Energy and...

Establishing Energy Standards

Editor's note: Following is Part 3 in a three-part series. Parts 1 and 2 of this series made the case for dramatically reducing building energy use through...

War Stories: Out With the Old

Converting a 1980s wood-framed office building to a private school was not going to be easy, but it could be done. Money was tight, but most of the building's existing mechanical and electrical systems could be reused. Keeping four main sets of toilet rooms intact also would save a lot of money. ...

New Products - August 2008

Screw chillers A low-life-cycle-cost chiller, the Evergreen 23XRV with Foxfire compression technology and HFC-134a non-ozone-depleting refrigerant in...

HVAC-System Acoustics

Though intended to provide comfort, HVAC systems often are a major source of noise in buildings. While the primary focus of designers understandably is temperature and humidity control, the more experienced among them know the importance of keeping sound and vibration in check. ...

Measuring IAQ Parameters

Buildings are not created to use energy, but to provide healthy and productive indoor environments. However, efforts to save energy may cause a reduction in health and productivity by degrading indoor-air quality (IAQ). Therefore, maintaining buildings that provide healthy and productive indoor environments requires testing and measuring of key IAQ parameters. As often is said, if you do not measure energy, you cannot manage it — the same is true for ventilation performance. ...

Making the Most of Boiler Inspections

Summer is the perfect time to inspect a boiler, sizing up its energy use, carbon footprint, and overall ability to support a process reliably and safely....

How to Prevent Steam-Boiler Failure

Steam boilers are responsible for a third of the energy that powers industry in the United States. From food production to paper making to chemical processing...

ABMA Holds 2008 Summer Meeting

The price of steel, the present and future of the energy industry, and the U.S. presidential election were among several key topics addressed during the American Boiler Manufacturers Association's (ABMA's) Summer Meeting June 20-23 in San Diego. ...

Direct-Contact Heating System Used in Expansion of Edmonton Airport

In 1999, when officials at Edmonton International Airport in northern Alberta, Canada, mapped out a multiyear expansion project, it was clear additional heating capacity would be a critical requirement. For the project's mechanical engineers, Edmonton-based Keen/Reid/Crowther, a top priority was minimizing the costs of running a significantly larger heating plant and realizing the shortest possible payback. ...

Design Solutions: Heavy-Duty Ultralow-NOx Boilers Chosen for Resort's Central Plant

Deemed the ninth-largest private construction project in California by California Construction magazine, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians' $350 million transformation of Agua Caliente Casino into a luxury resort included the addition of a hotel tower with 340 guest rooms, a spa, a pool and cabana complex, and a state-of-the-art conference center. In late 2008/early 2009, a 2,000-seat entertainment venue will open. ...

New Equipment & Resources - August 2008

Fully modulating boiler The Benchmark 1.5 is a low-nitrogen-oxide (NOx), condensing, fully modulating boiler useful for projects requiring 1.5 million...

Updated Standard for Air-Filter Testing

In January, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards committee responsible for reviewing and improving ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 52.2, Method of Testing General Ventilation Air Cleaning Devices for Removal Efficiency by Particle Size, approved two changes to the document's testing and reporting methods, both of which will take effect when the revised standard is published this fall...

UVC Helps Institute Keep Indoor Air, Cooling-Tower Makeup Water Clean

It is well-known that poor indoor-air quality (IAQ) can be harmful to building occupants. In a biotechnology laboratory, it can be detrimental to the integrity of sensitive research and experiments as well. That is why, after opening a new 72,000-sq-ft facility in Newark, Del., in 2001, the University of Delaware's Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI) pressure-washed the coils in two 45,000-cfm air-handling units (AHUs) three or four times a year. Still, Robert Pekala, engineering and operations manager for DBI, was not satisfied. ...

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