Green Engineering Archive
Ice-Tank Storage System Helps to Green Insurance Company's Headquarters
Like many companies across the country, Harleysville Insurance is implementing energy-conservation measures that will help it become "greener" by better managing its energy consumption and, over time, reducing its overall energy costs. While the company has taken steps, such as reducing the electricity it uses for lighting, computers, and other electronic equipment and expanding its recycling efforts, a more significant green initiative revolves around the recent replacement of the outdated chiller plant in its home office in Harleysville, Pa., with a new thermal-storage solution designed to optimize energy savings....
Opportunities Abound for Water Technologies
One result of America's growing water shortages likely will be an increased public-policy focus on water conservation, water-efficiency technologies, and on-site water treatment and reuse. This policy focus could offer unprecedented opportunities for mechanical contractors, technology suppliers, and engineering consultants....
Prioritizing Energy Projects
Sustainability, green energy, and LEED certification are the topics of the day for building owners and managers. With so many conservation opportunities, how does one determine which projects to pursue on a limited budget?...
The Benefits of Ice-Based Thermal Energy Storage
Is ice-based thermal-energy storage (TES) really green? Although the success of ice-based TES in reducing energy costs has been substantiated, there are differing opinions within the HVAC community regarding whether TES is a green technology....
The Growing Need for Trained Energy Professionals
Each year, the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) surveys its 11,000 members to determine market trends and forces impacting the profession. With the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, AEE surveyed its members to determine the impact stimulus funding would have on the creation of green jobs. ...
WaterFurnace: Future of Geothermal Looks Bright
Although 2010 should prove to be a "mixed bag" for the overall economy, it will be a great year for the geothermal industry, WaterFurnace President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Huntington told more than 400 HVAC contractors and distributors during the company's Annual Sales Meeting in Phoenix....
LEED Commissioning: The Old and the New
2009 saw the rollout of a major evolution in the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC’s) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green-building rating systems. The five rating systems cover new construction and major renovations, core and shell projects, K-12 schools, commercial interiors, and existing buildings. The oldest of these, LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC), was released as a pilot program in 1998 and more fully developed as Version 2.0 in 2000. LEED Version 3 includes all five of these rating systems....
Greenhouse-Gas Impacts
The following exchange, concerning the January 2010 article “The Greenhouse-Gas Impact of Various Chiller Technologies” by Gerald J. Williams, PE, LEED AP, took place on HPAC.com via the Disqus comment system....
AHRI Certified Mark: Blue Is the New Green
In January 2010 at the Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition (AHR Expo) in Orlando, Fla., we at the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration...
What's New With LEED Professional Credentials
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Professional Credentials program is the industry's agreed-upon way of identifying professionals...
Estimates of Wind Potential Revised
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released new estimates of the nation's potential for wind-generated electricity, tripling previous estimates....
Preparing a Successful Energy-Savings Proposal
Convincing a client to incur the additional first cost of an energy study during systems implementation is as much about marketing as it is about technology....
SOUNDING BOARD
The Cost of Building Green The article The Cost-Effectiveness of Building (October 2009) examines available research on the cost of green buildings. Using...
10 for 10: Consultant Publishes List of Top Green-Building Trends
Jerry Yudelson, widely acknowledged as one of the nation's leading green-building and sustainability consultants, says green building will continue to...
The Greenhouse-Gas Impact of Various Chiller Technologies
Editor's note: The following article is based on a presentation given by the author during HPAC Engineering's 2009 Engineering Green Buildings (EGB) Conference...
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