April 1, 2010
Features
If you were to trace building automation systems (BAS) to their roots in the 1960s and '70s, you would see their main purpose was the management of energy consumption. In fact, "energy-management systems" (EMS) was the common term for these systems when I entered the controls industry during the late 1980s....
In 2007, a partnership was formed by the city of Lansing, Mich.; the state of Michigan; Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America and its parent company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan; developer and construction manager The Christman Co.; Lansing Economic Development Corp.; and Lansing Board of Water & Light (LBWL) to renovate the decommissioned Ottawa Street Power Station in Lansing into Accident Fund’s new world headquarters. The partnership required LBWL to construct a separate plant to provide chilled water, which previously was supplied by equipment in the Ottawa Street Power Station’s basement....
Columns
Is print really dead? Personally, I don't think it's dead or even dying a slow death. It is simply in the midst of a transition caused by an economy in turmoil. ...
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....
Heat balance is exactly what it sounds like: ensuring buildings maintain a steady and even temperature. In this column, I will outline steps you can take to heat-balance the multifamily-residential and commercial buildings with which you work....
As engineers, our code of ethics requires that we hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. We, therefore, have an obligation to familiarize ourselves with the science of global warming. ...
Departments
A shopping-center developer called to report that a new mall’s centrifugal chillers had broken on opening day. The chiller manufacturer flew in technicians and parts to rebuild the chillers as quickly as possible, which cost close to $100,000. The developer wanted to find out why the chillers failed. Was it a manufacturing defect or something wrong in the installation or startup?...
Located in the historic Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis, Target Field, the new 40,000-seat, open-air ballpark Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins call home, includes themed restaurants, state-of-the-art locker rooms, and 54 private suites. The ornate millwork, cabinetry, and high-end finishes in these and other indoor areas required special care during the facility’s construction in 2009. ...
Reducing energy consumption and increasing operational efficiency are top priorities for George DiVenuti, director of engineering for Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel....
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....
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....
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. ...
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. ...
News & Notes
In an attempt to facilitate the sharing of experiences, best practices, and resources within the building-energy-codes community, the Building Codes Assistant Project (BCAP)—an initiative of the Alliance to Save Energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy—has launched the "Ten Places to Watch in 2010" campaign, recognizing states and localities demonstrating true commitment to energy-efficient buildings....
2010 Midyear Meeting; Elk Grove Village, Ill.; Air Movement and Control Association International Inc....
The construction workforce was smaller in January 2010 than it was 12 months earlier in every state and the District of Columbia (D.C.), with 38 states and D.C. experiencing double-digit percentage drops in construction employment, an analysis of federal data released by The Associated General Contractors of America reveals....
Products & Literature
The Dream Aire 5000 ventilation system offers a combination of air-purification and bacteria-killing capability through the use of an electrostatic precipitation process (ESP) with a cleansing efficiency of 95 percent....
Available in print and digital formats, Bentley's "The Year in Infrastructure 2009" details the projects recognized in the company's Be Inspired Awards competition....
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