May 1, 2010
Features
Looking to meet its growing cooling needs using less power, UT recently embarked on a district-cooling-optimization project that has seen gas-use quantities return to 1970s levels....
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....
With the rising cost of energy, the use of variable-frequency drives (VFDs), also known as inverters, is growing. By optimizing electrical flow to an alternating-current (AC) motor, a VFD can provide substantial energy savings. Within the field of flow control, the potential for increased efficiency with VFDs is especially dramatic....
Columns
When I travel, I have an opportunity to meet many really smart people who have interesting viewpoints on the industry. Last month, I found myself in Fort Smith, Ark., visiting Baldor Electric Co. While on this visit, I learned something new (for me, anyway) about the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA)....
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. ...
I am extremely distressed by the profound ignorance and arrogance exhibited by the authors (from Marion, Ill., and Dedham, Mass.) of two letters published in the April 2010 edition of HPAC Engineering (Sounding Board, "Global Warming," http://bit.ly/9Myhmi)....
Departments
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. ...
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....
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." ...
After I retired, I received a call from an engineer with whom I had worked. He told me that, nearly three years earlier, he had installed an oven that was used to burn paint off of hooks that held sheet-metal panels while they were being painted. He had been trying to control fumes and smoke at the oven inlet ever since without success, and the workers were threatening to walk off of the job if the fumes were not controlled. I agreed to visit the plant to see if I could come up with a solution....
News & Notes
Ingersoll Rand observed the 40-year anniversary of Earth Day with events at more than 40 of its locations around the world April 22. In St. Paul, Minn., where Trane, a business of Ingersoll Rand, engineers and manufactures controls, members of the trade press were invited to take part....
Looking for innovative and creative approaches taken by facility managers, Siemens Industry Inc. has issued The Smartest Building in America challenge....
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....
More than 60 engineers gathered at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, April 6 to learn about the theory and practical application of hydronic design and balancing during the first Tour & Andersson (TA) Hydronic College seminar. Sponsored by Victaulic, a mechanical-pipe-joining-system manufacturer, in partnership with TA, the event was one of 12 such seminars that will be held across North America this year....
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