After reviewing basic design options, the next steps for potential geothermal designers are to challenge the common concerns and myths, study how different choices have different cost impacts, and be aware of the ways a good design can yield bad performance if the installation isn’t done well. Add the habit of turning a retrofit’s circumstances to your advantage, and this underground approach can rise above client expectations in short order.
Two engineers mine their collective experience for tips on designing, modeling, and operating hydronic radiant heating and cooling systems. From conceptual basics to control nuances, on to goals like maximizing deadband operation or deploying a hybrid system, the article circulates plenty of practical information for an array of radiant opportunities.
The author's firm recently explored three options for use in buildings that are “user-friendly” when dealing with the highly variable load demands of multi-tenant occupancies, often requiring simultaneous space heating and cooling requirements. Read on to see what they found out about performance and life-cycle cost for their client.
Designers can typically choose either type from any major manufacturer. But what are the differences and consequences for a design? What type of space lends itself to one or the other, and what windows of opportunity for real efficiency gains do either provide? Knowing all the differences can make all the difference.
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market recently received the Platinum-Level Store Certification Award from the Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Partnership for green refrigeration technology at its new store located in Folsom, CA. The platinum award puts Fresh & Easy in an elite group among the nation’s 36,000 grocery stores. This is just the second store in California, and one of just four grocery stores in the nation, to achieve these challenging standards.
A learning environment adds extra meaning to the risks of “run to fail” mode, which can have the same effect on the budget as it does on the equipment. Covering everything from specification to installation and operation, schools need a permanent plan on hand for the moment when temporary HVAC becomes necessary.
Energy efficiency and historic preservation are rarely synonymous. More often than not, one must be compromised for the sake of the other. Fortunately, the University of Arkansas found a way around such compromises when it came to the restoration and mechanical renovation of the school’s beloved Peabody Hall.
Where do things stand in the never-boring world of refrigerant evolution? An industry veteran looks at life since the Montreal Protocol, a range of alternative refrigerants, and the political climate around the issue. For more than one reason, he writes, it is beneficial to keep up on the details and lead this refrigerant ‘charge.’
“2011 Thermal Guidelines for Liquid Cooled Data Processing Environments” creates data center classes for liquid cooling that can enable fulltime economizers for a number of applications in many climates, according to according to Don Beaty, chair of the Publications Subcommittee of ASHRAE’s Technical Committee (TC) 9.9, Mission Critical Facilities, Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment.