Earthquakes and strong gusts are threats in the physical world that creep into the HVAC design world of isolators, supports, and special louver considerations. Furthermore, a new legal world in terms of codes, insurance, and liability can leave inattentive engineers, owners, and manufacturers quaking in their boots. Read on to stay safe in more ways than one.
Some will say most engineering, construction, and O&M software offerings are “smart” because they are all programs built for computer applications, but I see that some software has added benefits beyond their program intent. To begin, computer programs are developed to provide a variety of technical features, such as performing energy calculations and system/equipment service that blends technical data with financial data. Even my own software programs have specific features for commissioning and air and water balancing. But what about the benefits a program can provide which maybe weren’t part of the intent?
For a consumer food group’s very mixed-space campus, HGA’s careful outdoor air strategy got support from smart boiler, chiller, and lighting design to create performance tailored for the client while comfortably exceeding LEED®and ASHRAE 90.1 requirements.
Commercial
system experts see flow as a key step to optimizing system efficiency. Cutting
down required tubing size, insulated PEX for district systems, and
variable-speed pumps to pin down a chiller’s exact needs are three points of
attack in the modern campaign against waste.
Most of us think of data centers when we think “mission critical,” but
the category goes into financial and health sectors as well. These
five phases of commissioning can provide some additional peace of
mind about performance, no matter which type of critical mission is
at stake.