Energy Newsbriefs
Articles for April 4, 2011
ENERGY NEWSBRIEFS is a weekly current awareness service provided by the WSU Extension Energy Program Library and written by Angela Santamaria, WSU Energy Library Manager, to assist users in tracking developments in the energy field. To view past issues or to subscribe to receive an email notification of the publication of a new issue, go to the Energy Newsbriefs home.
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BUILDINGS
The following three articles, by staff, were published in the March 2011 issue of Engineered Systems (ES):
1. "Building Automation: Divisions of Labor" was co-authored by Paul Ehrlich, PE, and Ira Goldschmidt PE, both of Building Intelligence Group. Making reference to CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) guidelines, the authors present the divisions of labor in the world of building specification. These divisions, they explain, serve as obstacles to the integration of building systems in both the design and construction of buildings.
2. "Commissioning: Missing Operations & Maintenance Participation" was written by Rebecca Thatcher Ellis, PE, and President, Questions & Solutions Engineering, Inc. The author cautions against commissioning without input from the O&M staff which will (or will not) implement the building systems settings as designed for optimized performance. She, also, urges for O&M training and, especially, for documentation that will actually be used.
3. "University Enjoys the Fruits of System Integration in Former Tomato Field," by staff, shows the advantages of integrating the building systems with one another and with multiple information technology (IT) systems. At the university featured in the article, all now function successfully on just one platform.
COOL ROOFING
The following four articles appeared in the February 2011 issue of ED+C (Environmental Design + Construction):
1. "Green Shipping" was written by Mark J. Frisch, AIA, LEED AP; Principal, Solomon, Cordwell and Buenz. It describes the design and materials used for a 174,442 square foot roof on a FedEx facility at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
2. "Room to Grow" was authored by Anna Suardini, ASLA, GRP; Garden Roof Technical Sales, American Hydrotech, Inc. It shows the vegetable gardens planted on two urban roofs and how they were designed and constructed.
3. "Top-Down Sustainability" was written by Mark Robinson, President and General Manager, Follansbee. A LEED-Gold library includes a combination of stainless steel roofing and a vegetative roof. The nearly no-maintenance steel roof is extremely long-lasting. The low-maintenance vegetative roof insulates the building and manages stormwater.
4. "The Value of Solar" was written by Anthony J. Summers, LEED AP, Senior Project Manager, Kai Design & Build. This is a description of a neighborhood redevelopment project that will include solar panels to produce electricity on the ten percent of the building roofs that are flat and EnergyStar-approved solar reflective shingles on the rest of the roofs.
HVAC/R (HEATING, VENTILATION, AIR CONDITIONING, AND REFRIGERATION)
"Energy Recovery System Cuts School’s Cooling Costs 70%," by Jane Alexander, Editor, Maintenance Technology, with Jim Connell, Airxchange, Inc., was published in the February 2011 issue of that journal. It describes the system installed at a new school in Florida. An enthalpy wheel is the air-to-air heat exchanger. The payback is about four years.
"Fan, BAS Spread a Warm Feeling to Start Alaska Schooldays," by staff, was published in the March 2011 issue of Engineered Systems (ES). The HVAC system in a new LEED-Silver school in Alaska is described. The building can go from the night setback temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit to the daytime temperature of 65 degrees in 15 to 20 minutes in contrast to other schools whose systems take several hours to heat up.
SCHOOLS
"Green Schools Building Boom," by Jonathan Hiskes, Pacific Northwest Correspondent, Sustainable Industries, was published in the March/April issue of that journal. It features a new junior high school in Kirkland, Washington, and follows with information about the financing of green schools projects which tends to favor renovation over new construction. There is a discussion about indoor air quality and its relation to the health and productivity of students.
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