Energy Newsbriefs
Articles for July 25, 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 – includes MILITARY FACILITIES
"Green Takes Root in Military Medicine" was published in the May 2011 issue of Interiors & Sources; it was authored by Lidia Berger, MEM, IIDA, LEED BD+C, O+M, and Vice President and National Sustainable Director for the Federal Program at HDR Architecture. This is a case study of the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital near Washington DC. It provides a great deal of pertinent information on energy savings, air ventilation and filtration, CO2 monitoring, and various controls. The hospital's planners were guided by evidence-based design principles and LEED requirements.
"Bruce Ziegman, Executive Director, Vancouver Regional Library District" is a YouTube video from ComcastNwsMkrsORswWA. It is an interview of Bruce Ziegman, Executive Director of the Vancouver Regional Library District in Washington State. In it, he explains how the new LEED-Gold Vancouver library was built and he discusses the financial challenges overcome.
The following three case studies were published in the May+June 2011 issue of GreenSource:
1. "A Catalyst for Change," by Jane Kolleeny, Managing Editor, GreenSource, features the Mercy Corps Global Headquarters in Portland, Oregon. This LEED-Platinum facility includes an atrium that connects an older building with the new one. By dismantling the wall of the side of the older building that faces the new atrium, the design team was able to connect the two buildings so as to install just one high-efficiency heat-exchange system for the entire new/old space.
2. "Colors 'n Curves," by Ulf Meyer, describes the KFW Westarkade high-rise in Frankfurt, Germany, the new headquarters for the KfW Bank. This state-owned bank is, among other things, responsible for funding both the country's energy-conservation retrofits of the existing building stock and the addition of PV installations. This high-rise is considered one of the most energy-efficient in the world.
3. "A House Sits Lightly on the Land," by Clifford Pearson, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Record, is a case study of a hover house in Venice, California. This is the third one built in a planned series for Southern California. The design of hover houses focuses on outdoor living in this hospitable climate where a moderately-sized house can seem much larger by the incorporation of outdoor space in the floor plan.
LIGHTING
The following two articles were published in the June 2011 issue of Distributed Energy:
1. "Energy-Efficient LED Lighting Helps Water Treatment Plant Reduce Its Carbon Footprint, Energy Costs," by staff, highlights the lighting retrofit at the Alvarado Wastewater Treatment Plant in Union City, California. A site survey suggested where LEDs should be installed.
2. "Glow Industry," by Carol Brzozowski, is a five-web-page article that highlights lighting retrofits at several facilities: MedSafe (a distributer of occupational, health, and safety equipment in Houston, Texas), CB Richard Ellis (a commercial real-estate firm in New England), AMB Property Corporation (industrial real estate, worldwide), and others. The article includes the sidebars "Avoiding Mistakes," "Financial Incentives," "Tips for Your Retrofit," and "Lighting Control Systems."
MIMICRY
"Animals Spinning Their Wheels" was written by Adrian Bejan, J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Duke University; it was published in the June 2011 issue of Mechanical Engineering. It shows how animal bodies move in a way that is similar to the turning of a manufactured wheel that accommodates different turning speeds. The point is that wheel-like designs evolved in nature before humans developed them. This research on natural design forms lends itself to the mimicking of nature by engineers in their own design work.
POLICY – WORKFORCE
Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment is a 68-page document, published 2011, from The Brookings Institution, and it includes an Executive Summary and a Methodological Appendix; there is also the separate Web page Sizing the Clean Economy: Metropolitan and State Profiles that includes links both to PDFs for each of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country and to another Web page with an interactive indicator map for various population centers. The full document was co-authored by Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director, Jonathan Rothwell, Senior Research Analyst, and Devashree Saha, Senior Policy Analyst; all of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings. Its purpose is to report on "clean economy" jobs in U.S. counties and metropolitan areas to assist in policy planning and business development particularly at the regional level.
THERMAL TECHNOLOGIES
"The Titanic – A Study in Metal Failure," was carried in the May 2011 issue of Industrial Heating. It is a cautionary tale of how failures in thermal processing can have devastating effects. The Titanic sank because it hit an iceberg, but a thermal process inadequate to the task may very well have contributed to a higher loss of life than would have otherwise occurred.
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