Articles for October 06, 2008
ENERGY NEWSBRIEFS is a
weekly current awareness service provided by the Washington State University
Extension Energy Program Library and written by Angela Santamaria, WSU Energy
Library Manager, to assist users in tracking developments in the energy field.
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BUILDING STANDARDS
"Standards Development"
was written by Brandon Lorenz, Senior Editor,
Building Operating Management.
It is a two-part article that appeared
in the August 2008 issue of
Building
Operating Management:
1.
"Defining High-Performance
Buildings" is Part 1 of the article. It describes and gives important
background information about the 35-page report,
Assessment to the US
Congress and US Department of Energy on High Performance Buildings: In Response
to Section 914 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-058). The
report was published in 2008 by the
High-Performance Building Council, which is part of the National Institute of
Building Sciences (NIBS). The article
links to the report, which is at
http://www.wbdg.org/pdfs/hpb_report.pdf
. See the article about the report at
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/bom/article.asp?id=9369.
2.
"To Improve Energy
Performance, Improve Operations" is Part 2 of the two-part article. Its
emphasis is on the importance of educating building operators and facilities
managers on how to get optimum efficiencies out of the efficient equipment and
systems that are often in place but underutilized. The author reports that the
American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) will have a new
certification for the Operations and Performance Management Professional in
January 2009 to promote the needed education and improve building performance. See it at
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/bom/article.asp?id=9478.
CHP (COMBINED HEAT and POWER)
Summary of Results from
Testing a 30-kW Microturbine and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) System is a May 2007, 24-page Federal Technology Alert from
the Federal Energy Management Program authored by Frank E. Pierce, Jr., Oak
Ridge National Lab. This is an important publication for the energy manager.
The report summarizes the results from a number of tests and it "provides
a single source for performance, and emissions test results for an individual
microturbine or one integrated with TATs (thermally activated technologies)."
See the full text of this document at
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/fta_microturbinechp.pdf.
DATA CENTERS
"Tactics to Boost Efficiency, Not Data Center
Downtime" was authored by
Christopher M. Johnston, PE, Senior Vice President, and Chief Engineer, Syska
Hennessy Group. This article shows how particular kinds of data centers can
use certain strategies to reduce the energy needed for operating the servers
and cooling the facility. View it in
Building Operating Management,
August 2008, at
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/bom/article.asp?id=9366.
DAYLIGHTING
"A New
& Better Way to Calculate Daylight" was written by Mudit Saxena, Senior Project Manager, Heschong Mahone Group Inc. The
subject of this article is the development of a new metric to replace the one
from 1909 which measured exterior values of daylight as a ratio of exterior light
on a sunless day to a certain point in a building's interior, in order to ensure
interior daylight minimums set by law. A new metric would make it possible for
daylight to assist in the goal of making a building green, sustainable, and
resource efficient. This article describes the efforts by lighting
professionals across the U.S. to develop a lighting metric that takes into
consideration, among other things, the ever-changing values of daylight. See
it in
Buildings, August 2008, at
http://www.buildings.com/articles/detail.aspx?contentID=6340.
FUEL CELLS
"EnergySmart Hospitals"
is a two-page, July 2008, fact sheet from the Industrial Technologies Program
of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE). It familiarizes the reader with the DOE EnergySmart Hospitals
initiative, the aim of which is to assist a sector with understandably high
energy needs to reduce energy use without compromising patient care. See this
publication at
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energysmarthospitals/pdfs/esh_factsheet.pdf.
GREEN BUILDINGS
"Looking Radiant in
Green," by Paul Switenki, PE, describes several systems of the new building that houses the enormous collection of the California
Academy of Sciences, one of the largest museums in the world. With an unusual
green roof, special condensing water and chiller systems, and more, this model
building may achieve platinum LEED certification. Several challenges to
meeting the museum's exhibition needs while conserving energy and water are explained. See this article with its sidebar, "California
Academy of Sciences Team," in
Engineered Systems (
ES),
August 2008, at
http://www.esmagazine.com/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000392382.
PLUG-IN HYBRIDS
"Plug-in
Hybrids: A view from the Grid," by staff, explains the advantages of a
hybrid vehicle over a conventional combustion-engine one, the differences
between a "traditional" hybrid and a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle
(PHEV), and how plug-ins could work with the electricity grid to generate power
while still satisfying PHEV charging needs. See this article in the
Transformer,
August 6, 2008, at
http://www.nwenergy.org/publications/the-transformer/2008/the-transformer-august-6-2008.
WATER
"Role
of Water Use Audits," a two part article by James Piper, P.E., Ph.D. and
Contributing Editor,
Building Operating Management, to help the
buildings facilities manager conserve water; it is in the August 2008 issue of
Building
Operating Management:
1. "How Does a Water Audit Work?" is Part 1 of the two-part article. It explains that
a water audit is to water management as an energy audit is to energy
management. The water audit tracks all incoming and outgoing water and all
uses in between. By assessing water quantity and quality, a water audit is the
initial strategy in accomplishing the goal of water conservation. Once the
audit has been done, energy use can be reduced through conservation behaviors
and through the reuse of water for activities that do not require potable
water. See it at
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/bom/article.asp?id=9363.
2.
"Steps in a Water Audit"
is Part 2 of the two-part article. Four steps are listed and fully explained:
inventorying use, metering, maintenance, and an efficiency plan. See it at
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/bom/article.asp?id=9364.
FENESTRATION
"Manufacturers
Continue to Improve Energy Performance of Fenestration Products," by
staff, is a nice review of what is currently available and what is just around
the corner. See this article in
NFRC Update, Spring/Summer 2008, at
http://www.nfrc.org/press/NFRCupdate/performance.html.
"A
Win-Win with Window Film," by Linda K. Monroe, Editorial Director,
Buildings,
shows the advantages of window films added to already-installed windows.
Buildings,
August 2008, at
http://www.buildings.com/articles/detail.aspx?contentID=6326.
Past issues of
Energy Newsbriefs are available at
http://www.energy.wsu.edu/library/newsbriefs.cfm.
Generally, subscription information
for the journals cited above can be found at the home page of their web
sites.
© 2008
Washington State University Extension Energy Program. This publication
contains material written and produced for public distribution. Permission to
copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted, provided that the
copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, and that each is
referenced by title with credit to the Washington State University Extension
Energy Program. Copying, reprinting or dissemination, electronic or otherwise,
for any other use requires prior written permission from the Washington State
University Extension Energy Program.
