Small business owners may often find themselves left out in the cold when it comes to cost effective approaches to saving money on air conditioning (AC) expenses. With a significantly lower price point than a building automation system, smart thermostats may provide a cost-effective controls...
EC plug fan retrofits are one of the most common and impactful ways that I find to reduce data center energy consumption. This article is meant for data center owners and operators of facilities served by CRACs or CRAHs[1] with constant speed fans. Here are...
Energy efficient design is more than just choosing equipment with the highest energy efficiency rating. Real world building operating conditions must be accounted for to ensure energy savings. Energy modeling, not nameplate ratings, is key to specifying equipment that will yield the highest energy and...
Commercial building heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems commonly use variable air volume (VAV) systems for their heating and cooling needs. VAV systems can be more energy efficient when properly controlled and operated. We frequently find these systems performing less than optimally and recommend...
We’ve seen an increased interest in Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) (aka Variable Refrigerant Volume or VRV) systems. Many view them as a panacea for a building’s HVAC needs. For building owners or managers with no prior experience with VRF/VRV units, we recommend considering the following...
Improvements to cooling systems are one of the most effective ways to increase your bottom line and meet sustainability goals, especially if your building requires a lot of cooling. Schools, data centers, offices, clinics, warehouse/distribution centers and others can make great candidates for capturing the...
We often speak of new construction commissioning as a quality assurance process for new buildings, beginning from conception and design and continuing through construction and into initial occupancy. Some see it merely as a necessity for obtaining LEED points and complying with energy code. Others...
As an energy efficiency consultant, my primary job is to recommend energy projects to my clients. More often than not, they base their decision to implement the project on its cost-effectiveness. For energy retrofit projects, establishing payback is fairly easy – the project costs $X,...
In heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, airflow reported at the variable air volume (VAV) box is actually a measure of total pressure. It gets converted into an airflow by a multiplier that is generated during testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB). This multiplier is...
We’ve recently seen an uptick in city and county building inspectors asking for mechanical acceptance forms prior to granting an occupancy permit. This trend demonstrates that perhaps code enforcement is catching up to code. As of the 2013 California energy code, effective July 1, 2014, mechanical...