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Outsmarting Your Building
A couple posts ago I raised a point about buildings being smarter than the owners. So what is the solution? How can an owner or manager get control of their building and get the operations and maintenance running in an optimal budget?
ACES Low
The House of Representatives voted on the American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009. I haven’t read the bill, and I doubt our congressmen have either, but it the idea that you can just pass a bill and magically our county’s energy problems are solved is very naive. Furthermore the efficiency targets of the bill are unrealistic even if they are a good idea. What really makes me mad is- efficiency is its own reward. If these ASHRAE 90.1 reductions were so easy to obtain everyone would be doing it for the cost savings. The fact that few are speaks volumes. The few that are, are using government sponsored utility rebates or mandated government regulations. It is never a good idea for the government to interfere with the market, especially when the outcome is so questionable. I am happy to see I’m not the only one who things so. In the August edition of Engineered Systems Magazine (page 8), they polled readers on the bill and the outcome wasn’t good. These are professionals who love energy efficient solutions, so you better believe they have more insight than congressmen who voted on this bill, or the green lobbyists who probably wrote.
Your Building May Be Too Smart For Its Own Good
The future of energy savings is putting the tools into the hands of those that can use them. In the May 2009 Issue of Engineered Systems, Jack Mc Gowan and Jeffery Seewald look at the technologies that might finally make a difference the overall energy usage in buildings nationwide.
Dehumidification
The May 2009 Issue of Engineered Systems has a good primer on Dehumidification entitled “Keys to Efficient Dehumidification” by Jeff Ihnen. Ray Maas has some experience, but I don’t have much familiarity with the topic. Fargo his neither too humid nor too dry. I found this article helpful. Jeff lays out the following Dehumidification Control Strategies:
- Only cool to the desired dew point when necessary
- Control cooling using variable volume to the maximum extent possible
- Keep the building positively pressurized
- Shut down outside air when the building is unoccupied
- Provide minimal temperature control with DOAS makeup air units
Once he reviews the pros and cons of each strategy, Jeff reviews two dehumidification system design strategies: dedicated outdoor air systems, and Precool and reheat ventilation air with energy recovery. We see more of the latter in our work.
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