ASHRAE Journal - August 2008 - (Page 21)

because the facility manager didn’t want to ask for the money to the energy crisis of the 1970s. Our first energy standard was to replace the failed unit, I shook my head and rationalized, produced in record time and was very effective. What it failed “this isn’t my problem,” and walked away. to take into account was that some energy-efficient buildings did I was in an equipment room where the variable speed drives not provide good indoor air quality. A lot of research has been for two large chilled water pumps had been set to 100% because done since then, and our current standards define comfort and the operator did not have confidence that adequate chilled water prescribe ventilation procedures to provide acceptable indoor would get to the far reaches of his campus if the pumps were air quality. Sustainability for ASHRAE means energy efficiency under automatic control. We had a long discussion about how and healthy, productive indoor environments. variable-speed pumping saved enormous amounts of energy but There is a no-regrets answer to reducing the amount of energy he was unwilling to change and I shook my head and rational- used in buildings and reducing emissions, and that is improved ized, “this isn’t my problem,” and walked away. building operations. A study by the Energy Systems Lab at I was in an equipment room that was so small the air-handling Texas A&M University indicated that energy use in buildings unit had been shoved against one wall. The pipefitter who had con- could be reduced by 10% to 40% by improving operational nected the unit had installed a line blocking strategies in buildings. This reduction access to the door to the filter section, efin energy was not so much the result of fectively eliminating the ability to change changes in hardware and systems as it was the filters in the unit on a permanent basis. the result of improvements in software and The operator and I discussed how this inexpert knowledge. More progress would fluenced system performance, but he did have been realized in energy reduction not want to make waves with his supervisor from improved operations if the solutions who had signed off on the installation, so I were product-based. The reliance on exshook my head and rationalized, “this isn’t pert knowledge has resulted in a minimum my problem,” and walked away. transfer and distribution of knowledge in But today, the time has passed when we this area. can shake our head and walk away saying Retrocommissioning is a popular ap“this isn’t my problem.” Every day we obproach to improving operational strateserve installations and operating practices gies in existing buildings. Energy service that are wasting our precious energy and companies rely on improved operational water resources, draining power from the strategies to ensure the success of pergrid, increasing the emissions from our formance contracts. However, much of generating plants. Building operating the knowledge developed in these two Bill Harrison practices that waste energy really are our instances is held as proprietary technol2008 – 09 ASHRAE President problem, and they must be addressed. ogy. Reluctance to share proprietary In developed countries, buildings acinformation has inhibited the widespread count for 40% of primary energy use, more than either trans- application of operational strategy improvement. The slow deportation or industry. The world market for energy will continue velopment of building energy performance rating systems has to grow. The Energy Information Administration estimated in been an impediment. Another constraint is the slow developtheir 2007 report that the market would grow by 58% between ment of advanced monitoring and exception reporting systems. 2004 and 2030. The price of oil has recently approached $140 Improved operations are always dependent on improving the a barrel. Can you imagine where the price of oil will settle after knowledge of the building operators, and development of the the 58% increase in world energy demand? basic information required for effective training has to be a high Energy is a global problem today. The Web site EnergyShort- priority for ASHRAE. age.org identifies a dozen countries where energy supplies are An important issue that must be addressed is the ongoing creating availability problems. In January, South Africa suffered life of the energy savings developed through a focused operapower shortages that forced the gold mines to shut down at a tional improvement program. Without a program to continually time when gold prices were at an all-time high. In countries upgrade the capabilities of the people operating the building, where energy is available, prices are at all-time highs and ris- performance will soon slide back toward the default value of a ing. Energy prices have driven food prices to levels that have poorly operated property. produced rioting in some countries. The International Energy Delivering ASHRAE’s sustainability promise means that Agency confirms that demand will continue to grow and that our members are going to have to work more closely with othoil and coal will continue to be the primary sources of energy. ers in the buildings business. When reviewing energy-saving Developing countries will experience the largest growth and measures for buildings recently, it was striking to see that six of see the largest growth in energy related emissions. the ten most promising measures were addressed by the project Sustainability for ASHRAE has to mean more than energy architect. In a traditional design process, decisions concerning conservation. Many of us remember our immediate response these items would be finalized long before the mechanical and August 2008 ASHRAE Journal 21 http://energyshortage.org http://energyshortage.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - August 2008

ASHRAE Journal - August 2008 Contents Commentary Industry News Letters Meetings and Shows Maintain to Sustain—Delivering ASHRAE’s Sustainability Promise Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation: Current Best Practices Improving Humidity Control With Energy Recovery Ventilation Single- or Two-Stage Compression Data Center Cooling: Using Wet-Bulb Economizers Building Sciences InfoCenter Practical Pointers Products Emerging Technologies Washington Report People Special Products Classified Advertising Advertising Index

ASHRAE Journal - August 2008

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