ASHRAE Journal - June 2014 - 4

commentary
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Fred Turner

PUBLISHER
W. Stephen Comstock

Energy Fast Lane

EDITORIAL
Editor
Fred Turner
fturner@ashrae.org
Managing Editor
Sarah Foster
sfoster@ashrae.org
Associate Editor
Rebecca Matyasovski
rmatyasovski@ashrae.org
Associate Editor
Christopher Weems
cweems@ashrae.org
Associate Editor
Jeri Eader
jeader@ashrae.org
Assistant Editor
Tani Palefski
tpalefski@ashrae.org

You used to hear HVAC&R veterans
say the industry was slow to change.
If this were ever true, it's certainly
not been true for many years. Codes,
standards and the U.S Department of
Energy are continually moving the bar
for energy efficiency. What you hear
now are terms like "max tech," meaning we're near the edge of what can be
achieved technically with equipment.
More so, each incremental increase
in equipment efficiency raises cost and
complexity. One example is ASHRAE
Standard 90.1. It took 44 addenda
to reduce energy 4.5% from 2004 to
2007. It took 111 addenda to reduce
energy 18.5% from 2007 to 2010, and
111 addenda to reduce it 6% to 8% (not
final) from 2010 to 2013. One estimate
is that more than 200 addenda will be
needed to reach the 2016 goal.

PUBLISHING SERVICES
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David Soltis
Production
Jayne Jackson
Tracy Becker
ADVERTISING
Associate Publisher,
ASHRAE Media Advertising
Greg Martin
gmartin@ashrae.org
Advertising Production Coordinator
Vanessa Johnson
vjohnson@ashrae.org
CIRCULATION
Circulation Specialist
David Soltis
dsoltis@ashrae.org
ASHRAE OFFICERS
President
William P. Bahnfleth, Ph.D., P.E.
President-Elect
Thomas H. Phoenix, P.E.
Treasurer
T. David Underwood, P.Eng.
Vice Presidents
Darryl K. Boyce, P.Eng.
Bjarne W. Olesen, Ph.D.
Daniel C. Pettway
Thomas E. Werkema
Secretary & Executive Vice President
Jeff H. Littleton
POLICY GROUP
2013 - 14 Chair
Publications Committee
Ashish Rakheja
Washington Office
washdc@ashrae.org

temperatures and not consider that
99% of the time the equipment is operating at part-load and reduced ambient temperatures," said Lord. "We also
assume there's no overheating and the
equipment is properly installed."
Lord said possible solutions include
new part-load or annualized metrics,
hybrid systems that rate combinations
of equipment, and whole buildings
ratings similar to what are used for
ASHRAE's Building Energy Quotient
(beQ) rating system. He also mentioned part-load annualized metrics,
subsystem approaches and defined
commissioning.
AHRI hopes to have a strategic plan
by Oct. 1, but Lord said the change will
"take years."

THIS EDITION starts a new series,
Best of ASHRAE Journal. It will feature
THE AIR-CONDITIONING, Heating, winners of the Journal Paper of the Year
and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI)
Award, which are selected by ASHRAE's
is developing a strategic plan to try
Publications Committee. The first is
to change the paradigm. It wants to
All-Variable Speed Centrifugal Chiller
move from component ratings and
Plants by Thomas Hartman, P.E.,
prescriptive requirements to a systems Member ASHRAE.
approach with metrics that focus on
The article from 2001 explains at the
how the building actually operates.
applications level how variable speed
The purpose and process were outcentrifugal chillers can be applied and
lined by Richard Lord, Fellow ASHRAE, operated more effectively for comfort
at AHRI's recent spring meeting. The
conditioning.
focus, he said, has been on components We hope you enjoy this new series,
and not how the component actually
and the articles and columns in this
operates in a system.
edition. We're fortunate to have excel"The typical approach is to use
lent authors who also are practitioners.
national average full-load design
Your feedback is always welcome.

ASHRAe Journal reviews current HVAC&R technology of broad interest through publication of applications-oriented articles. Content ranges from back-to-basics features to reviews of emerging technologies.
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ASHRAE Journal - June 2014

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