Engineered Systems - September 2008 - (Page 8)

Editor’sNote BY ROBERT BEVERLY RAISING CADE Data centers: Better accountability through — you guessed it — another acronym? You are probably not familiar with a band called Southern Culture On The Skids. Their name pretty much explains their sound. I’m not an expert on the band, but one of their more memorably titled songs in their catalog is “Too Much Pork For Just One Fork.” While that could apply to the stuffed lineup of mission critical features this month, the truth is that we still had some first-class leftovers. Unlike a Labor Day picnic, it seemed unfair to keep them all for ourselves. And that’s where the beauty of the internet enters the picture … DATA CENTER SPECIAL Do you know what a CADE is? More importantly, do you know what your CADE is? Energy expert Lindsay Audin knows that the Corporate Average Data Efficiency figure is gaining attention in that sector for providing a useful benchmark. As a helpful postscript to his excellent “Energy Wiz” columns, we’re posting a Web-exclusive column on this subject in September. As Audin explains, “CADE combines information about data transfer efficiency with that of energy use to develop a number expressed as a percent. The higher the CADE, the more efficient the data center. Designed to mimic the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standard for cars, CADE will hold CIOs and server providers accountable for costs due to inefficiency in much the same way CAFE standards press Detroit to make cars with better gas mileage.” Read the full bonus column at www. esmagazine.com to learn more about how to improve your CADE, why sizing matters, and which items on Audin’s list of recommendations might boost your facility’s performance. A FIRST-USE FIX? Speaking of acronyms, ES reader Bill Wehmeier responded to my recent column about how and when to use acronyms: Regarding your recent column on acronyms, the solution is very simple: 8 En gi neer ed Sy stem s September 2008 The first time an acronym is used in a printed article, it should have the definition spelled out. That way everyone knows immediately exactly what the acronym is representing and its use throughout the article is understood. Example: television (TV). Having your readers page back to a glossary or worse yet, going online just to determine what an acronym is referring to is not “user friendly (UF)” to say the least. This is especially important in today’s world with more and more acronyms being generated by everyone and the same acronyms having multiple meanings.(If I say the acronym DOE, does that mean Design of Experiment or Department of Energy to you? In our company both are referred to.) Using this rule makes for easier reading and would make your magazine more UF. Thank you, Bill, for taking the time to e-mail about this. The first-usage guideline you suggest actually is what we do when we run into a term that isn’t common enough to be in the glossary but occurs frequently in a given article. This first-use rule of thumb, and the associated editing time for every instance, is still a little cumbersome for terms that are extremely common (like VAV or AHU, for instance). So the trick, then, is deciding what is truly common enough to abbreviate from the start, and what isn’t. It’s possible that perhaps we should pull some terms back out of the glossary and treat them as less familiar to readers. In fact, we’ve taken one out of automaticacronym territory this month. Our glossary is also back in the print issue this month, in addition to its online reference. Thanks again for weighing in on this, Bill, and for reading. Other readers are always encouraged to continue this discussion on how to make the magazine as time-efficient for you amid so many technical terms while always staying, uh, as UF as possible. ES ES Podcasts Free download or streaming audio at www.esmagazine.com/podcasts. Tomorrow’s Environment Podcast Series, Vol. 10 “The Problem With Systems Training” Why does this training systematically fall through the cracks, and how can we tweak the process to fix it? ES Events SEPTEMBER 22-24 Green Sustainable Building Controls Conference Engineered Systems & BACnet® Int. Dallas. www.esmagazine.com/GSBC ES Webinars All webinars are free. Registration and archives at http://webinars.esmagazine.com SEPTEMBER 17 Back2Basics: Gymnasium / Place of Assembly Howard McKew, P.E. and Amanda McKew Sponsored by Danfoss. SEPTEMBER 30 Interoperability of Diverse Security Systems Presented and sponsored by Tridium. http://www.esmagazine.com/podcasts http://www.esmagazine.com/GSBC http://esmagazine.com http://esmagazine.com http://webinars.esmagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Engineered Systems - September 2008

Engineered Systems - September 2008 Contents Editor's Note HVAC Challenge Back2Basics Case In Point Commissioning Building Automation HVACR Designer Tips Application Checklist LEED®, Or Get (It) Out Of The Way? BACnet Supplement Race To Market Steam Humidification In Pharmaceutical Facilities Outside Air, Inside Data Centers Forecast: Increasingly Cloudy And Under Control Products Computers & Software Literature Glossary Classifieds Advertiser Index Tomorrow's Environment

Engineered Systems - September 2008

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