This presentation demonstrates the correct use of psychrometric calculations in the application of chilled beam systems for the conditioned space.

Having an understanding of how a chilled beam works is the first step to having a successful application. Fully appreciating how that chilled beam is applied and interacts with the rest of the heating and air conditioning system is the second step. All chilled beam projects are similar in design regardless of building type and allows for a quick review by the consultant. In a simple overview, we will review 7 basic steps to chilled beam application so that the start of your project is simplified and accurate.

This presentation focuses on successful installations of chilled beam systems. Correct psychrometric conditions, building pressurization and control sequences are highlighted.

This seminar focuses on a specific project for a new laboratory building for a major cancer research institution. Specifically, the presentation discusses energy recovery, demand based ventilation, occupancy sequencing and building pressurization strategies that were implemented and the lessons learned during commissioning of the HVAC systems.

There are a multitude of challenges associated with designing, constructing and operating BSL-3 laboratories. The combination of user expectations, regulatory compliance, risk considerations and contractor interpretation of specifications can result in a delay in opening these laboratories from 1-2 years or longer. This presentation discusses the practical implications of commissioning BSL3 laboratories. It will provide an overview of the different organizations providing regulatory compliance, discuss the various risk factors involved with programmatic decision making, review engineered systems and ventilation strategies and the impact these decisions have on operational strategies. This presentation highlights essential documentation for sustainable operation.

This session will cover the integration, interoperability and system architecture of a smart city. The presenter discusses new opportunities for connected cities using broadband communications and a vision for new solutions. Street lighting is central to a broader smart city vision that municipalities are starting to embrace in order to reduce energy and operational costs.

This seminar will showcase what makes San Diego one of the most innovative, forward-thinking cities in smart infrastructure technology. The presenter explains how energy-efficient LED street lighting fixtures and wireless lighting controls will save the city more than $250,000 annually. The seminar describes a streetlight network that also controls holiday lights, contains chemical sensors to monitor and alert of air quality and toxic spills, provide Wi-Fi to low income neighborhoods, enhance cellular service with micro cells, act as electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and more.

This presentation provides an owner’s perspective on operating a net positive energy and water building. This includes an overview of the project, including goals, design, completion and operation of the building; the cultural shifts of staff who came from a traditional closed office environment and moved to a net zero open office environment; findings from formal polling about staff satisfaction that uncovered both the challenges and tangible benefits that have emerged since opening; and how building green has enhanced the organization’s mission.

This presentation provides the challenges and lessons from designing and operating a net zero energy building from an engineer’s perspective. This includes how daily energy reports and dashboards were used to diagnose problems; defining the energy implications of rainwater harvesting and how to further reduce that energy use; how operational data can inform assumptions for future designs; how to balance staff comfort with energy conservation; and the effectiveness of natural ventilation in mixed-humid climates.

This presentation highlights the results of an effort to evaluate energy and Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) performance of a net zero energy building from occupants’ perspectives during its first year of operation. The assessment was performed based on the ASHRAE Performance Measurement Protocols (PMP) for Commercial Buildings. This includes an occupant IEQ satisfaction survey along with continuous measurements of selected energy and IEQ variables with occupancy. Lessons learned from the assessment are presented, including evidence that a net zero energy building can deliver high standards of comfort to their occupants.

More and more high rise and multi-family projects now include residential ERVs but these residential units differ greatly from their commercial counterpart. This seminar lays out the basics of residential ERVs. It covers the main components of a residential ERV and their impacts/importance in a residential application. It addresses the different and typical features and capabilities available on the market from different manufacturers. It also demystifies the relationship between the different certification programs, test methods and limitations. It also briefly looks at different methods of installation.

This session explores the scopes of ASHRAE 62.2, the Passive House standard and the NYC mechanical code as they relate to in-unit ventilation. Although multifamily high rise buildings fall under the commercial code, individual apartments can be required to comply with ASHRAE 62.2. Fresh air is mandatory, recovering the energy contained in the stale indoor air helps reduce heating and cooling. How to decide what is needed for a project – ERV or HRV is discussed. Design of these systems, including various air sealing, filtration and insulation details is also discussed.

Code compliance in many jurisdictions allows for both prescriptive and compliance paths for a dwellings energy consumption. ASHRAE 90.2 is an example of a compliance path outlining the application of such simulation models. A reference house has been use to evaluate the accuracy of Air-to-Air Energy Recovery simulation and associated energy use reduction in these models. This presenation provides information on the effect in modeling of Air-to-Air Energy Recovery for residential dwellings and evaluate the role of Air-to-Air Energy Recovery in a net zero home.

Multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) represent a significant and growing proportion of housing in North America. Traditionally, ventilation air is provided by a central corridor air supply system and is distributed among the suites through entry door undercuts. This system, although being used for decades, has proven to be neither effective nor efficient from an energy or indoor air quality perspective. In this seminar results from a study on the impact of using individual in-suite Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERV) and Integrated Fan Coils (IFC) with energy recovery in high-rise residential buildings are investigated and compared to traditional centralized make-up air systems.

As the demand for solar electric systems grows, design professionals are looking to add solar PV as an option for their customers. This session covers grid-tied PV systems and provides attendees a solid understanding of the various solar PV components such as PV modules & inverters, system sizing, array configuration, shading analysis and estimation of energy production of a solar system based on site specifics including orientation and tilt angle. Also, different mounting and tracking systems is covered.

Larger buildings electrical rates typically allocate the cost of electricity towards demand. The cost for demand can be similar or even exceed the cost of energy. Because of this, the economics for large buildings PV systems are less favorable when only the energy cost savings are considered. The rational to not attribute demand savings to the PV system have been that a cloud can reduce the output for 15 minutes and the peak for the month or year will be set. This presentation demonstrates that demand savings should be included in the economic analysis of PV systems.

The installed cost of solar photovoltaic installations has decreased significantly in the past decade. In some areas of the U.S.A. and many parts of the world, the long term 20 year cost of solar PV electricity is equal to or cheaper than the grid. However, the first cost hurdle must still be overcome by commercial projects. Tax credits, third party financing, third party ownership and other methods are discussed to give project design professionals a full understanding of the options available to move toward your Zero Net Energy Buildings.

Sustainability begins with preservation - maximizing the use of existing materials and infrastructure, reducing waste and preserving the historic character of older towns and cities. Land availability surrounding the locations/sites of most of historic and heritage buildings, original bioclimatic adaptability and currently available environmental technologies, including HVAC and mature technologies of renewable energies supply systems, can supplement inherent sustainable NZEB’s features without compromising the unique historic character. Presenting studies (Aviation Museum and Institute for Conservation) addresses methodologies, current knowledge and technologies use in refurbishment design process, as well as importance of relevant benchmarking, rating system and financing scheme development.

Within the last decades, needs for building control systems that reduce cost, energy, peak demand and that facilitate building-grid integration, district-energy system optimization and occupant interaction have come about. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a control technique that utilizes system models and forecasts to predict performance and optimize control inputs in real-time. This presentation discusses in detail the ways occupant interaction with MPC-controlled building systems can occur, particularly as related to the control of HVAC systems, including benefits, drawbacks and challenges. This presentation discusses progress on current work that is exploring and implementing these interactions in demonstration buildings.

This presentation reviews current occupancy behavior (OB) based MPC control projects for smart building at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Challenges and opportunities of OB-MPC for smart buildings are presented and discussed, particularly on models to use, occupancy data and optimization algorithms. Simulation results show that OB-MPC can achieve up to 24% energy cost reduction in residential buildings and 17% in commercial buildings.

This presentation covers the collaborative research work from cross-functional team effort behind the journal paper that was recently honored with ASHRAE Research Journal Best Paper of the Year Award. The development and application of a fault and occupant tolerant control technology, its online implementation, and results from several tests conducted for a large-sized HVAC system are discussed. The performance and limitations of the fault detection and diagnosis, model predictive control as well as the fault and occupant tolerant control algorithms are illustrated and discussed using measurement data recorded from multiple field tests.

MPC is a new approach to controlling building systems to optimize equipment operation. Meanwhile, occupant behavior is a key contributor to the uncertainty of energy consumption. The combination of MPC and OB would foster great building energy saving potential. The integrated network to measure occupancy and behavior related with environmental parameters is introduced. With the measured data, the occupant behavior predicting models will be built and integrated with the building system model to improve the control logic. A demonstration of the predictive model application is presented to see the effect of occupant behavior based model predictive control.

While small diameter (≤5 mm) tube-fin heat exchangers have the potential to improve
performance, successful designs must meet many criteria. Three case studies are presented
to illustrate how optimization techniques can be used to design drop-in 5mm tube-fin
condenser replacements for a domestic refrigerator, a packaged terminal air conditioner, and a window
air conditioner that meet engineering and economic objectives. An optimization method is
applied to heat exchanger simulation tools to evaluate the performance of heat exchanger
simulations to identify optimal configurations that meet many objectives. Results
indicate that these designs can significantly enhance energy-efficiency, reduce
refrigerant charge, and reduce material consumption and cost.

While the interconnections between the tubes of a heat exchanger can have a significant
effect on its performance, this circuitry is difficult to design by hand because of the
large number of possible designs and the nonlinear and discontinuous dependence of the
performance on that circuitry. We formulate the circuitry design as a binary constrained
optimization problem, and apply derivative-free optimization (DFO) algorithms. We apply a
number of existing DFO algorithms to this problem, and demonstrate that they can find
optimal or near-optimal circuitry designs for realistic coil sizes after a limited number
of simulations.

Developments in the Montreal Protocol include the development of a global consensus
to phase-down the use of HFC refrigerants, as well as the continuing transition among
developing countries to phase-out the use of HCFC and introduce HFC as potential
intermediary solution. This presentation covers efforts to develop optimized system designs
for mini-split AC units used in developing and high ambient countries using alternative
lower global warming potential refrigerants. There are available
candidate refrigerants that can be introduced during the current phase-out transition in
order to eliminate a costly 2-step transition from HCFC to HFC and HFC to lower GWP
solutions.

One approach for realizing the potential for both building energy cost savings and the
integration of renewable energy systems (RES) into the power grid involves the proactive
integration of building operation into the power grid by optimizing the operation of
energy sources with time-sensitive electricity price. The operation scheduling problem is
formulated with the RES, electrochemical batteries as energy sources, and the building
envelope as thermal energy storage, and is solved as a mixed integer programming problem.
A case study using the AMPL platform shows that such energy storage technologies provide
an effective way to connect energy supply resources and demands, and facilitate efficient
building operations.

The buildings in which we live, work, and play have a tremendous impact on our health, wellbeing, and productivity. This presents a unique opportunity to utilize the design, construction, and operation of buildings to promote and improve human health. Numerous green building programs exist that focus on environmental impact and sustainability within the building design and construction industries, but there remains limited guidance on factors that impact the health and wellbeing of occupants. This is a serious gap, as occupants are the reason buildings are constructed, so their needs must be considered.

Relative humidity has a significant impact on indoor buildings and occupants. Specifically relative humidity impacts occupant health and comfort, as well as building energy usage and preservation. The ASHRAE Handbooks reference humidity over 300 times. Recent changes to the building envelope, HVAC equipment, and occupant requirements will impact ASHRAE humidity recommendations. There are many different HVAC product solutions that can be applied based on ASHRAE’s guidance. This seminar highlights some of the significant interactions concerning humidity levels, as well as outlining significant humidity recommendations and gaps.

Light, whether it originates from natural or electrical sources, is a formable stimulus for regulating circadian, hormonal, and behavioral systems. Over illumination may cause headaches, fatigue, medically defined stress, anxiety and decreases in sexual function. Under illumination may lead to chronic diseases such as breast & prostate cancers, obesity and early-onset diabetes. When considering standards for building design, it is therefore important to balance the desirable and undesirable impacts of light or darkness. Achieving this balance begins with an understanding of how photoreceptors in the eye function and why different visual and non-visual wavelengths of light cause different responses.

Indoor environments greatly impact human comfort, health, and productivity. To investigate and quantify this impact, a highly controllable and reconfigurable laboratory, the Well Living Lab, was designed and built to simulate real-world office and residential spaces. This presentation provides an overview of the experimental capabilities of the Well Living Lab, which include an integrated and scalable building control system, environmental and biometric sensing, and experiment management system. An overview of on-going and planned human-subject research is also provided.

This presentation introduces exotic applications of absorption heat pumps that have been actually implemented. These can serve to provide new creative solutions to modern challenges in industrial thermal management. After a quick introduction into absorption process, the examples are explained in their economic context, the technical solution is explained in brief and the results are explained in their economic and environmental context.

This presentation introduces numerous case studies from the US and beyond for successful applications of absorption heat pumps. A diverse set of examples is presented, and all are demonstrating real world savings of energy and water.

This presentation provides an overview of which mass markets have potential for large-scale adoption of packaged absorption machines. Whereas small scale cooling applications often struggle to compete on energy savings with electric-driven cooling, heating applications often have compelling energy and economic attributes. Small packaged units are beginning to be available to serve these applications.

An interdisciplinary and international survey is developed for systematic identification of environmental, cognitive and behavioral factors (and their interrelations) influencing control options in office buildings. This study is conducted through the development of questions directed at attitude, subjective norms, perceived control and other related concepts as organized in the Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The survey is distributed to 14 Universities among six countries in four continents (America, Asia, Europe, Australia). The questionnaire survey assesses office configuration type, thermal comfort, social norms, attitudes toward energy saving, demographics, etc.

This study presents a new method to summarize typical behavior patterns in residential buildings in China regarding air-conditioning use. A large-scale questionnaire survey was designed and conducted to get behavior patterns, which were then used in energy simulation. Based on the energy consumption, the behavior patterns were classified into categories and a typical pattern was extracted from each category. Finally, the typical behavior patterns were validated by the distribution testing of building energy consumption. These typical behavior patterns could be used to estimate the energy consumption with different composition of occupants and evaluate the energy saving potential of different technologies.

The issues of energy consumption and occupant behaviors should not be an individualistic focus, assuming that people will control their behaviors and make rational choices. These complex issues extend to organizations and other social contexts as well. This presentation presents the empirical findings regarding the social-psychological and demographic variables affecting energy saving behaviors in both commercial and residential settings. In addition, the influence of social-psychological factors on the U.S. residents’ public acceptance of smart meters and demand response programs is presented. Importantly, this presentation discusses several important social science theories in measuring energy saving behaviors and intentions.

Traditional energy simulation tools only consider fixed energy-related schedules and do not incorporate real time effects of occupants’ behavioral patterns in energy simulation. In this talk, an inter-disciplinary, Adaptive Building Simulation framework collecting actual building indoor environment data (through sensors) and human physiological and behavioral data (through wearable devices, polling apps, and surveys) and incorporate these data into a coupled and distributed software simulation system is presented. A case study performed using this framework measured occupants’ thermal comfort related actions and its effects on energy use in buildings and the results indicated energy savings by influencing the occupant behavior.

Building EQ has many new features and offers support for ASHRAE members in their energy savings efforts. The most prominent change is that data will be entered through a web portal rather than filling out a spreadsheet. New marketing tools will be provided to members as the year progresses.

Adapt Building EQ provides a college senior-level undergraduate or graduate course on building energy auditing and analysis using the ASHRAE Building EQ rating system as a learning framework. Students will experience project-based learning through hands-on engineering in real buildings under the guidance of industry professionals. The course is nominally three semester credit hours. It involves 10 weeks of classroom instruction followed by five weeks of hands-on field work in teams under the guidance of local industry mentors. Course content will be freely available through ASHRAE student branches. Students will be expected to purchase some resources through ASHRAE with student discounts.

The ASHRAE Building EQ program benefits owners and managers of building portfolios. For each building, the program provides an energy rating along with actionable recommendations to improve building performance. These recommendations are made by a professional assessment of a building’s energy use as determined by In Operation and/or As Designed ratings method. Building EQ is the only rating system that offers both methods with a consistent baseline to make comparisons along with detailed actionable recommendations. ASHRAE entered into an agreement with APPA in July 2016 with the commitment to cooperate across many areas including implementing Building EQ on university campuses.

APPA is the preeminent organization for university facilities management in North America. APPA has 15,000 members at 1400 institutions. APPA is keenly interested in transforming the way we look at performance of buildings. APPA entered into an agreement with ASHRAE to cooperate in areas of mutual interest. Building EQ offers one opportunity to advance facilities management and help positively shape our current and future built environment.

The commercial kitchen ventilation (CKV) system is just that, a system, complete with hoods, exhaust and makeup air fans, makeup air conditioning and delivery and in many cases, demand-based controls. Simply stated, when commissioning (Cx) is compromised, CKV performance falls short of client expectations! Unfortunately, commissioning a CKV system is a complex, multi-phase task not always understood by the design community. Many times, the failure of an exhaust hood to capture effluent from the cooking process could have been mitigated through effective commissioning. This is a high-level perspective on the commissioning process applied to a commercial kitchen.

What are the common issues typically found while performing a test and balance of a CKV system? Several examples are presented that display the common issues found when performing a test and balance as part of both new construction and rebalancing of existing sites due to inadequate design, improper installation and poor maintenance.

Commercial kitchen ventilation systems (CKV) are a subset within the overall building HVAC, which requires a proper approach to system design, installation and commissioning for operation and performance. System design, quality products and integration are critical; however, the realities of field installations shows that, “where the rubber meets the road, your mileage may vary.” This seminar highlights many of the common issues discovered in the field when performing a system design verification to ensure proper and sustainable operation.

This presentation introduces an integrated technology that utilizes smart plugs as occupancy sensors, along with low-cost virtual outdoor-air flow rate and thermal energy meters for energy efficient operations and detection of energy faults of air handling units (AHU) or rooftop units. The smart plug uses power measurements coupled with occupancy sensors to accurately infer occupancy. The virtual meters determine outdoor-air flow rate and thermal energy use in AHUs indirectly through control valve, outdoor air damper and fan operation variables, which are readily obtained. The technology integrates plug load systems with HVAC systems in commercial buildings to enhance energy performance.

IOT devices can measure energy use and other parameters accurately. Then the data will be pushed to cloud and analyzed using machine learning and artificial intelligence. The energy use is optimized with automatic and intelligent control strategies.

This presentation discusses several recent R&D efforts at NREL which showcase opportunities for internet-connected residential HVAC and other "smart appliances" to cost-effectively provide mutual benefits to homeowners and utility systems. These include a Time-Of-Use study on HVAC interactions with the electric distribution system, a demonstration of residential equipment providing frequency regulation and a home energy management system which delivers reliable demand response without any reduction in homeowner comfort.

The Walgreens Net Zero Energy store in Evanston, Illinois opened in November of 2013 and now has over three years of operating data. The project incorporated an innovative heat pump technology with a vertical well geo-exchange system and a central heat pump system that provides chilled water, heating hot water and services the refrigeration cabinets. Detailed performance data has been collected on the building and the geo-exchange field. This study explores the benefit of the geo-exchange system and the lessons learned from operating a net zero energy building. The project won a 2016 ASHRAE Technology Award.

The first documented net zero energy school in the United States was Richardsville Elementary in Warren County, Kentucky. One of the latest net zero energy schools is Discovery Elementary in Arlington, Virginia. This presentation addresses how geothermal heating and cooling was used to reduce the building energy requirements in these two schools and how net zero energy designs have evolved in this short period of time.

The Olver Transit Center in Greenfield, Massachusetts is the first net zero public transportation center, using geothermal heat pumps, a 7300 sq ft ground mounted PV system and an on-site wood pellet boiler. The geothermal and pellet boiler are supplemented by air preheating with a solar wall and energy heat recovery. It includes office space on the second floor and is designed to also serve future rail service.

The new Cincinnati, OH police station completed in late 2015 was intended to be a design-build LEED silver, but the winning bid showed that a net zero building could be built within the available budget. Forty geothermal bores with decentralized low-head pumps and 2-speed heat pump units greatly reduced the HVAC energy usage. Water-to-water heat pumps are used for domestic hot water and garage underslab heating to balance annual heat rejection and extraction. The building is always open for business and includes fitness/locker facilities, public spaces, offices and classrooms and a garage for police cruisers, each with unique IAQ requirements.

This seminar discusses lessons learned at Fort Huachuca over the past 35 years with various renewable systems, including indoor pool solar water heating; solar domestic hot water; grid connected PV; transpired air solar collectors; daylighting; PV outdoor lighting; a dish/Sterling solar thermal electric generation; building integrated PV; utility owned 13.6 MW (AC) PV; and organic Rankine cycle electrical generation.

The US Army requires that projects install solar thermal arrays to provide 30% of domestic hot water load when there is an economic payback. There are challenges, however, improperly sizing a system to meet these design loads and verifying that the system meets the requirements is not required. This presentation looks at an Army barracks that specified an array that would meet 70% of the domestic load but encountered many problems during commissioning and the first 6 months of operation. Lessons learned and recommendations for future projects are presented.

Participants will gain a better understanding of commissioning deliverables from the CxA and/or construction team to be passed to operations. An effective operation and maintenance program benefits when all relevant deliverables are received at project turnover, bridging a commonly experienced gap in information. It is also important to identify what documentation will benefit the relevant committees in their guidance to professionals in creating and receiving those deliverables. ASHRAE recently issued Guideline 1.4 on the Systems Manual. Is this a good starting point for documentation or just another formalization of process? This speaker examines the consultant's perspective.

Higher education projects are normally required to obtain a LEED certification. Embracing LEED requirements is challenging; but many are now convinced that it can significantly improve operations! LEED projects produce commissioning deliverables that are currently underutilized in bridging the gap to operations management. A higher level of awareness and improved implementation of the Final Commissioning Report and Systems Manual deliverables will greatly improve communication from schematic design through long term operation of the building. Developing an Owner’s Project Requirement (OPR) early will ensure that what is proposed in the design and constructed can be maintained well at a low cost.

It is often said that improvements in building operations can yield 10 – 20% energy savings. Effective Building Re-tuning (BRT) techniques developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that identify energy efficiency opportunities rely on data from a Building Automation Systems. Unfortunately, many buildings have no such trending abilities. Using loggers, sensors and a methodology, BRT-like measures developed by CUNY Building Performance Laboratory identifies operational improvements across building systems. This seminar describes CUNY BPL’s experience creating and applying solutions to many building systems; it also speaks to the potential for automation to reduce operator effort in acquiring recommendations for operational improvements.

A case study is examined where the information gap between construction and operations was successfully bridged at the commissioning phase of a project utilizing a tablet-based information portal on the owner's cloud. In this example, operational information which is critical to thermal comfort and energy performance was effectively communicated and leveraged a video archive. The necessity of this communication occurs not only at the commissioning phase and project turnover to operations but also serves as a useful information resource for the life of the facility and its systems.

This seminar introduces the experimental approach and selected test sites used to update the heat gains and diversity factors for different office equipment in the ASHRAE Fundamentals handbook tables. The seminar gives an overview on the data logger’s selection criteria for measurement and calibration purposes as well as the testing duration for different equipment. An overview of the experimental results for both, heat gains and diversity factors is also given. Transient data is shown and some typical and atypical findings are pointed out.

This seminar gives an overview of methods used for the determination of recommended heat gains and diversity factors for different office equipment in the ASHRAE Fundamentals Handbook tables. In particular, the effects of a number of tested pieces of equipment as well as the interval duration for data reduction are investigated. Analysis on the effect of the different number of tested pieces of equipment and averaging interval on the diversity factor is also discussed. Recommendations for minimum equipment count for determining diversity factors as well as recommendations for future work are given.

Commercial kitchens and dishrooms house equipment that generate the most intensive concentrations of sensible and latent loads. This seminar presents the heat gain findings from RP1631 Countertop Commercial Appliance Emissions along with the updates to the appliance heat gain tables in the handbook.

This seminar discusses current issues of control networking security standards for Building Automation solutions and the need for cybersecurity best practices. As more devices are connected to the building network requiring access to the BAS and then to the Internet, the greater the opportunity for exploitation of both internal and external network access. IoT technologies provide direct access from a cloud service to a device, in many cases, bypassing the constraints set up by IT. This session discusses risks and opportunities associated with cybersecurity and efforts to develop smart building specifications to minimize the potential risks while balancing the desire for new solutions.

In every cyber security standard there is a common step, the “Risk assessment”. But what is a risk assessment and how do I do one? This presentation explains how to perform a risk assessment. This information helps the building owner, design engineer and automation professional determine the value of cyber security.

This seminar discusses important system engineering and fundamental topics related to HVAC system security. Key issues of cybersecurity risk analysis, threat model and system security design principles are discussed.

This seminar discusses issues related to building automation security testing and information existing industrial cybersecurity standard IEC 62443 and related certification.

Passive house standard are among the highest in relationship with building envelope. Since building envelope is a key component in net zero buildings, many of the design procedure can also be applied to net zero buildings. This presentation covers the fundamentals and climate considerations with designing passive construction.

Pennsylvania State University’s GridSTAR Experience Center, located at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, features a near net zero energy building. A unique combination of building materials, construction methods, energy management strategies and renewable energy sources were employed to approach net zero. Research was conducted to evaluate building energy and envelope performance. The results of the measured building energy performance were compared to whole-building energy simulations and one-dimensional hygrothermal modeling. This presentation covers important envelope considerations and lessons learned to achieve near net zero energy residential buildings.

Net zero and passive buildings are intrinsically air tight. This can present challenges if the envelope and HVAC systems are not correctly designed. This presentation covers hygrothermal fundamentals as well as design and modeling considerations for building envelopes in passive and high efficiency buildings.

High profile targets for biological and chemical attack are relatively easy to identify and thus provide appropriate protection. However, a low but real risk is present for many other commercial buildings, particularly those that have large numbers of occupants (so called soft targets). The low probability of such an event, combined with the high cost of sensors capable of confirming the presence of hazardous agents are problematic for widespread adoption. Consequently, DHS is studying technology that could both detect hazardous agents in buildings and improve the performance of existing life safety systems, at minimal additional cost to the building owner.

This presentation provides an overview of the need and prospects for low cost biological and chemical agent detection from the perspective of the DOD.

A methodology to determine automated heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and building response mitigations for bio-aerosol or chemical threats in commercial buildings is under development at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Models of indoor contaminant dispersion are used to identify and respond to threats based on distributed sensor data. Model scenario verification will be performed; however, validation will be limited to agent surrogates.

Computer flow network models and experiment are used to create a release of a chemical/biological surrogate agent and understand its propagation in a commercial office building. Manipulation of the building HVAC system is used to mitigate the spread of the surrogate and limits its possible effects on building occupants.

Transitioning of refrigerants involves a great deal of consideration, particularly for new product implementation. OEM’s tests units to make sure system performance is at least maintained. Sometimes new refrigerant developed for OEM operation doesn’t always mean it will work effectively for retrofit situations. One particular detail that needs investigation, is will the retrofit refrigerant work effectively with lubricant that was formerly used in the unit. Previous refrigerant transitions showed some additional manipulation of the lubricant was needed. Today there is another transition to using lower GWP refrigerants which will once again require evaluation of the lubricant in retrofit situations.

Servicing with low GWP refrigerants is becoming common in the HVAC&R industry due to the phase out of conventional refrigerants. It is important to follow best practices such as refraining from mixing refrigerants and using the recommended lubricants while considering that HFOs will exhibit a different nature than HFC or HCFC refrigerants. This session covers the impact of common contaminants that may influence the system performance and reliability of some very low GWP refrigerants containing unsaturated molecules such as R-1234yf and R-1233zd(E). In addition, stabilizers which can prevent the deterioration of performance due to contaminants is discussed.

The search for replacements for HCFC and HFC based refrigerants such as R-22 and R-404A, being phased out globally due to stratospheric ozone depletion and global warming potential issues, has led to the development of low GWP HFO blend alternatives, such as R-449A. This presentation includes the retrofit procedure for HFO refrigerants in low and medium temperature commercial refrigeration systems that were originally designed for HCFC and HFC refrigerants. Also, data obtained during actual system conversions, including compatibility with seals/lubricants as well as operational and energy performance is reported.

Radiant slab systems have the potential to achieve significant energy savings. However, when applied in the ceiling, the exposed concrete may create acoustical challenges due to the high reflectivity of the hard surface. The purpose of this study is to conduct laboratory experiments for an office with varying coverage of free-hanging acoustic clouds and fans. Different fans configuration were tested against a reference case with no air movement. The tests conducted showed that the cooling capacity decreases as acoustical coverage increases. Adding fans brought an increase of the cooling capacity of 22-26% depending on fan configuration and acoustical coverage.

As part of this study, the effects of horizontal and vertical free hanging sound absorbers on the cooling performance of TABS and on the occupants thermal comfort were measured in a full-scale TABS laboratory environment. The investigations have also been supported with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to study the nature of the heat exchange between the TABS and the room when the sound absorbers are present.

The revision of ASHRAE Standard 90.2‐2007 represents a new approach in residential building energy performance. This new Standard 90.2 seeks to deliver residential building energy performance that is at least 50% more efficient than the energy efficiency defined by the 2006 IECC. Key to accomplishing this objective is delivery of an accurate, flexible performance‐based tool to enable user creativity in meeting the performance objectives. This presentation describes the pathway to transform the standard.

When first hearing about Standard 100, most people think it is a commercial building energy efficiency standard. However, Standard 100 also establishes building energy performance requirements for five different residential building types using climate-dependent target tables derived from the 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey database. This presentation summarizes the derivation of these table entries, identify and characterize differences in methodology between Standard 90.2 revisions and Standard 100, and illustrate application of the target tables to real-world homes. Plans for further refinements to the Standard 100 performance calculations are also discussed.

Presentation content includes items that engineers need to be aware of so that obstacles to a successfully operating system can be avoided. UFAD systems are highly integrated with other services and more closely couple with the building structure than compared to traditional overhead mixing systems. This inherent characteristic of UFAD systems demands an integrated and collaborative approach when working on these types of projects. This seminar addresses issues that need attention and sometimes get overlooked when designers treat UFAD projects similar to overhead mixing system during design.

The major challenge for design of underfloor air distribution systems is the reconciliation of comfort requirements between the interior and perimeter zones served by the system. For a variety of reasons, the past UFAD design strategy has proved less effective. Newer strategies have been proposed and applied to overcome this issue. Each of these strategies has implications for the building architecture, first cost and performance for specific weather conditions. Some strategies may even be used together. This presentation reviews each of these strategies, discusses their benefits and limitations and presents energy modeling results for the strategies for a large office project.

While the design and installation of Variable Refrigerant Flow systems is not inherently difficult, there are nuances and details specific to these systems that if overlooked can lead to costly repairs, poor comfort control and improper system operation. This seminar discusses methods of mitigating potential issues before they occur and reviews best practices and considerations for equipment design and selection, contract documents, functional testing and installation quality control.

This seminar reviews lessons learned from projects utilizing VRF systems from the perspective of the commissioning agent. The importance of properly commissioning these sophisticated systems, means of identifying and addressing common oversights found in various project stages and developing realistic plans for incorporating commissioning into a projects scope are discussed. Additionally, examples and lessons learned from projects the speaker has personally been involved with are reviewed to further improve the confidence among industry professionals responsible with commissioning these systems.

Thermodynamically, the application of heat recovery to kitchen exhaust air is very attractive to design engineers and foodservice facility managers. Exhaust air temperatures are significantly higher than space conditions (due to heat load from the cooking equipment) and the makeup air heating loads are recognized as a major energy end use within foodservice facilities. Because of the recent advances in commercial kitchen ventilation, the potential for heat recovery is more viable than ever before. This seminar presents the potential for energy recovery and the technologies that have recently taken advantage of the opportunities for heat recovery in commercial kitchens.

This seminar discusses the results of the application of commercial kitchen hood grease filters with integral air to water heat exchangers. Topics in this seminar include a system overview, recommended applications, energy advantages and grease extraction and hood system cleaning advantages.

Utilizing various technologies, today’s Clean In Place hoods reduce water consumption while providing labor savings and increased employee safety but at what cost? With rising minimum wages, increasing labor and utility costs, does a compelling business model exist to offset the initial capital and long term investment? This presentation focuses on validating the variable costs.

DCKV systems are becoming more popular as food service designers strive to achieve higher energy savings. However, DCKV systems can be a challenge for energy modelers due to unknowns with expected system operation and lack of features in modeling software. For example, varying the rate of exhaust and makeup air in relation to cooking process heat, smoke, or vapor load is not explicitly modeled in available software. This presentation highlights modeling methodology for three popular energy modeling software packages and provide tips for work-arounds.

National labs, universities, and industry are all developing significant capabilities for urban-scale building energy modeling…once a virtual city is constructed. To construct the models, most rely on local data sources that work at the scale of a city or county (such as a tax assessor’s database) or flyover of the area of interest, but do not use data sources or algorithms that would scale to areas the size of a metropolis, state, or entire country. This presentation will show recent advances in scalable capabilities for automatically creating fully-articulated OpenStudio and EnergyPlus models of individual buildings for any area of interest.

A building’s façade is a major element that accounts for 70% of building energy performance. Compared with the internal mechanical system and operation schedule, façade features information is relatively easy to obtain from the visual aspects of a building. Instead of using traditional and complicated simulation methods, a mathematical model can be established to estimate EUI baselines based on sufficient existing building practices data. This prediction modeling approach will provide a more realistic EUI estimation tool for calculating an energy use baseline and will enable real-time energy usage monitoring and management of each targeted building.

Buildings in cities consume 30 to 70% of the cities’ total primary energy. Retrofitting the existing building stock to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy use is necessary to reduce green-house-gas emissions and mitigate climate change. We present a case study on district-scale energy retrofit analysis using CityBES, a web-based toolkit developed by LBNL. Two retrofit scenarios are studied: evaluating energy savings and cost of typical energy conservation measures (ECMs) for a portfolio of hundreds of buildings in downtown San Francisco; and optimizing a package of ECMs that can achieve 50% energy savings for all buildings in the district.

Making an informed, responsible ethical decision is not as easy as it may seem. This workshop provides tools to enhance your ability to frame engineering and business dilemmas in accordance with ethical principles in order to make the critical and informed decisions in the workplace. You'll learn how to apply an ethical framework to future decision-making – using a model that you can put into practice right away. You'll have a better understanding of ethical challenges, how to analyze them while considering implications for any stakeholders, and how to choose the right course of action based on ethical principles.

This is an interactive session where participants hear about an ethical violation, then break up into small groups and discuss the ethics case adjudicated by the NSPE. Test your ethics IQ against an actual case decided by a board of your peers and obtain ethics continuing education credits in the process. Three cases are presented along with the final outcome.

This is an interactive session where participants hear about an ethical violation, then break up into small groups and discuss the ethics case adjudicated by the NSPE. Test your ethics IQ against an actual case decided by a board of your peers and obtain ethics continuing education credits in the process. Three cases are presented along with the final outcome.

Two-phase ejectors are an attractive replacement for conventional expansion devices due to the opportunity to recover expansion work that can be used to improve cycle efficiencies. This presentation covers important aspects of ejector modeling and will provide basic design guidelines. The different ejector components are explained and typical efficiency and performance metrics are introduced. The presentation also elaborates on different control options that enable the use of ejectors for efficient part load operation and operation at off-design.

Two-phase ejectors are an attractive replacement for conventional expansion devices due to the opportunity to recover expansion work that can be used to improve cycle efficiencies. Optimal use requires careful design with regard to the full operating envelope, including attention to manufacturability considerations. This seminar covers important aspects of manufacturing for ejector systems and their resulting impact on system design.

CO2 Natural Refrigerant has been introduced in container transport refrigeration systems. Working in a wide range of ambient temperatures, meeting various set temperature requirements and temperature management are key to success. The background of the changes to natural refrigerant CO2 and technologies used in CO2 container refrigeration systems to meet product requirements is presented, and performance comparisons with alternate refrigerant systems is discussed. Additionally, follow on technological advances such as those in the areas of CO2 ejectors are reviewed, including their potential benefits and impacts to the current system design.

Superstorm Sandy provided an extreme climate event to learn many lessons on how buildings were designed and how they operated during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. This includes the infrastructure that is so vital to the operation of Buildings and their HVAC&R systems.

Discuss of NYC sustainability and resilency strategies during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. New codes and design requirements to strengthen the HVAC&R and life safety systems of buildings during extreme climate events.

Discuss the issues and situations that occurred at NYU Medical during Superstorm Sandy in regard to life safety and HVAC&R. Infrastructure design changes to reduce/eliminate the effects of future flooding/climatic events. Discuss how NYU achieved significant energy savings and energy reduction, while reducing its carbon footprint.

This presentation discusses the history of climate change and the founding scientists whom developed instrumentation to measure climate change predictors and parameters, i.e., ozone depletion, global warming, CO2 levels, etc.

Environmentally-friendly heat pumps operate using reversible adsorption and desorption of hydrogen from metallic compounds, which were incorporated in a cycle having a work input (compressor) or thermal energy input (generator). Some challenges faced by compressor-driven metal hydride heat pumps are poor heat transfer in the metal hydride beds and high compressor discharge temperatures. To overcome these challenges, a metal-hydride slurry in conjunction with various isothermal compression techniques were used. Liquid-flooded, electrochemical and liquid piston compressors were modeled and integrated into a system model in order to assess their impact on the performance of the slurry-based metal hydride heat pump system.

This paper presents the design of elastocaloric cooling system driven by hydraulic actuators. Ni-Ti tubes under axial compressive loading mode are used to provide cooling and heating. Those Ni-Ti tubes are enclosed in four identical beds, which are driven by two one-way hydraulic cylinders. Operated under the single-stage reverse Brayton cycle, the system achieves heat transfer and heat recovery by using a heat transfer fluid network controlled by solenoid valves. System coefficient of performance of 11.0 and temperature lift of 24.6 K are estimated based on a dynamic model developed in our previous study.

This presentation covers an investigation into the design and preliminary results of a room temperature magnetic refrigeration prototype and describes the physical prototype along with its operational and measurement envelopes. General design goals included: A wide range of cycle parameter control, independent fluid and magnetic circuits, extensive measurement capability and compact design. The maximum no-load span recorded was 21 K and the maximum power recorded was 26 W at a span of 1 K. Three cyclical parameters were varied to help determine the optimal cycle for such a machine.

This presentation highlights the overall goals of Standard 90.1, specific goals set for 90.1-2016 edition. This presentation also covers the major changes of format, new climate zones, major changes in the envelope requirements and their applications in building design and construction.

This presentation covers the major changes in lighting and power requirements of 90.1-2016. The presentation also provides insights into appropriate application of the major new requirements so engineers and designers will receive a better understanding of the design changes needed to meet the new requirements.

This presentation covers the major changes in mechanical requirements of 90.1-2016, including equipment efficiency updates and system requirement changes.

Standard 90.1 has traditionally included two paths for compliance: the prescriptive path and performance path (also known as the Energy Cost Budget Method). The 2016 standard establishes a third path: a stable whole building performance method. This presentation provides an overview of this new fixed-baseline compliance path and explains its appropriate application and how this new path could encourage the innovative designs to eventually achieve net zero energy buildings. This presentation also summarizes the energy savings from Standard 90.1-2016. 

Using natural ventilation is a primary strategy for low energy design. A common strategy is to combine natural ventilation with active heating and cooling systems resulting in mixed mode buildings which inherently have an additional level of control sophistication. This presentation tracks three case studies of the success and lessons learned from mixed mode buildings. The presentation reviews how occupants engage with and interpret mixed mode building operations including successes and learned experiences.

As more buildings strive towards net-zero energy consumption and seek to connect occupants with nature, natural ventilation is attracting more interest. This presentation explains the benefits of natural ventilation and the corresponding control design objectives. Challenges and lessons learned will be shared from a mid-rise office building, university dorms, several condos and academic buildings including sensing, occupant behavior, BAS interfacing, controlling night purge, tenant complexities and optimizing hybrid systems. The completed projects illustrate another practical key to success: designing control strategies that survive value engineering.

Using natural light in buildings can save energy but only if systems are controlled to accomplish the savings. Natural light can enhance the occupant’s impression of a space but only if they can adjust it to suit their preferences. A state-of-the art control system for lighting and dynamic shading handles diverse considerations: inputs from occupants, dynamic daylight conditions, thermal and electrical energy flows, scheduled and unscheduled use of the space. This presentation explains control features and the advantages of implementing them in an integrated BAS. Data from recent projects illustrates the benefits.

New steam boilers and hot water boilers need special attention paid to the application of water treatment during the startup/commissioning process. Proper cleaning and passivation during the startup will prevent equipment failures or poor energy performance. Steps to prevent mineral scale and corrosion should be implemented as soon as water is introduced into these systems. This seminar provides guidance (with checklist) on the steps required to prepare the boiler systems for service.

New cooling towers, evaporative condensers, fluid coolers, piping and chiller equipment must be commissioned properly to control waterside problems that will reduce equipment life, efficiency, reliability and safety. Proper startup and commissioning is especially important to reduce the potential for white rust corrosion in new cooling water systems containing galvanized metallurgy. This seminar explains the proper commissioning of new or retrofitted cooling water system construction projects and how to avoid costly damages and potential litigation due to uncontrolled water chemistry.

When building water system Legionnaires' disease outbreaks occur no matter how long after construction or renovation, commonly those involved in design and construction are named parties should subsequent litigation occur. And when building water system Legionnaires' disease outbreaks occur within one year of construction or renovation almost always those involved in design and construction are primary named parties should subsequent litigation occur. This seminar covers simple and easy steps to validate that critical commissioning steps of aerosolizing water systems have been completed and are properly documented to insure compliance with ASHRAE 188 and industry best practices.

This presentation discusses fundamental thermodynamic concepts as well as experimental investigations of elastocaloric cooling processes and presents a concept of a potential elastocaloric air conditioning device. Various cooling cycles suitable for elastocaloric cooling are introduced and the process efficiencies are determined based on a graphical approach. The graphical method is validated experimentally with a specially designed scientific test setup, which enables the measurement of mechanical and thermal process quantities under various thermal boundary conditions. The results are compared with the values predicted by the graphical approach. Furthermore, a concept of a continuously operating elastocaloric air cooling device is introduced.

Active magnetic regeneration is one of the most promising alternative technologies for the development of heat pumps and cooling systems for applications near room temperature. Recently, numerous papers have reported on the development of magnetocaloric materials, magnetic circuits, prototypes and cycle optimization. This presentation examines some of the main challenges encountered in the current state of the art technology. It provides an overview of how design choices impact cooling power and work requirements from a system engineering perspective.

This presentation covers the approach, methodology and lessons learned of a performance-based chiller retrofit project. The performance evaluation included a life-cycle cost assessment of replacement options that involved a data-driven energy model and an accurate understanding of the baseline energy consumption in the existing condition through a building survey and detailed trend analysis. Lessons learned from construction oversight and performance-based commissioning is also presented.

This presentation includes a discussion regarding the role of the EOR in bridging the process that begins with the owner, continues through design, construction and commissioning and ends with the delivery of a fully tested and operational facility. The discussion includes issues linking the EOR and the CxA, including how and when the CxA should be introduced into the design process, how the design and specifications should provide “hooks” to clearly designate to the contractors and subcontractors their own responsibilities to the CxA Team and the CxA Process and what can go wrong when those issues are omitted.

The presentation includes a discussion regarding the role of the commissioning agent and what information is required from both the Owner and EOR to facilitate a successful commissioning program. It also discusses how and why the CxA must remain independent of the EOR while also teaming with the EOR and the entire project team to facilitate a win-win outcome. The presentation explains how expanding the traditional scope of commissioning can be made to easily include leading the effort to deliver the needed FM/O&M programs, procedures and training.

Design for affordability incorporates thoughtful floor plans, thermal envelope, water distribution systems and HVAC systems to minimize costs and maximize benefit to cost ratio. This presentation provides detailed information on key design elements of affordable high performance homes. Case studies of successful application of these principles in affordable ZNE homes are summarized, along with insights on creative approaches and challenges when trying to apply cost-effective solutions to real-world affordable new construction.

Turning zero energy ready homes into zero net energy homes, neighborhoods and communities can be facilitated or complicated by builder development strategies, community involvement, local ordinances and siting constraints. This presentation highlights cooperative and integrated design and siting strategies between developers and community agencies that can increase the penetration of affordable ZNE homes using guiding principles related to costs and benefits of sustainable development. Win/win/win combinations of individual home designs and community plot plans and infrastructure with high benefit-cost ratios for sustainable communities are highlighted, along with case studies of several new sustainable communities.

California has set goals that all new homes will be zero net energy (ZNE) by 2020 and new businesses will be ZNE by 2030. These goals drive California energy policy and building industry responses and influence regional and national initiatives. This presentation summarizes California's ZNE codes, standards and policies and their impact on the private sector and consumers and highlights challenges when trying to provide cost-effective ZNE homes. Examples of high performance buildings, design challenges, advanced available technology and ongoing efforts to provide breakthrough design options in response to the California ZNE goals are highlighted.

Thermal comfort quality impacts health care workers’ outcomes and patients’ well-being. However, unlike any other type of indoor environments there is often a great variability in activity levels and health condition among occupants in a health care space that makes it difficult to achieve acceptable conditions for certain groups of occupants without sacrificing other groups. This seminar examines types of wearable sensors, their requirements and mappings in assessing individual thermal comfort and how such individual comfort data can be used to drive the operation of personalized and room indoor climate systems in real-time.

Occupants interact with thermal control devices available in buildings to address their comfort needs/desire; hence, the resulting behavior is an expression of one’s thermal preference. The new generation Personal Comfort System(PCS) with wireless connectivity offers a continuous stream of individuals’ heating and cooling usage data along with occupancy and environmental measurements in real time. This presentation summarizes findings from a field study of 40PCS heated and cooled chairs in an office building and reports the predictive performance of personal comfort models developed from continuous PCS data. Proposed models show an improvement of individuals’ comfort predictions by 20-30% compared to PMV.

Since the human body is governed by the thermoregulation principle to balance the heat flux between the ambient thermal condition and the body itself, skin temperature has a significant role in maintaining the physiological principle. Therefore, the author investigated the potential use of skin temperature and its technical parameters to establish a thermal sensation. This seminar discusses optimally combined skin temperature information collected from selected body areas, and examines how much reliable and applicable the designated skin temperatures are for estimating individual thermal sensations.

In this case study, CFD was used to evaluate roof modifications of an aluminum foundry. The study shows the strategies used to provide an efficient and effective computational model that will provide the key data needed to evaluate the large space and make the right modifications to maintain air temperature limits. The modeler’s understanding of fluid dynamics will be a critical element towards applying appropriate strategies in the development of the CFD model to provide a robust design evaluation tool. Care must be taken in specification of the inputs to a CFD model, and interpretation of results and associated implications.

Natural ventilation is characterized by low driving pressures leading to the need for large ventilation openings. In addition, natural ventilation systems must remove sufficient heat to ensure thermally comfortable conditions. This is particularly challenging in high heat gain spaces such as raked-seat auditoria where heat gains can be as high as 90W/m2. This presentation talks through the design and CFD modeling of a 500-seat theatre in the UK which harnesses buoyancy-driven displacement ventilation to deliver a comfortable and ‘atmospheric’ performance space. Two modeling techniques are used: traditional Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes and Large Eddy Simulation.

Displacement ventilation (DV) has a become a commonly used system in a broad range of applications due to its energy saving potential and superior indoor air quality. There are various rules of thumb that dictate the maximum cooling load that the system can handle. Although using the system for higher cooling loads is not recommended, there are cases where it is still advantageous to do so. This seminar explores the performance of a DV system outside of its normal operating range using CFD. Design guidance will be provided and application-specific trade-offs will be explored.

Natural ventilation is an efficient way of removing high internal heat gains for buildings and its energy saving potentials however depend on many parameters. This presentation reports a series of GIS maps for natural ventilation potentials of North America, similar to the well-known solar potential maps. These maps provide key graphical information of energy saving potentials of both single sided and cross natural ventilation in terms of total hours suitable for natural ventilation and associated energy savings for over 50 cities in the US and 10 cites in Canada.

Taking on an energy management program of a large campus or portfolio of properties can be a daunting task. Rather than “putting out fires” by approaching projects independently, this study analyzes a strategic, deliberate approach to achieving institutional energy cost reduction through a repeatable, stepwise roadmap plan that involves financial planning, needs assessments, prioritization and implementation of audits, retro-commissioning and measures. Setting up your plan allows you to actually predict the impact of the optimization process.

Seriously, how do you approach RetroCx of a 30,000 ton chiller plant? We will take a deep dive into a University of Arizona campus chilled water plant that includes 22 chillers and 300 ice storage tanks. The discussion covers the process and findings of the work which includes the load management and chiller staging to improve plant efficiency. It also covers the field modifications completed at the plant to implement the RetroCx measures. Finally it discusses the OnGoing Monitoring based Cx that has further optimized the plant.

How you look for optimization opportunities and present the value takes special care to ensure buy-in from owners and operators. This study focuses on how to hunt down measures, present them with confidence, ensure successful implementation and verify results. Specific examples from large commercial buildings are presented.

Pollution Control Units have been used in the marketplace for several years. However, with increasing pollution control regulation, and the boom of mixed-use (residential / commercial) complexes, there has been a significant increase in the use of these products. This led to a stronger demand for standardized safety requirements. This session focuses on the timely development and publication of UL8782, Outline of Investigation for Pollution Control Units for Commercial Cooking Operations released January 30, 2017. This session also reveals plans for inclusion of these requirements into the appropriate ASHRAE Standards and installation Codes.

Pollution control units (PCUs) utilized for commercial kitchen exhaust is increasingly more common due to tighter environmental regulation, as well as a greater propensity to install foodservice establishments in population-dense and mixed-use areas. This presentation explains the process of selecting and applying the scrubbing device for commercial kitchen exhaust air.

Balancing performance, capital costs and cost of operations; Electrostatic Precipitator based pollution control units have been providing reliable cost effective smoke and odor abatement for nearly four decades. This presentation focuses on the performance deliverables of these units and where the application of this technology makes great sense.

The use of ozone generators in CKV exhaust treatment is a new technology recently introduced to North America, yet one that has been in widespread use throughout Europe for about a decade. Although ozone is already applied in many areas of science and industry, this presentation focuses upon its use in CKV. Topics covered include methods of production, benefits realized, limitations and code-compliance requirements for grease applications.

The current diffuser selection guide described in ASHRAE handbook-fundamentals provides the correlation between diffuser characteristics, such as throw length and types, and its performance to distribute supply air and thereby to optimize space air diffusion. However, the current guideline considers only five diffuser types and the range of sensible cooling loads that is up to four times larger than those we find in today’s energy efferent buildings. This presentation shows the updated ADPI-based guideline that includes 15 diffuser types at lower cooling loads, typical for today’s buildings. The new guideline shows the minimum airflow set-point for a VAV systems.

The performance of air distribution using overhead mixing diffusers is evaluated using ADPI. The ADPI methods is often used for selection of diffusers used for both cooling and heating. However, the current diffuser selection guide confines the application to only cooling mode. This presentation introduces a new ADPI for heating mode and specify the criteria of diffuser selection from the perspectives fluid dynamics and occupant thermal comfort based on ASHRAE Standard-55. The presentation covers the development of the effective draft temperature for heating applications and the resulting ADPIs curves with various diffuser types.

This presentation provides fundamental design data that supports optimal diffuser selection in mixing ventilation with heating and cooling operation. It shows how diffuser adjustment, room-supply air temperature differences and return air grille location impact ADPI and E_V. The study points out connections between ADPI and E_V and shows similarities and differences for heating and cooling operation. It presents the operation characteristic that provide good E_V while maintaining acceptable ADPI. Also, it shows how diffuser adjustment may improve E_V. Furthermore, the presentation shows the cases where return air location may have a significant effect on ADPI and E_V.

The effective draft temperature was experimentally developed in 1949 in Sweden. This is the current equation used to calculate ADPI for cooling. In 1972 Nevins and Miller presented an ASHRAE paper which determined that boundaries for ADPI to obtain a 70% occupant comfort level. After 33 years, this method needed many updates as buildings and air distribution systems changed. The ASHRAE RP 1546 updated and confirmed the ADPI predicted comfort levels using Standard 55. It produced the effective draft temperature equation for heating. Furthermore, it developed ADPI values that can predict thermal mixing in heating.

North American hospitals are high energy users due to their intense usage and environmental control required for healthcare. However there are techniques which could be applied to existing and new hospitals to achieve net zero energy usage based on a low energy and efficiency approach complemented by renewable energy systems. This presentation considers what steps need to be taken to reach NZE outcomes and highlights potential risks and concerns which are peculiar to hospital buildings.

This presentation discusses the owner's perspective for potential of NZE in US hospitals at national scale. It discusses ideas from the US market contrasted to international viewpoints. How does the US perspective vary from the international perspectus? What do we need to be looking at to move the national portfolio to NZE? What are the biggest uses and how do we address them cost effectively? What is the cost and economic viability of NZE deployments and conversions? What synergies do NZE have with resilience that can make the economics more viable or feasible?

This presentation addresses the project “nZEB Hospital Buildings” undertaken in cooperation with the Eindhoven University of Technology and supported by TVVL and REHVA to give information and insight in nZEB developments that will occur in the near future and what the consequences of these developments are for hospital buildings and in particular for building services. Hospitals consume approximately 1% of the primary energy in the Built Environment. Majority of energy is used by the building and building services. The study considers future scenarios of required building performances, functions/usage of the buildings, technological innovations and business case parameters.

The UK has committed to low carbon targets, 80% total reduction by 2050. This will require buildings including hospitals to become "Net Zero" and even positive contributors toward this target. Research has shown that massive reductions are possible and that with the appropriate strategies there can be cost benefits which would help to ease the financial pressures on the NHS. By embracing low carbon energy as a resource and of value to the community, hospitals could start to see an income stream from their waste energy.

As cars are parked within an underground parking structure, CO and other exhaust fumes are emitted into the atmosphere. There is a need for an efficient ventilation system that can remove these toxins, circulate fresh air into the garage, and assist fire fighters in the case of a fire emergency. There are two options for this task: ducted or ductless ventilation.

Ducted ventilation is heavily used in the US and other global markets. While this has been the standard for many years, innovations in the field of ventilation have shifted the conventional ventilation system towards ductless designs.

This presentation provides a summary of leading codes, standards and voluntary programs including ASHRAE 90.1, 189, IgCC, CEC Title 24, AIA 2030 and Federal Executive Order 13514 - all aimed at high performance and net zero building design. Primary metrics, design tools and evaluation methods to meet the net zero design goals will be discussed. Attendees are provided with resources for learning about these new programs and databases available on recently completed net zero buildings.

As zero net-energy becomes our goal, we have a fixed energy target (e.g. zero) that is verified after the building is constructed and operated. The assumptions on operating conditions are no longer neutral as they are with the two-model approach used for code compliance; they are critically important. This presentation introduces the concept of an energy services index (ESI) and recommends that the energy modeling workflow include scenario analysis for a range of energy services that the building could potentially deliver in the future. For future ESI’s that are more demanding, opportunities for additional renewable energy are identified.

This presentation examines the benefits of Evaporative Condensers/Gas Coolers (EC/GCs) where the cooling medium temperature is the Ambient Wet Bulb Temperature (AWBT) and not the ambient dry bulb temperature as is the case with air cooled gas coolers. A 1% incidence AWBT of 28°C is not exceeded in 98% of the world’s climates. At a AWBT of 28°C it is relatively easy to achieve a gas cooler CO₂ exit temperature 31°C and even 30°C at part load. This means that efficient CO₂ refrigeration may be operated all over the world with the use of EC/GCs.

Natural refrigeration technology in supermarkets is driven by growing global concerns around energy and environment. Energy efficiency, safety and reliability are key characteristics of supermarket system design. A field test is carried out on a Supermarket with ammonia system as top cycle catering to MT and LT refrigeration loads. The entire system is designed with state-of-the-art energy efficient features and ultra-low ammonia charge @ 0.75 Lbs / TR. A brief overview of design considerations and test results are presented. Superior efficiency of ammonia is demonstrated in a side by side energy study with HFC that is validated by third party.

The low GWP of natural refrigerants makes them great candidates for commercial refrigeration. An important characteristic of transcritical CO2 cycles are the substantial throttling losses that negatively impact energy efficiency at high ambient temperatures. This presentation introduces numerous ways of improving COP at demanding outdoor conditions, and the emphasis will be on utilizing two-phase ejectors. A variety of cycle options exist that allow integration of ejectors, including utilization of the recovered energy to unload the compressor, to provide cooling at different temperature levels and to improve efficiency by using the ejector to drive refrigerant overfeed in liquid recirculation cycles.

This presentation provides the final results from field testing of a packaged ammonia/carbon dioxide system installed in Irvine, CA. The unit was one of the first of its kind installed in North America and provides a glimpse at how natural refrigerants can be applied to systems where they previously were not used. The project was featured in a Feb 2016 ASHRAE Journal article.

The outdoor wind and air flow around buildings affect the indoors in several ways. Wind is the primary driver for natural ventilation by exerting pressures (both positive pressure and negative suction) on building surfaces. Wind also can cause building exhausts to migrate outdoors to nearby air intakes and pedestrian locations, creating poor air quality indoors. This presentation focuses on approach wind conditions, the air flow patterns around buildings and wind pressures exerted on buildings. These effects are the fundamental starting place for more detailed ventilation and air quality analyses. Also discussed are modeling methods using CFD and wind tunnel similarity.

There are four types of dispersion models; graphical, analytical, computational and physical. Each one of these models has its appropriate applications, but misapplying a model can result in either an inadequate exhaust design or in an excessive effort (i.e., fees). Therefore, this presentation provides the audience with guidelines on how and when each of these models should be utilized, what the limitations are of each model, and some insight in how to determine if models are being properly utilized.

Laboratory exhaust systems are a central element of high performance science and technology facilities. Air quality, energy efficiency, and operational reliability are deeply impacted by the performance and design of the laboratory exhaust system. This presentation focuses on the design process, considerations, fan basics and control of high performance lab exhaust systems. Brief design application examples will be included to connect fundamentals with practice. The objectives of this presentation are to provide guidance on design team collaboration, insights on lab exhaust design fundamentals and share examples of application.

Residential buildings are responsible for over 22% of total US energy use. Recognizing the role of residential buildings on energy demand, environmental impact and economic development, ASHRAE has been working to revise Standard 90.2 to better address these and other topics. Concurrently, ASHRAE has engaged a diverse array of residential stakeholders within and outside of ASHRAE to determine the scope of needs in the residential marketplace, and to determine ASHRAE’s role in addressing those needs. This presentation explores the diversity of residential stakeholders ASHRAE seeks to engage and the possible opportunities for 90.2 to impact the residential built environment.

This presentation describes the performance approach which is the core of 90.2. Performance‐based energy calculation tools have long been elements of building code compliance and beyond code programs. However, these building energy modeling tools have often been varied and inconsistent in their default assumptions, modeling rule sets and calculation approaches. To address these concerns, the SSPC 90.2 has developed very detailed rules governing the energy modeling and analyses necessary to determine compliance. More importantly, 90.2 provides a mechanism by which any residential building design can be easily evaluated against these performance objectives.

This presentation gives an overview of the advanced lighting technologies and strategies, from lamps to control systems, to help deliver even greater levels of lighting energy savings than current minimum code.

The professional engineer has to focus on multiple aspects of a project including, safety, identifying operational and mechanical processes, specifications, control system design and construction, control system installation and system maintenance. How these parts are merged to satisfy the owner’s requirements and are conveyed from schematic design to construction and ultimately operated by the end-user is an interactive process. Integrating the right steps and checks in the process sets the basis for an effective and working design.

Early coordination with owner and engineer allows the controls integrator to understand the mechanical equipment design, owners’ capabilities and development of a “Controls Responsibility Matrix”. There are many ingredients for a successful controls system including coordinating other building trades, integrating with different protocols, installation quality and owner training expectations. The controls integrator will be a life partner with the owner, unlike the bricks and mortar type contractors, so specifying controls is a totally different concept. This presentation introduces the Controls Responsibility Matrix and the relationship for building a successful controls system.

This presentation examines measurements of energy and water losses in a residential hot water distribution system using a PEX home-run manifold.

This seminar presents the results of pressure drop testing of pipe, with and without fittings and compares these results to the numbers found in standard engineering reference manuals. A selection of copper, CPVC and PEX piping from 1/4 - 3/4 inch nominal and commonly available elbows at velocities from 1-12 gpm have been tested. The method of tests and the results are presented. Come learn whether these are higher or lower and discuss the implications of not having good numbers for the future of safe, efficient and high performance plumbing design.

This presentation explains a new method for designing radiant floor cooling systems that accounts for the effects of direct solar radiation.

This presentation compares the differences in cooling loads between high and low thermal mass radiant systems and all-air systems.

Agent based modeling (ABM) is a bottom-up method of modeling complex systems that simulates the actions and interactions of autonomous agents. ABM is being used to look at consumer adoption of technologies ranging from cosmetics to electric vehicles and are often used as a replacement for diffusion models. This seminar presents the use of ABM to estimate the adoption of energy efficient building technologies. In the model, building owners make decisions based on a wide variety of economic and non-economic factors. A study of the nationwide adoption of hot water heating technology is shown.

With the advent of urban scale reality models, creating community, campus or Urban Building Energy Models (UBEM) has become as easy as a few hours of capturing photos with a drone. Combining the virtual model with benchmarking, facility, utility, management data and BIM models allows data to be easily queried. This presentation demonstrates several examples of how UBEM can visualize and report on benchmarking, utility and facility management data at the community, campus or urban scale. Virtual navigation of a campus and several cities will demonstrate how UBEM can be used to measure, analyze and report readily available urban data.

The effects and clinical management of patients with respiratory disease that are exposed to indoor mold colonization are still not fully understood. A recent effort by a Working Group of the American Academy of Allergy compiled six peer-reviewed papers covering responses to fungal products and health effects related to exposure and clinical management. Recent information on the innate immune system and the interaction with various microbial components sheds light on the prevailing controversy of whether health effects associated with damp buildings are due to mycotoxins or allergens. Other microbial products are now seen as likely factors to these respiratory effects.

Significantly, information on the home environmental is now recognized as often important to the clinical management of respiratory disease. Guidance is presented for clinicians regarding questions they should be asking patients regarding residential conditions associated with dampness and mold, and how clinicians should work with Indoor Environmental Professionals (IEP). Key components are identified that should be included by an IEP in an environmental report if the report is to be useful to a clinician. The importance is stressed of an IEP avoiding making medical inferences and of a clinician not making conclusions about the building.

If a home assessment is justified and requested, the report from the Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) must provide accurate, useful and actionable information. An outline is provided including the necessary criteria for a report. These criteria include, ¨a rationale for each specific activity/measurement/sample, ¨ observations supported by objective evidence, ¨ conclusions prepared by the on-site investigator and incorporating data collected with ¨ priority assignments to any recommendations provided.

Acoustical standards and codes for residential construction are adopted by municipalities that cover the basic level of performance. Though these standards are not always sensibly applied or do they ensure acoustical comfort for the space. Some standards and codes only require referencing design guides and the actual installation and application does not meet the performance intent. This presentation discusses the current state of acoustical standards and codes and the current limitations of these documents.

Industry standards and building codes that address noise from mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems typically limit noise levels but do not adequately address tones or unsteady conditions such as fluctuating or impulsive noise. Such conditions may be difficult to quantify but are a recurring theme when it comes to noise complaints in occupied buildings. This presentation uses recent project examples where discrete tones or unsteady noise from MEP systems resulted in complaints but still complied with current standards and building codes and provides a basic guide to help the practicing engineer recognize and avoid these problems.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has a new standard, 19488, that will create an acoustics label for dwellings, similar to Energy Efficiency Ratings. This will give a residential building a grade of A to F based on its performance in achieving five key acoustic design parameters, including interior noise and exterior noise intrusion. This will help home buyers make decisions about what to buy and will impact the mechanical system design. This seminar summarizes the standard and provides basic recommendations for ensuring internal and external noise levels can be achieved.

This presentation focuses on the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to predict the performance of an air distribution system inside the built environment. The presentation provides an introduction to CFD and how it can be used effectively to study thermal comfort and indoor air quality. A broad range of examples will demonstrate how CFD can be used to tackle common design challenges in the indoor environment including thermal comfort optimization, enhancement of indoor air quality and air volume reduction, all with the aim of reducing the size and energy usage of the air distribution systems.

Chilled beam systems have been used in Europe for many years, but they've only started to be used recently in the United States. In this study, the effect of the active chilled beam systems on flow and temperature distribution in a typical room with occupants has been investigated using CFD. This presentation explains how a detailed three-dimensional analysis helped find an optimum throw angle for mixed supply air ensuring the thermal comfort level and reducing draft risk in the room.

CFD is commonly used for data center design and operational planning. It provides confidence in routine and innovative designs and enables change in a risk averse operational environment. Yet still more do not take advantage of this technology. One barrier is that accurate prediction for an operational data center requires detailed models. In contrast the designer often doesn’t know what the IT configuration will be. So will garbage in be garbage out? This seminar uses simplified studies to show that sensitivity analysis enables the designer to identify efficient and effective designs perform well despite the uncertainties in IT load/configuration.

In today’s environment volume servers are commonly designed for specific workload types. As a result, in the updated edition of the ASHRAE Datacom Equipment Power Trends and Cooling Applications publication, volume servers and their corresponding power trends are segregated into eight unique workload types. This is a significant change from the 2^nd edition which delineated the power trends only by server size and the number of sockets. In addition, servers are no longer one size and one configuration fits all. These purpose-built servers include specific features and components sized to meet a customer’s workload requirements.

Volume servers are becoming aligned to specific workload types and server configurations to meet customers’ needs. This translates to an increase in server configurations and potentially significantly different power ranges and power trend trajectories even in the same server size. The distinction of servers by workload type and size provides greater accuracy in projecting the power ranges and trends as compared to server size and number of sockets as in the 2^nd Edition of the ASHRAE Datacom Equipment Power Trends. This session discusses the updated power trends over the next decade as a function of eight unique workload types.

The increasing volume server power trends are making it increasing difficult to properly plan for future space, power and cooling needs in the data. This seminar provides assets to help facility planners better understand how to properly apply the updated ASHRAE Datacom Equipment Power Trends and Cooling Applications data. It discusses trends in airflow requirements and how these relate to the data center capabilities for both air and liquid cooling. Examples of how to use these updated guidelines are presented.

A case study in a test house was conducted to investigate the fate and transport of benzyl butyl phthalate (BBzP) and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in residential indoor environments and the influence of temperature. Total airborne concentrations of phthalates were sensitive to indoor temperatures, and their steady-state concentration levels increased by a factor of three with an increase in temperature from 21 to 30 ºC. Strong sorption of phthalates was observed on interior surfaces, including dust, dish plates, windows, mirrors, fabric cloth and wood.

Filtration and ventilation are commonly used to remove or dilute airborne contaminants and improve indoor air quality. This presentation concentrates on the effectiveness of residential HVAC filters for reducing air contaminants in residential buildings. To assess the efficacy of residential HVAC filters, efficiencies and pressure drops of filters of different MERV levels were first measured according to ASHRAE 52.2. Then an indoor air quality (IAQ) model was applied to characterize health-relevant indoor aerosols in different residences with various combinations of filter types and ventilation conditions. Modeling results are discussed in the presentation.

Indoor air pollution is an environmental health risk. The methods of reducing concentration of indoor contaminants vary, depending on the design of the air cleaning device, its location and on the contaminant phase. Air cleaning devices can be categorized by the type of contaminant that they remove, particulate and gas phase. This presentation covers recent studies of various filtration methods and their effectiveness in removal of particulate and gas phase pollutants. Test methods used to assess the performance of air cleaning devices are presented and their applicability to various contaminants is discussed.