14 News Shaping sustainable future cities
THE 12TH ANNUAL CIBSE ASHRAE Technical Symposium, held at the Dublin Institute of Technology in April, highlighted the problem of buildings failing to perform to their design intentions. The Symposium also presented new processes, technologies and best practice to tackle this issue.
Bringing together delegates from the UK, USA and beyond, the Symposium showed where international comparisons could provide lessons in how to improve building performance. CIBSE Past President Andy Ford chaired a session on ‘Evaluating the performance gap’ at which Esfandiar Burman of UCL highlighted the lessons which could be learned in the UK from ASHRAE’s building energy labelling programme
‘building Energy Quotient (bEQ)’. Greater consistency in baselines defined for the ‘As Designed’ and ‘In Operation’ schemes, attention to key determinants of energy use based on building type, and an integrated approach to operational rating and indoor environmental quality are among the key contributions of bEQ that can help improve building energy certification programmes.
Further lessons from America came from Daniel Wright of the Pratt Institute who outlined how New York could reduce its carbon footprint by 90% by 2050.
He said: “Deep energy efficiency retrofits can lower building energy use by more than 50% and with these retrofits, New York buildings
can eliminate fuel use and operate on the electric energy now used.”
The discrepancy between design and operation of buildings was a recurring theme, as was the need for effective benchmarking to drive improved building performance.
Bill Bordass, Usable Buildings Trust, used the example of schools to highlight the need for an integrated benchmarking system for non-domestic buildings.
He said: “Energy benchmarks are too often poorly-matched to the characteristics of the buildings being benchmarked. Procedures that focus on
CO2 emissions can also distance people from the physical
realities of energy use by source and end use.”
Judit Kimpian of Aedas Architects also presented an analysis of real energy data from CarbonBuzz, a database of actual building energy performance data.
Prizes were presented to the following speakers: ■ Most effective delivery of material: Richard Rooley and Alex MacLaren – “Teambuild: training for collaboration, human failures and success in a technical industry”
■ Most significant contribution to the art and science of building services engineering: Benjamin Skelton – “It’s not easy being green: Walgreen’s net-zero energy store”
Next year’s Symposium will be hosted by the Energy Institute at University College London on 16-17 April 2015.
Jody Lees – experience matters
JODY LEES draws on many years industry experience to explain what VRF manufacturers can and should be doing for specifiers, consultants and end-users. Specifiers and consultants operating in the air conditioning industry are tasked with delivering to clients the most efficient and cost effective solutions and they must take into account capital cost and running costs. Specifiers and consultants need to be current with new product development, especially new and technically superior VRF products. VRF is a tried and tested product with a highly successful track record. In recent years the capabilities of VRF have been extended, for example, offering higher efficiencies that are 20%-30 % better than preceding models, coupled with longer external piping lengths.
A reputable manufacturer will forge a working
relationship with consultants, keeping them up to date on what is new and applicable to their projects and offer a full, expert consultancy service
ACR News May 2014
from concept through design, supply, commissioning to after sales support. However, a manufacturer which looks on a new project simply as an opportunity for a sale is almost certainly not the right company to deal with. Anyone can shift boxes – it is the willingness to go the extra mile that matters to specifiers and especially consultants. A committed and reputable manufacturer should be able to offer the consultant expert resources from the design stage, such as a 2-D or 3-D modelling software package. Some software will automatically take into account constraints such as temperature, necessary loads, piping lengths, combination ratios, efficiency, defrosting and recovery conditions – everything needed to ensure an accurate design, whatever the system, whatever the constraints.
Consultants can and should partner with a manufacturer which can provide all of the above around a technically advanced VRF product that includes the choice of a wide variety of interior units. At
the same time, the product must be efficient in operation and meet the growing trend towards smaller footprints on external units, which are also lighter and quieter in operation.
The manufacturer must ensure the equipment selection matches the customer’s comfort cooling/ heating needs and be prepared to make site visits. A complete service such as this offers peace of mind. A five-year warranty on installations performed by the manufacturer’s own trained installers is also a very real incentive for consultants. All these factors are key drivers at early concept stage – as are well designed and interfaced sophisticated BMS controls, essential for whole building control. Another pointer to a serious manufacturer is one that has established a distributor base with access to a large expert installer network.
Consultant training should also be high on the agenda and reputable manufacturers will have suitable training schemes embedded in their
strategy. Many will have set up free training for consultants on the latest technologies that will typically range from a visit from a local sales engineer to the consultants place of work; training at a CPD UK Road show; or the CIBSE accredited CPD programme, which visits regions to pass on the message on new technologies. These courses are very important in order to keep abreast of developments, not least because it can be tempting to stick with known brands and procedures, and so becoming cut off from new technologies and products. In conclusion, a partner manufacturer will give over its resources to the consultant who can use the expertise of the sales consultants, technical department, training and the distributor and installer network as an extension of their own organisation.
Visit ACR News online at
www.acr-news.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68