While smart thermostats are certainly on the rise for the residential market, the commercial side has experienced a much slower adoption rate. While a residential building has fewer people to heat or cool and a smaller space, commercial buildings aren’t as simple. Larger spaces and more people can make for a difficult heating and cooling process.
As architects and engineers draw up plans for commercial buildings, it is a common practice to design openings in walls. In many cases, these openings allow for intake and/or exhaust air that supports the building’s HVAC system and are fire-resistive rated.
Verasys™ is a plug-and-play solution that integrates HVACR equipment and controls. Designed for light commercial buildings, this controls system provides a simple user experience with configurable controllers that seamlessly connect to a wide array of mechanical and electrical equipment, controls, and sensors, without requiring any special programming tools.
A University of British Columbia (UBC) study indicates that snow cleared from winter roads and put into storage could help reduce a building’s summer air conditioning bills.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $14 million in funding for projects to significantly increase the efficiency of U.S. homes and buildings. These projects are designed to cut energy costs while leading to greater demand for new building products and technologies.
Case Western Reserve University researchers were awarded a $1.4 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to develop software to perform virtual energy audits of light commercial buildings.
The DOE reports that predictive maintenance may reduce maintenance costs up to 30 percent, eliminate breakdowns 70-75 percent of the time, minimize downtime, and increase production. Yet, despite the clear benefits of predictive maintenance, only 12 percent of commercial buildings are using it.
Owens Corning has introduced new ASJ Max FIBERGLAS™ pipe insulation, expanding on its pipe insulation solutions designed for hot and cold, concealed and exposed piping applications in commercial and industrial buildings.
The nonresidential construction sector continues to grow at a solid pace, reflecting 18 months of improving activity despite rising costs of construction materials and labor and a slight decline in regional economies where most construction activity is taking place, according to the FMI Nonresidential Construction Index (NRCI) report for Q2 2015.
The global market for heat exchangers is projected to reach $24.3 billion by 2020, driven by recent innovations in energy efficient heat exchangers, according to a new report by Global Industry Analysts Inc.