What’s the fastest growing sector of the green building movement? According to consultant Jerry Yudelson, not the usual architectural highlights of zero energy buildings, but the more prosaic existing building upgrades profiled in his latest green building book, Greening Existing Buildings. Building upgrades are being seen throughout the U.S. and Canada.
As an HVAC contractor, you have an opportunity to help educate your customers. With the amount of environmental pollutants we’re exposed to every day, it’s crucial for us to ensure we’re providing our customers with not only high-performing products in their homes, but also healthier indoor environments.
With help from James River Air Conditioning, the Children’s Museum of Richmond has substantially reduced its utility usage implementing the contractor’s Practical Green® solutions - a combination of preventive maintenance and retro-commissioning - designed to reduce operating costs and extend HVAC equipment useful life.
Seeing the large increase in heat pump shipments in July gives us all a glimmer of hope as the economy continues to recover. I also find this to be an encouraging sign because many of us have heard that heat pump technology can often be very confusing as consumers determine whether it’s a good option for their homes.
While many contractors are still hesitant to try refrigerant sealants, Brothers Air, Heat & Plumbing trained its service techs not only in proper application, but also how to market sealants to customers with leaking equipment. When the recession hit hard, Brothers policy of using sealants positioned them to not only retain customers, but add to profitability.
The Frito-Lay plant in Killingly, Conn., has installed a combined heat and power (CHP) system designed to help remove it from the Northeast power grid. Located in a region with severe electrical transmission constraints, Frito-Lay saw CHP as a potential opportunity for achieving near-term energy efficiency improvements and reducing emissions.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) notes that industrial buildings employ energy-intensive systems to heat, ventilate, air condition, light, and otherwise support processes and personnel. These industrial facilities present a unique opportunity to save energy by recovering energy and/or water from industrial processes.
The convenience of rooftop packaged units has driven a demand for increasingly larger units. With these larger units, many factors need to be considered in the design of the building, such as increased structural support. Unfortunately, the increased sound levels produced by these units are sometimes overlooked.
Barix AG, a supplier of IP-based control and
monitoring solutions, is providing Lake and Peninsula School District in
southwest Alaska with its Barix Barionet IP control and automation devices to
remotely monitor the HVAC, electrical, and other critical building systems at
14 schools across a remote, 400-square-mile section of the state.
Where should you look for the best examples of large-scale, energy-efficient green building today? Not the United States. Instead the greenest new buildings on the planet are located in Europe. “The Europeans are now the leaders,” stated American green building consultant Jerry Yudelson.