Dr.
Paul Torcellini, the Group Manager for Commercial Building Research
of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), spoke at a
meeting of the Association of Energy Engineers National Capital
Chapter (AEE/NCC) earlier this month. Among other things, Dr.
Torcellini discussed the design guides published by the laboratory
pertaining to commercial buildings. Many of these guides are relevant
to the business of designing energy-efficient commercial HVAC systems
for various users.
The
guides Dr. Torcellini laid out detail design specifications for a
wide array of commercial buildings and cover requirements for 50% and
30% energy savings. The comprehensive list of buildings includes
small and large hospitals and healthcare facilities, medium to big
box retail establishments, small and medium office buildings, K-12
school buildings, small warehouses and self-storage facilities, and
highway lodgings, among others.
The
design guides also lay out a step-by-step process for increasing net
energy conservation toward the creation of commercial buildings that
achieve net zero energy consumption—which basically means that the
buildings are able to produce as much or more energy than they
consume. This breakthrough is achieved by providing buildings with
on-site energy generation capabilities using renewable energy
sources. Such improvements, it is expected, will greatly enhance the
efficiency of power-hungry HVAC systems.
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