Explore trends and issues impacting our industry
John speaks with Jae Chon about hydronic systems. They discuss the basics of hydronics and the importance of proper maintenance and system balancing. Jae makes particular note of how vital balancing is for system performance and longevity. They also touch briefly on industry regulations regarding emissions.
Continuing their conversation from last episode, John and Jeff discuss district energy, this time with a focus on a practical example: Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. Listen how district energy was applied and what benefits were realized from its utilization.
Many organizations today are working to identify ways to meet decarbonization goals, reducing their dependence on carbon-rich fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, oil, and propane. Their goal: to dramatically reduce their emissions of the greenhouse gases implicated in climate change, while, hopefully, also decreasing their energy costs and bolstering organizational reputation at the same time. For
Drew Turner, Global Marketing Manager for Oil-free Solutions at Danfoss, joins host John Sheff in this episode of the Envisioneering Exchange podcast for a dialogue about heat pump and oil-free technologies, their benefits and advantages (especially compared to traditional boiler-based systems), and their roles in district heating systems.
Central to the life and operation of any community is its infrastructure. From its roads and other transportation platforms to its sewers and waste treatment facilities, and from its telecommunications and power generation and distribution networks to its building stock, a community’s infrastructure not only defines its quality of life in the moment, but also
In order for the world to meet the climate goals of limiting global warming temperature rise to no more than 2oC, we will need to make a significant investment in energy efficiency and renewable forms of energy. On the other hand, the cost of doing nothing would likely run into the many trillions of dollars
The dialogue on buildings and energy is quickly shifting. Not that many years ago the focus was on the push for more efficient equipment—an HVAC unit with a higher SEER. Then came the recognition that such progress had both practical limits and limits written into the laws of physics. Attention began to shift to systems thinking—how
It is inevitable that the growth of HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) use in industrial countries will soon level off and take a downward turn. Global climate predictions — and indeed, even current climate events — are growing ever more dire, which will increase pressure to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses of all types. In a sign
How utility demand response works In recent years, many utilities have started offering demand response programs designed to cut electric consumption during peak times of the day when electricity is in high demand. Each program is influenced by many factors, including the transmission system, the individual utilities involved, and the technology used to trigger a
In our last post, we looked at the potential for resilient infrastructure and began to consider how stakeholders of high-performance buildings have a strong hand in shaping such a future. The effort to generate support for investment in energy efficiency on the scale required for genuine resilience is, at best, a work in progress. And