Explore trends and issues impacting our industry
In a previous post, we considered the incremental efficiency improvements possible for supermarkets through existing technologies. However, even bigger energy savings can occur when technologies and services make connections outside the store. In fact, managing multiple stores across the enterprise multiplies the energy savings. Option 2: Efficiency improvements through connectivity To get actionable, real-time
Over the last two decades, residential HVAC systems in the US have gone from 10 SEER to 15 SEER — a 25% improvement. For commercial buildings, the source and site-energy-use efficiency improvements in ASHRAE 90.1 standards have increased more than 40% — with corresponding reductions in CO2 emissions. But, HVAC and refrigeration equipment use 50-60%
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
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
In a 2015 article, the Center for American Progress (CAP) noted that resilience today is tied to new causes and consequences: “In 2013, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s infrastructure a D+ rating and recommended increasing investment in infrastructure designed to ‘withstand both natural and man-made hazards.’” Simultaneously, the CAP reported that “the
If the United States is to maintain its dominance in technology innovation, we will need to continue to successfully compete in global markets. It’s as true for HVACR as for any high-tech industry; it means that we must be prepared to play by the same set of rules so that our products meet international norms.
When we consider strategies for bettering our energy productivity — or increasing GDP while reducing energy use, we cannot overlook the importance of improving industrial competitiveness and building energy footprint throughout the United States. And it’s a goal we should not ignore; energy productivity is inextricably linked to our economic growth and energy security, and
As countries develop, their buildings improve in life quality performance and decline in carbon performance. Even if we ignore life quality issues that emerge in developed countries as buildings age but remain operational, the dominant conception of “high performance” is at best ambiguous. The defining trajectory of the past century or more is toward a
Over the past few years, it seems I’ve been able to increasingly recite what has become one of my favorite mantras: “variable speed everything.” This is in part because, on a national level, there has been a growing conversation around doubling U.S. energy productivity by 2030. Reaching that goal will undoubtedly require a strong focus
