Real Life Air Source Heat Pumps
Learn about cold climate heat pumps from an expert in HVAC and Building Science. This session will focus on the real world performance of Air Source Heat Pumps monitored from past projects, including the presenter’s own house. We’ll discuss a range of heat pump applications, installation practices that affect efficiency, and some key issues and resources to consider when specifying and sizing heat pumps. After attending this session, practitioners who use this technology will know how to use it better. If you have questions about Heat Pumps, bring them with you! There will be time for Questions and Answers.
Heat Pump Water Heaters for Multifamily
Looking for the best ways to use heat pump water heaters efficiently, reliably, and without compromising comfort? So are we. In multifamily buildings around the Northeast, the speakers have investigated integrated, tank-type water heaters as well as larger, central heat pumps. Both have challenges, and speakers will present many examples of how NOT to use HPWHs in multifamily buildings. We are learning, however, and the technology is evolving. Systems using CO2 refrigerant are coming from overseas that appear to offer good performance even in cold weather. This session will include a review of the range of technologies currently available, discussions of applications and challenges, and our best take on best practices for heating water with heat pumps – now and in the future.
Retrocommissioning with the Chiefs: Training Operators to Sustain the Process
At the core of every successful Retro-Commissioning (RCx) project is an effective collaboration between the commissioning agent and the building's operating staff to identify and implement energy conservation measures. This session will provide guidance to commissioning agents and building operations teams about how to work together throughout the Retro-Commissioning (RCx) process to maximize the benefits of RCx. We will present examples from both the commissioning agent building operations perspectives of how previous project collaborations have been structured, including the development of training materials, to attain significant and sustained benefits beyond energy savings.
Crisis in Cannabis Cultivation: Latest Energy Developments in Data, Practice, and Policy
Growing marijuana indoors is extremely energy intensive, and this session highlights the latest efforts to reduce the industry's energy footprint. Attendees will hear from speakers with fingers on the pulse of trends, practices, and policies across the country. As highlighted at BuildingEnergy SRO inaugural session on the subject last year, there is a very small window for growers to coalesce around best practices, providing building energy professionals a unique opportunity. Efforts to collect profile data about cultivators' energy use will be shared, as well as latest updates about market and regulatory developments in Massachusetts and Maine.
Big Building Implications for Multifamily Passive House
This session will focus on applying Passivhaus/Passive House standards to large buildings: recent research on the impacts of tall buildings, from architectural enclosure detailing, mechanical systems, zoning, code, marketability, and constructability; and optimal management of internal loads.
Data-Driven Boiler System Design and Installation
New Ecology, Inc. (NEI) installed low-cost monitoring equipment in 103 multifamily buildings in Massachusetts to observe, track, and evaluate hydronic heating and domestic hot water (DHW) equipment operations, performance, and energy efficiency. Their analysis identified significant discrepancies between specified and actual heating and DHW performance. NEI’s results suggest that improvement in equipment performance is possible at each phase of equipment’s life cycle – design, installation, and operation.
Getting Smarter about Smart Buildings
If you have difficulty getting ideas to move ahead quickly in your organization, this session is for you. We will share the journey to roll out a "smart building" controls system in the TD Bank retail network. We navigated the good, the bad, and the ugly through the major milestones: selecting the best controls package for the existing portfolio, piloting the pilot process, and turning the 10-site pilot into a 300-site program rollout. We'll share our best strategies to cut down on approval times and nimbly leap through organizational hurdles to deliver energy efficiency and cost reductions.
Signal to Noise: What Engineers See and You Miss in Products Specs
A spec sheet can be baffling. We want to make smart choices but have trouble discerning what matters and what doesn’t. Two experienced engineers will walk us through reading spec sheet data. We’ll learn what they look for and why.
Air (vital stuff): Strategies for Getting It Into (and out of) Multifamily Buildings
In an increasing market for multifamily, energy-efficient and high-performance building shells, efficient ventilation strategies become paramount in maintaining health and comfort without sacrificing high level project goals such as Passivhaus Certification. So what is the best approach to creating a well-ventilated multifamily building? As with most issues in design, it depends…. This session will discuss ventilation approaches to be considered from large central air handlers, to individual systems in each dwelling, to options in between.
Best Practices for All-Electric Homes & Apartments
With well-insulated envelopes and newer heat pumps that work in cold climates, some designers and developers are moving away from fossil fuels towards all-electric buildings. This can certainly save infrastructure costs, but what is the effect on operating costs? What about comfort and reliability? This workshop will present findings from research; case studies from the around the Northeast; and best practices for determining if, how, and when to forego fossil fuels.