ASHRAE 90 Week 1 Assignment 1

The goal of communications is to make ethics a live, ongoing conversation. If ethics is something that is constantly addressed, referenced frequently in company meetings, and in personal conversations among managers and employees, then people are more aware and more willing to defend the company’s policies when they see or hear of problems. Employees will hold other employees responsible and accountable for living the company’s values.

I am a highly quantitative person and I appreciate when people bring numbers with their analysis. I love to use probabilities to measure the possible outcomes of my decisions, even when they are non-work-related. According to Pythagoras, “All things are numbers” and I completely agree with these words, so before scheduling a meeting, send in advance any quantitative analysis you may have done. Additionally, I am a very visual person and I understand better when I see something, so please try writing down your ideas before scheduling a meeting;

I am in receipt of the Court Order in the above referenced matter dated January 26, 2017 appointing me to conduct a forensic evaluation. To date, the evaluation has begun and appointments are ongoing and have been scheduled through the end of July.

Since we opened our doors in 1987 as a local business in downtown Lansing, our company has made leaps and bounds in both decision- making and education about energy efficiency. In the beginning we consisted of five employees who each brought their own expertise which included, management, construction, biology, chemistry, and accounting. Today our team consists of 14 highly qualified people in our office. This growth was possible thanks to your hard working teams and our dedication. Here at MEAL our employees are family, and our own buildings shows their commitment.

Passive design for heating, cooling and ventilating was put into consideration during the design process of the CIRS. The building relies significantly on natural ventilation when the outside conditions allow it. The central atrium uses the “stack effect” due to the automatic vents on the curtain walls and skylight. Windows are shaded on sun-facing sides of the building in order to block excess glare and heat gains. The permanently occupied spaces in the building have full access to natural light and outside views, which reduces the amount of artificial lighting and energy. Photovoltaic panels are located on the atrium skylight and on the window shades and they transform sunlight into electricity. Tall windows allow lots of natural light to reach the

The city of Toronto has a well-established public transit system that provides the working class with a footprint-reducing means of travel. The TD West Tower is very accessible through these means with the King Street streetcar line, St Andrew and Union Subway station nearby. There is an autoshare program and installation of bike storage on site. This allows over of the building occupants to make their way to the building in ecological fashion. [3] They have a well-received exterior hardscape management plan. It’s a part of the much larger establishment of the Dominion Center. They’ve installed what they call a “living roof” (pictured above) in 2013 to address some of the missing qualifications that were brought up in their LEED certification review. The living roof absorbs rainwater, reducing storm run-off, reduces wastewater by 50% and filters pollutants The vegetation is native to Canada, creek sedge grass, making it compatible with the climate and is drought tolerant. It improves the air quality on an area predominantly urban and prevents urban island heat effect in the winters and reducing temperatures in summers. The installation process of this is bound to create waste and this was considered as well – 75% of the waste created in the construction of the living room was diverted. [4] For maintenance of the space, they have established an environmentally sensitive management plan that keeps things orderly

Since the L.E.E.D. initiative began in 1998, the public has been under the belief that the better the certification, the more ecofriendly the building is, but there is new evidence to suggest that this might be wrong and new programs out there are raising the bar. Sam Roudman wrote “L.E.E.D.ing from Behind. A Green Building Racket Exposed” published in the New Republic, and he argues that even though the public believes that L.E.E.D. is encouraging more ecofriendly buildings, there is evidence that the top certified L.E.E.D. buildings, such as the Bank of America Building, are not the most ecofriendly due to the usage of energy once the building is fully occupied. Jeffery L. Davis wrote “Beyond L.E.E.D.: Living up to the Living Building

The negative impacts of the industrial revolution have become apparent over the past decades from the rise of global temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions and many other detrimental environmental crisis. Many individuals and governments are concerned with the growing negative impacts humans are having on the planet and are starting to become proactive by making changes to reduce consumption across the board from electricity to water. Most preexisting structures use outdated and inefficient methods of construction and utilize cheap materials that are not suited for their environment making them incredibly inefficient with our world’s finite resources. The University of Arizona has been trying to change this by progressing towards environmentally friendly and aesthetically appealing structures for academic, residential, and other mixed uses across campus. Currently there are nine buildings that are leed certified with four that are pending certification. When it comes to being LEED certified there are four different levels of certification that can be achieved from a general certification to the higher Silver, Gold, and Platinum ratings. Out of the nine buildings on University of Arizona’s campus that are LEED certified only four of these buildings were granted the Platinum level certification and the Environment and Natural Resource building 2 was one of them. The reason this building is one of the

In order to accurately measure the results of our engineering solutions, we have created a list of metrics for each objective that will allow us to evaluate if the retrofits are a success or failure. This will let us determine if the engineering objectives are being met and how well potential designs are performing. The first constraint that must be satisfied is for energy retrofits to not increase the amount of greenhouse gases produced by Sechrist Hall. The energy modeling software eQUEST will be used to model hypothetical building conditions if retrofits are installed. The utility usage will then be compared to the baseline energy use of the building. To ensure an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the utility savings calculated in eQUEST will be translated to CO2 emission data. The amount of each utility saved by installing a retrofit can then be converted directly to money saved using the utility cost figures provided to us by Jon Heitzinger. Then we can compare potential energy savings with the estimated cost to purchase, install, and maintain any retrofits.

At universities across America, and especially at a southern school such as Baylor, water is used in vast amounts each year, leading to large utility bills as well as a high carbon footprint. Therefore the irrigation systems at universities must be highly efficient in order to not be wasteful. Unfortunately, at Baylor we have major irrigation issues. The sprinklers overwater areas of the grass, leaving bog-like areas that are unsavory for anyone passing by, and many of the sprinklers rotate too far, therefore watering large portions of the sidewalks, not only wasting water, but also annoying teachers and students. If it was possible to reduce the amount of water used by Baylor then it would not only be able to reduce its yearly utility bill by a substantial amount, but also enables Baylor to be better stewards of the Earth by saving water and reducing its carbon footprint. In order to save water Baylor has to make efforts to fix the irrigation system. I propose a that Baylor hires the landscaping crew to find areas on campus where the grass is being overwater, reduce the amount of water going to those areas, and also fix the rotation on sprinklers that require readjustment in order to keep the water on the grass.

After inspecting the facility, the team also took into consideration the location, and the 33,000 sq-ft roof of the facility to analyze the possibility of adding solar panels on roof to introduce a clean sustainable energy source in the facility. The average-high sun hours peak in charlotte, the Federal Tax credit, and the unused space on the

The Shard uses a CHP (combined heat and power) plant, which provides 1.131MW of electricity and 1.199MW of hot water at high efficiency to the surrounding area. The CHP system utilises waste heat for heating and hot water. This system reduces carbon emissions and also contributes to low carbon footprint of building. The Shards consumption will be more than 30% less than other comparable buildings. There are significant cost savings for CHP versus separate purchase of electricity and gas from national grid. This is an imperative factor, as for running such a large and dominant building in the City of London it is essential that costs are kept to minimum to avoid corruption. It is also recognisably a more healthy and efficient option for the environment.

In reaction to our current global environmental crisis, the idea of eliminating negative environmental impacts attracts environmental policy makers and markets to sustainable or green design. As a result, a variety of industries have adopted sustainable design, including consumer goods, fashion, landscape design and architecture to meld striking design and function. However, the realm of architecture exhibits a unique challenge to sustainability. Construction projects generally utilize large amounts of material, produce waste and oftentimes involve vetting the preservation of buildings that have historical significance against the desire for modern designs. To help alleviate this issue, the introduction of the LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system began in April 2000 and is utilized in all phases of development. Thereupon, thousands of projects in private, public and nonprofit sectors are either LEED certified or use the LEED evaluation system. Yet, persuading others to adopt sustainable architecture is not a simple process, as it requires changing values, attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, what role can technical communicators in marketing play in convincing clients to adopt these methods?

Buildings currently stand for almost 40% of entire energy consumption in the world therefore there is a great energy saving potential in buildings (Europe’s buildings under the microscope e a country-by-country review of the energy performance of buildings. Buildings Performance Institute Europe, 2011).

These components include properly sized HVAC systems with programmable thermostat and jumper ducts, treated crawl spaces, 2x6 exterior walls with R-19 insulation, foil backed plywood placed in the roof to deflect 97 percent of the sun’s radiant heat and low-e windows, and tankless water heaters. It is estimated that these features may reduce utility costs by half. As an upgrade, a homeowner may add solar panels. “Solar makes a lot of sense,” says Peter Winkler, also of Homes by Dickerson. He estimates that his solar panels cut his household electricity bill by 50 to 60 percent. (peter pink #43)