ASHRAE 90 Week 1 Assignment 1

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.

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.

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

Arizona’s extended drought is forcing water companies to take water from non-replenishable aquifers which take centuries to refill. Central Arizona needs to take drastic measures to reduce the amount of water consumed to ensure less water is drained from aquifers. A crucial measure which needs to be implemented is water conservation; some of these necessary water conservation methods include metering and increasing the water efficiency in agriculture.

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.

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

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

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.

First, consider that 70 percent of home water use is used on lawns so drought resistant plants in landscaping will significantly reduce water bills. The Parade models will also demonstrate water-efficient toilets and shower heads, and rainwater collection features to irrigate your lawn or re-use in your commode. Briar Chapel, a state-of-the-art environmental community, treats all their sewage and run-off water in their own wastewater plant. After treatment, the water is returned for communal lawn irrigation.

Based on the latest Energy Audit from United Technologies, The Carrier Facility, Charlotte, NC spend on average $114, 965 per month on Electricity. The facility consumes on average 1,526,973 kWh per month, which emits on average 1,074 Metric Tons of Greenhouse gas emissions per month. The high power consumption and GHG emissions rates contributed into the facility’s and team decision to analyze all the energy consumption sources in the facility to determine new areas of savings.

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.

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.

Global climate change, a growing population, decreasing availability of fossil fuels increasing environmental and economic concerns regarding energy use are driving forces towards more sustainable ways of responding to energy demands (Li et al., 2011). Energy consumption is widely increasing all around the world resulting in rising of the energy price and global environmental problem. It is estimated that the world energy consumption will increase from 522 EJ in 2006 to 570 EJ in 2015 and 730 EJ in 2030. Due to the rising energy demand and diminishing energy resources, sustainability and energy conservation are becoming increasingly important topics (Conti et al., 2013). Governments and businesses are starting to pay more attention to the role of energy in the design, development and operation of buildings and whole communities.

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 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?