theothermy

India Vows Not To Reduce Emissions

2008-08-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Fact: India issued its National Action Plan on Climate Change in June 2008 disputing man-made global warming fears and declared the country of one billion people had no intention of stopping its energy growth or cutting back its CO2 emissions.

http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/003242.html

In addition, in January 2008, Indian engineer and economist Rajendra Pachauri, who is the UN IPCC Chairman, announced that he was going “to look into the apparent temperature plateau so far this century.”

One of India's leading geologists, B.P. Radhakrishna, President of the Geological Society of India, expressed man-made global warming skepticism in 2007. "We appear to be overplaying this global warming issue as global warming is nothing new. It has happened in the past, not once but several times, giving rise to glacial-interglacial cycles. We appear to be now only in the middle of an interglacial cycle showing a trend toward warming as warming and cooling are global and have occurred on such a scale when humans had not appeared on the planet,”

http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/RADHAKRISHNA-CCNet2007.htm

VK Raina, India's leading Glaciologist, questioned the assertion that global warming was melting glaciers in India. "Claims of global warming causing glacial melt in the Himalayas are based on wrong assumptions," Raina told the Hindustan Times on February 11, 2007. The paper continued, "Raina told the Hindustan Times that out of 9,575 glaciers in India, till date, research has been conducted only on about 50. Nearly 200 years data has shown that nothing abnormal has occurred in any of these glaciers. It is simple. The issue of glacial retreat is being sensationalized by a few individuals, the septuagenarian Raina claimed. Throwing a gauntlet to the alarmist, he said the issue should be debated threadbare before drawing a conclusion."

Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

2008-08-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.

Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively expensive and grossly inefficient. With today's announcement, MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.

Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. "This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," said MIT's Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. "Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon."

Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

Read more!

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

Global Warming Talks Leave Few Concrete Goals

2008-07-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

President Bush, who had insisted that any commitment to combat global warming must involve growing economies as well as the rich nations, recruited China and India to the table and received rare accolades from some environmentalists for doing so.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/science/earth/10assess.html?hp

Controversy on CFL bulbs.

2008-06-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Carbon Chastity

2008-06-13T04:08:00.000-07:00

The First Commandment of the Church of the Environment.

June 12, 2008

I'm not a global warming believer. I'm not a global warming denier. I'm a global warming agnostic who believes instinctively that it can't be very good to pump lots of CO2 into the atmosphere but is equally convinced that those who presume to know exactly where that leads are talking nonsense.

Predictions of catastrophe depend on models. Models depend on assumptions about complex planetary systems—from ocean currents to cloud formation—that no one fully understands. Which is why the models are inherently flawed and forever changing. The doomsday scenarios posit a cascade of events, each with a certain probability. The multiple improbability of their simultaneous occurrence renders all such predictions entirely speculative.

Yet on the basis of this speculation, environmental activists, attended by compliant scientists and opportunistic politicians, are advocating radical economic and social regulation. "The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy, and prosperity," warns Czech President Vaclav Klaus, "is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism."

If you doubt the arrogance, you haven't seen that Newsweek cover story that declared the global warming debate to be over. Consider: If Newton's laws of motion could, after 200 years of unfailing experimental and experiential confirmation, be overthrown by Einstein and leading physicists, it requires religious fervor to believe that global warming—infinitely more untested, complex, and speculative—is a closed issue.

But declaring it closed has its rewards. It not only dismisses skeptics as the running dogs of reaction, that is, of Exxon, Cheney, and now Klaus. By fiat, it also hugely re-empowers the intellectual left.

For a century, an ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous knowledge class—social planners, scientists, intellectuals, experts and their left-wing political allies—arrogated to themselves the right to rule either in the name of the oppressed working class (communism) or, in its more benign form, by virtue of their superior expertise in achieving the highest social progress by means of state planning (socialism).

Two decades ago, however, socialism and communism died rudely, then were buried forever by the empirical demonstration of the superiority of market capitalism everywhere from Thatcher's England to Deng's China, where just the partial abolition of socialism lifted more people out of poverty more rapidly than ever in human history.

Just as the ash heap of history beckoned, the intellectual left was handed the ultimate salvation—environmentalism. Now the experts will regulate your life not in the name of the proletariat or Fabian socialism but—even better—in the name of Earth itself.

Environmentalists are Gaia's priests, instructing us in her proper service and casting out those who refuse to genuflect. (See Newsweek.) Having proclaimed the ultimate commandment—carbon chastity—they are preparing the supporting canonical legislation that will tell you how much you can travel, what kind of light you will read by, and at what temperature you may set your bedroom thermostat.

On May 26, a British parliamentary committee proposed that every citizen be required to carry a carbon card that must be presented, under penalty of law, when buying gasoline, taking an airplane, or using electricity. The card contains your yearly carbon ration to be drawn down with every purchase, every trip, every swipe.

There's no greater social power than the power to ration. Other than rationing food, there is no greater instrument of social control than rationing energy, the currency of just about everything one does and uses in an advanced society.

So what does the global warming agnostic propose as an alternative? First, more research—untainted and reliable—to determine (a) whether the carbon footprint of humanity is or is not lost among the massive natural forces (from sunspot activity to ocean currents) that affect climate, and (b) if the human effect is indeed significant, whether the planetary climate system has the homeostatic mechanisms (like the feedback loops in the human body, for example) with which to compensate.

Second, reduce our carbon footprint in the interim by doing the doable, rather than the economically ruinous and socially destructive. The most obvious step is a major move to nuclear power, which to the atmosphere is the cleanest of the clean.

But your would-be masters have foreseen this contingency. The Church of the Environment promulgates secondary dogmas as well. One of these is a strict nuclear taboo.

Rather convenient, is it not? Take this major coal-substituting fix off the table, and we will be rationing all the more. Guess who does the rationing? &

Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for the Washington Post.

http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2008-06-12-221657.112112_Carbon_Chastity.html

DOE Signs Agreement with Wind Energy Industry Leaders, Aims at 20% Electrical Generation by 2030

2008-06-11T14:08:00.001-07:00

HOUSTON, TX. — On June 2, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Alexander Karsner, announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between DOE and six leading wind industry turbine manufacturers: GE Energy, Siemens Power Generation, Vestas Wind Systems, Clipper Turbine Works, Suzlon Energy, and Gamesa Corporation. This two year collaboration aims to promote wind energy in the United States through advanced technology research and development and siting strategies to advance industrial wind power manufacturing capabilities.

"The MOU between DOE and the six major turbine manufacturers demonstrates the shared commitment of the federal government and the private sector to create the roadmap necessary to achieve 20% wind energy by 2030," Assistant Secretary Karsner said. "To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our energy security, clean power generation at the gigawatt-scale will be necessary to expand the domestic wind manufacturing base and streamline the permitting process."

Should you be alive today?

2008-06-09T03:41:00.000-07:00

Or have you consumed enough to be dead!

http://www.abc.net.au/science/planetslayer/greenhouse_calc.htm

Melting Asia

2008-06-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

In the past couple of years, Chinese officials have begun sounding like converts to the climate-change cause. In late 2006 12 ministries helped produce a 415-page report on the impact of global warming. It foresees a 5-10% reduction in agricultural output by 2030 (a shift from previous thinking on this among Chinese academics which held that global warming might benefit agriculture overall); more droughts, floods, typhoons and sandstorms; a 40% increase in the population threatened by plague. The report also admits the possibility of damage to the Tibetan railway. Last year China published its first policy document on climate change, admitting that coping with global warming presented “severe challenges”.

China also now admits its own contribution to the problem. Officials reacted frostily last year when the International Energy Agency, a rich-country think-tank, said China would overtake America as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2007 or 2008. But the Chinese commerce ministry's website now carries, without negative comment, an article from April this year quoting University of California researchers saying China is already number one.

The impact of climate change on India, a hotter and poorer country, is likely to be worse. According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, India's agriculture will suffer more than any other country's. Assuming a global temperature increase of 4.4°C over cultivated areas by 2080, India's agricultural output is projected to fall by 30-40%.

Yet India's response to this doomful scenario has been, at best, haphazard. For example, it has made only occasional studies of 11 Himalayan glaciers. It has also shown little concern for the regional political crisis that climate change threatens. As sea-levels rise, for example, the IPCC warns that 35m refugees could flee Bangladesh's flooded delta by 2050. Yet even in India, attitudes are changing.

Read more:

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11488548

India oil price hike

2008-06-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

The ministry’s decision to hike the oil price will not have any particular impact on a section of automobile users — the owners of LPG-run vehicles.

The price of auto-LPG in the country is not subsidised by the Government and is being governed by international prices, said Mr Suyash Gupta, General, Indian Auto LPG Coalition (IAC), industry body of auto-LPG suppliers.

Although the auto-LPG, is not being subsidised, its price/litre remains about Rs 15 lesser than petrol, while it is almost equal to or a little less than that of diesel in many Indian cities. The auto-LPG users are still in an advantageous position due to the substantial gain in running cost resulting from better fuel efficiency. The running cost is cut down up to 60 per cent, says the IAC Web Site.

Suzuki is launching the LPG version of M800 this month. Hyundai will launch LPG-Santro and Accent, while planning to launch an LPG variant of i10 next year.

Tata Motors launched the LPG-Indica a fortnight ago.

“The success of Wagon R Duo has proved that there is a huge market for vehicles fitted with LPG kits. As LPG becomes more available we are sure to see more OEM’s launching their LPG variants. Rising cost of fuel is another factor. We could see as much as 10 per cent of all new cars coming fitted with LPG/CNG fuel systems in the next three-five years,” said Mr N.K. Minda, Managing Director of Minda Auto Gas, the company that provides LPG kits to OEMs including Maruti Suzuki.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/06/05/stories/2008060551990300.htm

Global hoax?

2008-04-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

"Kids across America are being victimized by global warming hysteria," according to Holly Fretwell, author of The Sky’s Not Falling: Why It’s OK to Chill About Global Warming.

"I wanted to know what kids just like mine are hearing in their classrooms," Fretwell said. "Running a contest was a fun way to go about it."

"All of us, and our children in particular, are being confronted daily with half-truths and falsehoods about global warming," noted Fretwell. "It's just plain wrong."

She said that was or inspiration for the book in the first place.

In the video competition, the DiMarias from South Carolina submitted the winning entry, which is available through this link,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF8a3O-FHNA

or by watching the following:

The second place goes to:

EnergyPlus 2.2 released

2008-04-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

New Features in Versions 2.2.0

Data Sets

Electronic enthalpy air-side economizer curves
Microturbine electric generators

Daylighting

Reference point Illuminance levels calculated by DElight now included in standard output variables.
DElight reference points now show up on DXF outputs.

Design Day

Design days now allow scheduled input for Beam and Diffuse Solar values.
Design days allow users to select periods from weather files to be used in design/sizing calculations.

Input

Example input files created for all new features (More than 245 example input files now available). An additional set of realistic, benchmark files (15) have been added.

Zone Model

Internal gains can now be entered in intensity:
People can be entered as number of people, people/floor area or vice versa (area/person).
Lighting can be entered as total Watts, Watts/floor area or Watts/person.
Equipment (electric, gas, other) can be entered as Watts, Watts/floor area or Watts/person.

Read more for more features:

http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/features.html

End of Post

Sorry to ruin the fun, but an ice age cometh

2008-04-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

THE scariest photo I have seen on the internet is www.spaceweather.com, where you will find a real-time image of the sun from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, located in deep space at the equilibrium point between solar and terrestrial gravity.

What is scary about the picture is that there is only one tiny sunspot.

Disconcerting as it may be to true believers in global warming, the average temperature on Earth has remained steady or slowly declined during the past decade, despite the continued increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, and now the global temperature is falling precipitously.

All four agencies that track Earth's temperature (the Hadley Climate Research Unit in Britain, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, the Christy group at the University of Alabama, and Remote Sensing Systems Inc in California) report that it cooled by about 0.7C in 2007. This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record and it puts us back where we were in 1930. If the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over.

All those urging action to curb global warming need to take off the blinkers and give some thought to what we should do if we are facing global cooling instead.

It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, but the fate of civilisation may be at stake.

Read more here:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C25197%2C23583376-5013480%2C00.html

End Of Post

HLCP version 1.03 released.

2008-04-24T01:01:00.000-07:00

HLCP, Hourly Load Calculation Program, version 1.03 has been released.

Visit: http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/

Helix power

2008-04-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Wind. The planet breathes, and life is carried on its breath. Simple. Natural. Renewable. Free.
Helix Wind is an elegant solution for home and small business owners. Powerful enough to supply your needs yet harmonious with the environment, the strength of the wind is captured by our unique and highly efficient vertical blade design.
Sustainable. Affordable. Intelligent. Working with the environment, not against it.

http://www.helixwind.com/en/

End of Post

Solar energy cooked food in India

2008-03-19T12:54:00.001-07:00

India is well-known for delicious food, and the kitchen is considered to be a sacred place in any Indian home. And now India has something else to be proud of: the world’s largest solar kitchen. The system has been installed as a collaboration between the Academy for a Better World and Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, with technology from Solare-Brücke, Germany. With 84 receivers and cooking at 650 degrees, the system can produce up to 38,500 meals a day when the sun is at its peak!

More pics and writup here:

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/03/17/world%e2%80%99s-largest-solar-kitchen-in-india-can-cook-upto-38500-meals-per-day/

Absence of consensus

2008-03-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

"Future dangers will not come from the same source [communism]. The ideology will be different. Its essence [environmentalism and climate alarmism] will, nevertheless, be identical – the attractive, pathetic, at first sight noble idea that transcends the individual in the name of common good, and the enormous self-confidence on the side of its proponents about their right to sacrifice the man and his freedom in order to make this idea a reality."

"What I see in Europe and the U.S.," Klaus cautioned, "is a powerful combination of irresponsibility, of wishful thinking, of implicit believing in some form of Malthusianism, of a cynical approach of those who are themselves sufficiently well-off, together with the strong belief in the possibility of changing the economic nature of things through a radical political project."

Read more:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/floy2.html

Nanosolar

2008-03-04T01:31:00.000-08:00

by Steve Hansen | 12th November 2007

Silicon Valley-based Nanosolar’s Powersheet was named innovation of the year by Popular Science. The Powersheet is a solar cell made with printing-press style machines that set down a layer of nanoparticle ink onto metal sheets as thin as aluminum foil. The panels can be made for about a tenth of what current panels cost and at a rate of several hundred feet per minute.

Nanoparticle ink is a proprietary ink developed by Nanosolar that makes it possible to simply print the semiconductor of a high-performance solar cell on highly conductive yet low-cost foil.

Nanosolar’s cells use no silicon and the company’s manufacturing process allow it to create cells that are as efficient as existing cells for as little as 30 cents a watt versus about $3/watt for existing silicon-based solar cells. For comparison purposes, to compete with coal that cost per watt has to be in the $1 per watt range.

Nanosolar is backed by several heavy hitters including Google’s founders, Benchmark Capital, SAC Capital, GLG Partners, OnPoint Technologies (the US Army’s private equity fund), and others including a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Drooling for a chance to invest in this company? Stand in line - the firm is privately held and is presently not accepting any new capital.

End of Post

Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling

2008-03-02T07:42:00.001-08:00

Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on.

No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out most of the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.

Scientists quoted in a past DailyTech article link the cooling to reduced solar activity which they claim is a much larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases. The dramatic cooling seen in just 12 months time seems to bear that out. While the data doesn't itself disprove that carbon dioxide is acting to warm the planet, it does demonstrate clearly that more powerful factors are now cooling it.

Let's hope those factors stop fast. Cold is more damaging than heat. The mean temperature of the planet is about 54 degrees. Humans -- and most of the crops and animals we depend on -- prefer a temperature closer to 70.

Historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling events such as the Little Ice Age, though, were uniformly bad news.

Update 2/27: The graph for HadCRUT (above), as well as the linked graphs for RSS and UAH are generated month-to-month; the temperature declines span a full 12 months of data. The linked GISS graph was graphed for the months of January only, due to a limitation in the plotting program. Anthony Watts, who kindly provided the graphics, otherwise has no connection with the column. The views and comments are those of the author only.

From:
http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Worldwide+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm

End of Post

Waging an eco-friendly war in Iraq!

2008-03-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

Courtesy: The Onion.

E-sycotic

2008-02-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

In a high-end Mumbai neighborhood, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's personal high-rise, named Antilia, is under construction. When completed, the 24-story Ambani family home will include its own health club, terraced sky-gardens, and 50-seat screening room (the reclusive Ambani is reputed to be a huge Bollywood fan). Antilia also boasts three helipads and a 168-car garage. This may sound like transportation overkill, if not outright eco-terrorism, for a family of six. But despite its 38-to-1 car-to-person ratio, Antilia has been billed by its American architects as a "green building." And under the leading standards for green architecture, the building will likely qualify.

http://www.slate.com/id/2180862/

End of Post

Energy Efficient Buildings, Advanced Energy Design Guides Free Download

2008-02-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

The Advanced Energy Design Guide series provides a sensible approach to easily achieve advanced levels of energy savings without having to resort to detailed calculations or analysis. The four-color guides offer contractors and designers the tools, including recommendations for practical products and off-the-shelf technology, needed for achieving a 30% energy savings compared to buildings that meet the minimum requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999. The energy savings target of 30% is the first step in the process toward achieving a net-zero energy building, which is defined as a building that, on an annual basis, draws from outside resources equal or less energy than it provides using on-site renewable energy sources.

These guides have been developed through the collaboration of ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), with support from the Department of Energy (DOE), to help meet all of an owner’s energy performance requirements. In an effort to promote building energy efficiency, ASHRAE and its partners have made these guides available for download (PDF) at no charge.

http://cms.ashrae.biz/aedgdownload/index.php

End of Post

Davos and after--beyond the conversations

2008-01-27T05:17:00.000-08:00

Posted by: Nandan M. Nilekani, Co-chairman, Infosys Technologies, on January 26 2008.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/bangaloretigers/archives/2008/01/davos_and_after.html

"Taking time off for a short post near the end of a busy Davos schedule.

It is becoming clear that even as we work together to address global issues, the recent events in the capital markets show that the world is becoming increasingly multi-polar.

Growth is now more distributed and broad-based with the emergence of multiple centers of growth spearheaded by countries such as India and China. As emerging economies continue to grow, they must be involved in the process of global governance. We need a more equitable representation of countries in global institutions for a constructive discussion on issues of trade and the environment.

At Davos, we are seeing the interconnectedness of our world across our panel discussions. Take, for instance, the dialogue on clean energy. We discussed bio-fuels as one of the alternatives. However, bio-fuels as a solution need to be seen in the light of sugarcane, corn and maize – a repository of agricultural produce – becoming sources of energy. This will affect the agrarian economy, the labor situation and burden the food supply chain.

But I think there is a growing realization that while there is the issue of equity with the developed nations about who contributes how much to the transition to a low-carbon economy, there is also a realization that it is in India’s own strategic interest – since India is at a critical point of growth – to provide direction to that growth and create a system of incentives to create a low-carbon economy.

All these conversations we have at Davos have a subliminal effect – we absorb them, take them with us, assimilate them and revitalize our intellectual tookit… I think that then starts flowing into academic pursuits, into business decisions, policy decisions… They manifest in the most unexpected ways." End of Post.

Editorial: Bali: the mother of all no-deals

2008-01-14T08:05:00.000-08:00

By Sunita Narain

The Bali conference on climate change is over. But the fight against climate change has only just begun. The message from Bali is the fight will be downright brutal and selfish. Let us cut through the histrionics of the Bali conference to understand that as far as an agreement is concerned, the world has not moved an inch from where it stood on climate some 17 years ago, when negotiations began. The only difference is that emissions have increased; climate change is at dangerous levels. Only if we drastically cut emissions, will we succeed in avoiding a full-blown catastrophe.

Let's understand what was agreed (or not) in Bali. The conference ended with an action plan-an agreement to begin talks, since the world recognized the need for deep emission cuts and an end to negotiations in two years. For developed countries, the agreement will include "measurable, reportable and verifiable nationally appropriate mitigation commitments or actions (my emphasis), including quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives (again my emphasis)…ensuring comparability of efforts among them, taking into account their...circumstance".

Understand now what this un legalese means. Firstly, no targets have been set for developed nations to cut emissions; no timeframe has been set by when emission would have to peak and then fall sharply. Secondly, it accepts that the countries will take on actions, not commitments. Countries will have voluntary targets, which can be quantified or be in the form of reduction objectives. This negates (if not destroys) the previous global consensus (leaving out renegades like the us) that the developed (rich and high carbon debt world) must take on emission-reduction commitments, the targets must be agreed through multilateral processes and these must be legally binding and enforceable.

Now compare this consensus to the first draft of the Bali action plan and tell me if you think we won or lost in Bali. Under the agreement, "The Annex 1 countries (the already industrialized countries) as a group would reduce emissions in the range of 25-40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and that global emissions of greenhouse gases would need to peak in the next 10-15 years and be reduced to very low levels, well below half of the levels in 2000 by 2050." A no-brainer conclusion, I would think.

But why then make a big deal of Bali? Two reasons: one, because developing countries managed to fight off a sneaky and underhand attempt to include them in the group that would take on commitments. This is part of the age-old battle. We know that the us (and Japan, Canada and New Zealand) leading with many hiding at the back have insisted for 17 years that they will not do anything till emerging big polluters like China, India, Brazil and South Africa are asked to cut emissions.

We also know that to get the us on board, the Europeans time and again try to persuade reluctant parties. This game has been played ad naseum and was played in Bali. The first draft of the agreement said it would include "means to recognize, in a measurable and verifiable manner, national mitigation actions by developing country parties that limit the growth of, or reduce, emissions". In other words, actions by these countries to either reduce or avoid emissions would be recognized and these would need to be measurable and verifiable. But this text was amended at the last minute. Words were craftily twisted. Now the plan said developing country parties would take "measurable, reportable and verifiable nationally appropriate mitigation actions". In other words, take on commitments. Worse, the rephrasing was done behind the backs of G-77 and China and the meeting to pass it was called on the sly. Nasty, despicable actions.

This is when the Indians (and others) got up to demand change. The final agreement calls for "appropriate mitigation actions by developing countries" in a "measurable, reportable and verifiable manner". This was a mock-battle, because the draft would never have been acceptable to developing countries. But damage has been done. As the European Union and the secretariat of the climate convention were seen to back this re-worded action plan, trust has been eroded. Now developing countries will be even more reluctant to engage. Hardliners will say, "we told you so".

But there is a more serious reason to take Bali seriously. This is the real battle, the one we all lost. For long the us has been insistent on its way to combat climate change, which is based on voluntary action. This was never accepted because the world was certain that to combat climate change it needs a multilateral agreement, with hard targets and measures for compliance. That is why the world agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, which set small and hesitant targets for rich nations. The US didn't sign it. Now, even as we understand the urgency and the desperation of climate change, the world powers have reneged on all of us.

We in India have to particularly note this decision. The fact is that we would also prefer the US way. It is convenient because we think that when we have to join the global climate agreement, it will give us the ultimate cop-out. It is possibly for this reason, I am hearing from India's senior negotiators, a tacit acceptance of this no-deal. To justify this approach, they say that the mandatory approach is not working. Emissions of many target-bound countries are increasing. They say as the world can't hold the rich nations accountable, it may be best to agree on the mother of all compromises-to let the us decide in the interest of us all on its way to not cut emissions.

This is the real thorn on the road to Copenhagen-where the agreement has to be signed in 2009. How do we pressure the US? Let's discuss this again and again to find real answers.

Read the editorial online >>
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/cover_nl.asp?mode=1

Eight out of nine buildings guilty of energy wastage

2007-12-25T13:48:00.000-08:00

NGO Greenpeace claimed that most of our existing infrastructure was actually a big menace as far as climate change goes. It claimed that eight of the nine buildings it surveyed at random in Delhi and Mumbai were guilty of energy wastage due to leakages on account of faulty design, use of inadequate insulating material and non-maintenance.

In a first of its kind exercise, these buildings were selected randomly for a thermographic test wherein their images were taken with a special infrared camera that was claimed to have captured the excessive energy leakage in them. The buildings included Mumbai Stock Exchange building in the financial capital and National Stock Exchange building, American Center and a five star hotel in Delhi. Officials of American Centre refused to comment on the exercise. A majority of buildings in our cities would meet the same fate.

Only the ITC building in Gurgaon could pass muster and was awarded the ‘Green Building’ tag.

K.Srinivas, climate and energy expert, Greenpeace India, said: “Our probe into the building sector in India has yielded startling results. Energy efficiency in the first important step to address India’s energy crisis and fight climate change. Our energy consumption can be halved by smart use of energy. The photos we have taken are indicative of the electricity wastage that a cross-section of our climate buildings are responsible for as well as the requirement for mandatory efficiency in the building sector.”

Thermography is a technology that shows temperature difference on the building surface area. A uniform temperature difference on the building surface means an environment friendly building. Temperature variations on the surface indicate that the cool air from inside the building is allowed to escape, implying that more energy is required to maintain the temperature inside the building.

In the past five years, the use of air-conditioning in India has been growing at the rate of almost 50% each year, according to figures made available by Greenpeace. Electricity consumption for air-conditioning in residential buildings has been about 7-10%, with a growth rate of consumption in the range of 15-20% per annum. Reduction in the leakage of cool air from buildings has the potential to reduce electricity consumption by over 40%.

According to a recent Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change report, the building sector also has a high level of electricity usage and hence the total emissions from this sector are very high. The report also states that energy efficiency in new and existing buildings in India can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 30% by 2030. The bureau of energy efficiency came out with a building efficiency code for new buildings in India in May 2007. However, compliance with the code is voluntary at present.

Deeksha Chopra

Times of India, 28th June,2007

The Pope condemns the climate change prophets of doom

2007-12-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

The Pope condemns the climate change prophets of doom
By SIMON CALDWELL
12th December 2007
Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

His remarks will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day on January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks.

The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment but not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given a greater priority than that of mankind.

Adrift: Polar bears on melting iceberg.

"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow," he said in the message entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace".

"It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.

"If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations.

"Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken."

Efforts to protect the environment should seek "agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances", the Pope said.

He added that to further the cause of world peace it was sensible for nations to "choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions" in how to cooperate responsibly on conserving the planet.

The Pope's message is traditionally sent to heads of government and international organisations.

His remarks reveal that while the Pope acknowledges that problems may be associated with unbridled development and climate change, he believes the case against global warming to be over-hyped.

A broad consensus is developing among the world's scientific community over the evils of climate change.

But there is also an intransigent body of scientific opinion which continues to insist that industrial emissions are not to blame for the phenomenon.

Such scientists point out that fluctuations in the earth's temperature are normal and can often be caused by waves of heat generated by the sun. Other critics of environmentalism have compared the movement to a burgeoning industry in its own right.

In the spring, the Vatican hosted a conference on climate change that was welcomed by environmentalists.

But senior cardinals close to the Vatican have since expressed doubts about a movement which has been likened by critics to be just as dogmatic in its assumptions as any religion.

In October, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, caused an outcry when he noted that the atmospheric temperature of Mars had risen by 0.5 degrees celsius.

"The industrial-military complex up on Mars can't be blamed for that," he said in a criticism of Australian scientists who had claimed that carbon emissions would force temperatures on earth to rise by almost five degrees by 2070 unless drastic solutions were enforced.

End of Post

Calculation of U values through composite metal panel structures

2007-12-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

"Calculation of the heat loss through twin skin or composite panel metal construction brings
particular difficulties. Simplified methods are possible in some cases, but 2- or 3-dimensional
heat flow calculations must be carried out for some U-value and for all thermal bridge calculations. A number of software packages are available but many important decisions, which have a very significant effect on the results, are left to the user."

"Some standards, including BS EN 1252414, and the BRE U-values Conventions7 quote a conventional value of 50 W/mK for the conductivity of steel. The available information suggests that 60 W/mK is a more appropriate value for metal cladding systems. That value was used in the preparation of MCRMA Technical Note 143 and has been assumed in this guide."

The following steps are necessary to find the U-value, (Omega)-value or f-value:

Details to be included in the model
a) Spacers – Section 5.1
b) Cladding rails - Section 5.3
c) Air cavities – Section 5.4
d) Profiles – Section 5.5
e) Fasteners - Section 5.6
f) Size of the model - Section 5.10

http://www.mcrma.co.uk/pdf/mcrma_t18.pdf

End of Post

Albedo and Cool roofs

2007-12-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

"Albedo includes the visible, infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths on a scale of 0 to 1. An albedo value of 0.0 indicates that the surface absorbs all solar radiation, and a 1.0 albedo value represents total reflectivity. EPA ENERGY STAR specifies an albedo of 0.65 or higher for low-slope roof applications and 0.25 for sloped roofs."

"Most roofing industry experts agree that a cool roof is one the exhibits a combination of high reflectivity and high emissivity."

"LEED version 2.2, released in October 2005, is the first national specification to use a relatively new measure of reporting a cool roof's properties. LEED 2.2 sustainable site credit 7.2 states that to receive one point, building owners should use a roof with a Solar Reflective Index (SRI) of 78 over at least 75% of the roof surface for roofs with slopes less than 2:12. The new twist is SRI, a unit developed by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. SRI incorporates reflectivity and emissivity properties into one, easy to read, standardized measure so that roof buyers won't have to scratch their heads and try to figure our if a high reflectivity and low emissivity is better or worse than a medium reflectivity and high emissivity."

"SRI is calculated with a complex formula spelled out in ASTM E1980 and is a scale of 1 to 100 that is a measure of a roof's combined thermal properties. It is defined so that a standard black (reflectance 0.05, emittance 0.90) is 0 and a standard white (reflectance 0.80, emittance 0.90) is 100. But some hot roofs can have negative values, and some white thermoplastics and white roof coatings have scored as high as 104 to 100."

"SRI as a method for reporting cool roof data will probably take a little while to catch on. The Cool Roof Rating Council, an organization that verifies and labels cool roofing products has begun using the measure, while retaining reflectivity and emissivity measurements."

"The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light, defined as the ratio of diffusely reflected to incident electromagnetic radiation. It is a unitless measure indicative of a surface's or body's diffuse reflectivity. The word is derived from Latin albedo "whiteness, in turn from albus "white".

"The term albedo (Latin for white) is commonly used to applied to the overall average reflection coefficient of an object. For example, the albedo of the Earth is 0.39 (Kaufmann) and this affects the equilibrium temperature of the Earth. The greenhouse effect, by trapping infrared radiation, can lower the albedo of the earth and cause global warming."

"The albedo of an object will determine its visual brightness when viewed with reflected light. "

"In more technical treatments of albedo, such as that of de Pater and Lissauer, a distinction is made between "bond albedo" and "geometric albedo", the numbers quoted above being geometric albedos. The geometric albedo is defined as the amount of radiation relative to that from a flat Lambertian surface which is an ideal reflector at all wavelengths. The bond albedo is the total radiation reflected from an object compared to the total incident radiation from the Sun. The bond albedo for the Earth is given as 0.29 by de Pater and Lissauer, compared to their value of 0.37 for the geometrical albedo."

ECBC U-value adjustment:

Cool Roofs:

"Roofs with slopes less than 20 degrees shall have an initial solar reflectance of no less than 0.70 and an initial emittance no less than 0.75. Solar reflectance shall be determined in accordance with ASTM E903-96 and emittance shall be determined in accordance with ASTM E408-71 (RA 1996)."

There seems to be no adjustment to the U value for a high albedo surface, unlike that available in some countries.

"The Roof/Ceiling U-value for buildings that are mechanically cooled and have a roof covering with a high-albedo surface can be increased in accordance with this section provided the roof surface:

a) has a minimum total solar reflectance of 0.75 when tested in accordance with ASTM E 903, and

b) has a minimum infrared emittance of 0.75 when tested in accordance with ASTM E408."

Ref: http://eetd.lbl.gov/coolroof/

For databases on properties of cool roof materials.

Some interesting features of the ECBC

2007-12-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

(This may need a little mulling over!)

Orientation - The baseline (standard) building performance shall be generated by simulating the building with its actual orientation and again after rotating the entire building 90, 180, 270 degrees, then averaging the results. The building shall be modeled so that it does not shade itself.

Fenestration — Fenestration areas shall equal that in the proposed design or 40% of gross above grade wall area, whichever is smaller, and shall be distributed uniformly in horizontal bands across the four orientations. No shading projections are to be modeled; fenestration shall be assumed to be flush with the exterior wall or roof. Manually operated fenestration shading devices such as blinds or shades shall not be modeled.

Roof albedo - All roof surfaces shall be modeled with a reflectivity of 0.30

Ref: http://hareda.gov.in/ECBC.PDF (ECBC 2006)

End of Post

Percentage savings in kW.hr/sqm/annum in an actual building in India.

2007-12-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

Reference: http://www.indiaworldenergy.org/brochure/ECBC.pdf

Quote:

"Most commercial buildings have (an) Energy Performance Index (EPI) of 200 to 400 kWhr/sqm/year in India."

"The average energy use for a typical commercial building is 200 kwh/square metre/year. Mandatory enforcement of the ECBC can reduce this to 120-160 kwh/sqm a year (a saving of 30-40 per cent)."

--

A typical office building: (Gurgaon)

Base EPI: = 186 kWhr/sqm/annum

After envelope optimisation: 165 kWhr/sqm/annum
After lighting optimisation: 120 kWr/sqm/annum
After HVAC optimisation: 98 kWhr/sqm/annum
After HVAC controls: 92 kWhr/sqm/annum
After daylight integration: 86 kWhr/sqm/annum

Therefore;
Reduction over base building due to envelope: = 11.3% (186-165)/186
Reduction over base building due to lighting: = 24.2% (165-120)/186
Reduction over base building due to HVAC: = 13.3% (120-98)/186
Reduction over base building due to HVAC controls: = 3.2% (98-92)/186
Reduction over base building due to Daylighting: = 3,2% (92-86)/186

That would mean a reduction in HVAC of 11.3% + 13.3% + 3.2% = 27.8%

and that for lighting; 24.2% + 3.2% = 27.4%

Total savings on account of HVAC and lighting alone: 27.8% + 27.4% = 55.2%.

--

Personal opinion:

That does seem rather high. Maybe that's because the base building itself had a thin wall, uninsulated roof, and extensive single glazing poorly oriented in the first place.

Considering the fact that around 57% of the energy in a typical Indian building is consumed by the HVAC system, and 16% by the lighting, seems that the envelope optimisation (which finally contributes to the HVAC load) could have been further optimised.

Afterthought:

Or, the equipment load was very high :)

End of Post

Sun Path diagrams

2007-12-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

A great wiki on Sun-Path diagrams from Square-1. Has animated gifs.

http://squ1.org/wiki/Sun_Path_Diagram

End of Post

The thermal matrix

2007-12-23T07:48:00.000-08:00

Courtesy:

http://www.learn.londonmet.ac.uk/packages/clear/interactive/analyser/index.html

Click the link for the interactive two-paned windows.

"The Design Matrix seeks to put the various elements of the building into context and aims to show how they can play a part in producing a successful design solution. A matrix of available solutions is provided with thumbnail sketches as a guide to the context. This matrix is backed by notes which give more detailed information and guidance in each area of concern.

The Performance Analyser allows the user to compare the impact of five different building 'elements' on indoor temperature and energy use:

* Thermal mass
* insulation
* window size
* window orientation
* window shading

Results are presented in the context of five different climates:

* London (cool)
* Athens (Mediterranian)
* Delhi (composite)
* Ahmedabad (desert)
* Trivandrum (hot-humid)

In each climate there are three alternative outputs:

* temperatures and comfort for an average summer day (choice a)
* a hot summer day (choice b)
* monthly energy use for heating and/or cooling (choice c)

Results are presented in two side-by-side windows so that the outputs from two different options can be directly compared. For details of the assumptions behind the simulations used in the Analyser please press the 'Parameters' button."

End of Post

Analemma, the sun path

2007-12-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

Courtesy: http://www.analemma.com

"The difference in time between what your watch reads and the position of the sun (clock time vs. sun time) is called the Equation-of-Time. If you are in the northern hemisphere and the sun’s position is to the east of where your watch indicates it would be, the Equation-of-Time is negative. If the sun is to the west, the Equation-of-Time is positive.

There is an easier way to see this effect. Find a place where the sun shines on the ground at noon all year long - winter, spring, summer, and fall. Place a rod about 3 feet tall into the ground, being very careful not to bump the end of it during the year. If you were constructing a sundial, this rod would be called a gnomon.

On the first day of each month, at the same time every day, (subtracting one hour if you are observing daylight saving time) place a mark with another shorter rod (you will need 12 of these) where the sun makes a shadow with the tip of the longer original rod. At the end of 12 months, you will see that the short rods make a figure-8 pattern on the ground.

Why does the sun take this strange path? There are two reasons and they are completely independent from each other.

1. The Earth is tilted on its axis 23.5° in relation to the plane of its orbit around the sun.

2. The Earth does not orbit the sun in a circle, but in an ellipse.

It is simply the sum of these two effects that causes the analemma.

It is hoped that with the aid of a few diagrams and animations, the analemma can be readily understood. "

---

Anthony Ayiomamitis of Greece, has the most beautiful images of the Analemma.

http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Solar-Analemma.htm

"Strange as it may seem, only seven times has someone ever managed to successfully image the solar analemma as a multi-exposure on a single piece of film. For those not familiar with the term, an analemma is the figure "8" loop that results when one observes the position of the sun at the same time during the day over the course of a year. Due to the earth's tilt about its axis (23.45°) and its elliptical orbit about the sun, the location of the sun is not constant from day to day when observed at the same time on each day over the course of a full year. Furthermore, this loop will be inclined at different angles depending on one's geographical latitude.

Since the analemma is considered one of the most difficult and demanding astronomical phenomenon to image, I immediately set out on such a marathon during the summer of 2001 by pursuing a complete set of analemmas from 08:00:00 to 17:00:00 UT+2 (hourly intervals) as well as the special case of the perfectly vertical analemma on the meridian (12:28:16 UT+2)."

24 Hour Sun, Arctic Circle

2007-12-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

Click to enlarge

ECBC climate zones

2007-12-21T23:08:00.000-08:00

Composite (Delhi)
Hot Dry (Ahmadabad)
Hot Humid (Kolkata),
Moderate (Bangalore)
Cold (Shillong)

Click to enlarge. End of Post

Glass, ECO-3 and CEPT

2007-12-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

Extract from:

http://www.glassmagazine.net/articles.php?id=724

“Are all the technical specifications in the ECBC to the satisfaction of the glass industry? Maybe not,” says Satish Kumar, chief of party for India’s energy conservation program, International Resource Group, New Delhi. “However, instead of getting stuck on a number for SHGC [solar heat gain coefficient] and visual transmittance that will be acceptable to the industry, it should be realized that inclusion of aggressive technical specifications is an indication of the will of the government to make changes quickly. ECBC is likely to be in a voluntary mode for the next two to three years, which gives the glazing industry enough time to start gearing up for the mandatory phase of the ECBC.”

“The Commonwealth Games will be hosted in India in 2010 in New Delhi, and more than 400 new hotels will be built, along with several buildings to host the participants,” says Bipin Shah, international coordinator, National Fenestration Rating Council, Silver Spring, Md. “Due to low commercial building stock, there is a shortage of commercial space in New Delhi. Rents are five times than that in Washington D.C.”

However, like any other project, the code implementation comes with its share of problems. Padmanaban lists them: “Lack of trained professionals required to design compliant buildings; perception of increased first cost and delays that a project will have to face in order to be compliant with the ECBC; lack of availability of energy-efficient equipment and materials in the local marketplace; lack of equipment testing and certification; and institutional barriers in enforcing any codes.”

To overcome the issues, the USAID India is working with International Resources Group and its partners to implement an energy efficiency commercialization project, titled ECO 3. “We’ve been working with two, three states,” says Archana Walia, program management specialist, USAID India. “We’ll be developing an implementation plan for the chosen state, and it will need approval from the minister of power,” says Kumar, who is the chief of party of the USAID ECO3 Program.

The Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, has been chosen to house the center of excellence. “The Center for Sustainable Environment and Energy in CEPT University will aim to integrate building design with energy-efficient practices, and bring the engineers, architects and designers up to speed with the latest technology for energy efficiency in buildings through training and workshops,” Shah says.

The land for the center will be provided by CEPT University and the fund for the building is expected to come from the state government. The All India Flat Glass Manufacturers’ Association will provide Rs. 2.5 crores, about $560,000, to buy the machines, Shah says. Sintex Industries, near Ahmedabad, a manufacturer of PVC doors, windows and modular furniture in India, has declared Rs. 1 crore support for CEPT University to start the energy center. This money is expected to be provided over the next five years. Karnataka already has such a center of excellence, Walia says.

http://www.glassmagazine.net/articles.php?id=724

Wind Zones - India

2007-12-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:India_wind_zone_map_en.svg

(SVG file, nominally 1639 × 1852 pixels, file size: 349 KB). Click to enlarge.

End of Post

The Bottom Line

2007-12-15T21:40:00.000-08:00

The ones who scream and shout, are the ones who intend to profit the most. That, in a few words, is the economical history of mankind.

End Of Post

Global warming pact set for 2009 after US backs down

2007-12-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) - A drama-filled 190-nation conference on Saturday set a 2009 deadline for a landmark pact to fight global warming after an isolated United States backed down on last-ditch objections.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed the so-called Bali Roadmap as a "pivotal first step" towards a new agreement for tackling the peril of climate change, after he had appealed to delegates to show flexibility.

Following gruelling all-night talks the conference launched a process to negotiate a new treaty that will take effect when the UN Kyoto Protocol's commitments expire in 2012.

The deal comes after a year of stark warnings from Nobel-winning scientists, who say that millions of people will be at risk of hunger, homelessness and disease by 2100 if temperatures keep rising at current rates.

The United States, the only major industrial nation to reject the Kyoto treaty, reached a compromise with the European Union (EU) to avoid mentioning any figures as a target for slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

The agreement instead only makes an indirect reference to scientists' warnings that the world must sharply cut back emissions to prevent what could be a catastrophic rise in temperatures.

But on an unscheduled 13th day of talks, the United States said it would not accept the statement as it wanted developing countries such as fast-growing China to make tougher commitments.

Senior US negotiator Paula Dobriansky said she had heard "many strong statements from many major developing country leaders on a greater role in helping to address urgently this global problem."

It "doesn't seem it's going to be reflected in our outcome here in the declaration," she said, telling the conference that the United States would reject the draft.

Dobriansky was loudly booed by other delegations. A US environmental activist representing Papua New Guinea said on the floor to rousing cheers: "If you're not willing to lead, please get out of the way."

After repeated verbal lashings, Dobriansky again took the microphone and said that Washington would "go forward and join consensus," to the cheers of the conference.

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush's climate policy, said he was ready to ask through his mobile telephone for Chancellor Angela Merkel to intervene with the White House.

"I had already typed the SMS after Dobriansky's first statement but then I was able to cancel it," Gabriel said.

"In the end, nobody wanted to have a failure," including the United States, Gabriel said. "We have achieved more than we could have expected previously, but it is less than what is needed to meet the urgency of the problem."

The agreement came after extraordinary scenes in which the head of the United Nations jetted in to make a last-ditch appeal, the UN's exhausted climate chief nearly broke down in tears and chairman Indonesia apologised abjectly for a disastrous procedural mix-up.

"The Bali Roadmap that has been agreed is a pivotal first step toward an agreement that can address the threat of climate change, the defining challenge of our time," a statement from the UN chief said.

Alden Meyer of the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists welcomed the deal.

"What we witnessed today was an incredible drama," he said "I've been following these negotiations for 20 years and I've never seen anything like it."

Hans Verolme of conservation group WWF accused the world of bowing to US pressure and removing a scientific punch needed to fight global warming.

But he also said the Bali talks would inspire environmentalists and activist nations for climate-change negotiations until the end of President George W. Bush's mandate in January 2009.

"We have learned a historic lesson. If you expose to the world the dealings of the United States, they will ultimately back down," he said.

As activists speculated on whether the US U-turn was premeditated, US delegates said they believed from the reaction to their initial statement that developed countries would be serious about climate change.

"There is no question that we have opened a new phase in moving forward together," said senior White House aide James Connaughton. "The time had come to start a new chapter."

Bush has argued that the Kyoto Protocol is unfair as it does not require fast-growing emerging economies such as China, the second largest emitter after the United States, to meet targeted emissions curbs.

In a bid to break the deadlock, the proposed document ditched European calls for an "ambition" of the rich world to cut its emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.

And there was no mention of a target of halving global levels of greenhouse gases by 2050 -- a goal that scientists say is essential to limiting the warming to around two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071215/wl_asia_afp/unclimatewarming_071215103717

End of Post

Another inconvenient truth.

2007-12-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

40% don't give a damn.

End of Post

Technical Paper presented at ACRECONF 2007, Delhi, Hourly Load Calculation Analysis Programme for Indian Cities

2007-12-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

Hourly Load Calculation Analysis Programme for Indian Cities

Vikram Murthy and Rajeev Kakkar, ISHRAE Mumbai Chapter

Rajeev Kakkar is a Technical Consultant (HVAC) by profession, a graduate from I.I.T Kharagpur, and has over 30 years of experience in the field. He is also the webmaster for http://www.hvacindia.com, the Technical advisor for the "Hourly Load Calculation Programme" sponsored by ISHRAE, and faculty for IIE, the "ISHRAE Institute Of Excellence" training programme series conducted by ISHRAE Mumbai Chapter.

Vikram Murthy graduated from IIT Kanpur in Electrical enginering in 1975 . He is Director of Univac Environment Systems Private Limited and Trustee of Tropical Airconditioning and Refrigeration Institute , a recognised Training Centre, for Technicians and Engineers. He has 33 years of diverse experience in leading HVAC Contracting Companies , is active professionally and socially , serving ISHRAE as the President of the Mumbai Chapter for 2007 - 2008 and The Rotary Club of Bombay Film City since 1992.

Abstract:

The ability to make sensible decisions regarding the HVAC design with respect to environment and economics is of utmost importance. Air-conditioning load calculations in India have been carried out using single day peak load manual calculations. The commercially available tools for load calculations are either too simple to be used for professional work (low-end packages) or too expensive with long and difficult learning curves. In a recently concluded research project, ISHRAE and ASHRAE India Chapter have developed a database of the hourly values of climatic parameters. The next step obviously was to develop an Hourly Load Calculation Programme.

Key words: hourly load calculation programme; HLCP; cooling loads; EnergyPlus; ECBC; building energy simulation; hourly weather data

Preamble:

Considering the fact that there is an urgent requirement of a validated HVAC sizing programme which uses BIS Design Day Standards and also provides hourly outputs using the heat balance equations found in EnergyPlus (and as adapted from BLAST), the development of HLCP as an ISHRAE project has been timely. The ability to make sensible and well-based decisions regarding not only the prediction of energy consumption in a building during the conceptual and design stage, but also to be able to finally size the HVAC system, both with respect to environment and economics, is of utmost importance.

Current Methodologies:

Currently, HVAC sizing loads is carried out mainly by manual and spreadsheet methods based on the de-facto standard of calculating instantaneous heat gains using methods developed by Carrier, and based on tabulated empirical ETDs (Effective Temperature Differences) for fenestration, walls and roofs, apart from a myriad of programmes developed by individuals, which have not really been validated. The current methodology also adopts use of design day weather data based on simultaneous peak occurrences of DB temperature and WB temperature, and whose validity and source is not known and has been lost in antiquity.

Weather Data:

In 1999 the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), http://www.teriin.org/ developed a set of hourly Indian weather data sets for 52 stations from measured sequences of climatic data from 1981 to 1992 based on the concept of "coincident" temperatures in line with and in the format as published in the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals, 1997. With the availability of WeDCo hourly and DesignDay weather data, and with the virtually simultaneous availability of a stable version of the EnergyPlus simulation engine, an opportunity arose to create a cooling load programme using WeDCo weather data as an input to EnergyPlus.

As EnergyPlus is more of a "black box" with a shell for input, which is more suitable for research rather than day-today sizing calculations, it was logical to propose and deliver a HVAC sizing programme with a GUI to serve the needs of the community in India.

Interfaces and tools:

The commercially available tools so far for energy analysis and load calculations were either too simple to be used for professional work (low-end packages) or too expensive with long and difficult learning curves (high-end packages).

HLCP, hourly Load Calculation Programme:

HLCP is simplified zone-by-zone method for calculation of HVAC cooling loads for sizing of equipment specifically for Commercial buildings, based only on numerical inputs. HLCP uses the "Purchased Air" system type in EnergyPlus which is itself implemented based on the ASHRAE cooling sizing method and the cooling design load calculations are carried out using the standard ASHRAE Heat Balance method. That solves the issue of validation. HLCP is not just a graphical user interface for the EnergyPlus simulation engine; rather, it's an interface to calculate hourly loads. Post-processing of the data also takes care of the hourly latent loads. The user interface has been kept free of icons, with tabs and buttons in plain English, so that even the average HVAC engineer is able to use HLCP after a few trail runs. The interface has been designed as a tabbed wizard, again for ease of use, without unnecessary clutter of providing options which may really not be relevant for an HVAC sizing exercise.

HLCP can do what manual or spreadsheet HVAC sizing programmes cannot. That puts HLCP right in the path of the ECBC. In all likelihood, energy simulation interfaces built over EnergyPlus, such as DesignBuilder will be prominently used for compliance with the ECB code, during the Feasibility and Site Planning phase, and the Outline Design Phase of the building. During this stage, it would be necessary for the building to comply with the ECB code, and at this stage the Architect would have a much greater say than the HVAC designer. As the building design moves to the Scheme Design and from there to the Detailed Design, it is the HVAC engineer who will most likely call the shots.

ECBC and HLCP:

On 27th May 2007, The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India, BEE, released the Energy Conservation Building Codes ECBC, for Commercial Buildings. One of the clauses in the ECBC (apart from the clauses which specify the U values for walls, roofs and fenestrations), is that "The equipment capacities for the standard design shall be sized proportionally to the capacities in the proposed design based on sizing runs; i.e., the ratio between the capacities used in the annual simulations and the capacities determined by the sizing runs shall be the same for both the proposed design and standard design. Unmet load hours for the proposed design shall not differ from unmet load hours for the standard design by more than 50 hours."

Conclusion:

This really means that it would be a wise step to compare the energy simulation loads with the design loads in parallel, as the building design moves from the feasibility and site planning stage to the detailed design stage, so as to ensure that this requirement of the ECBC is met without any ambiguity. The use of a building energy simulation programme in conjunction with HLCP, using the same weather data and the same simulation engine, in this case, EnergyPlus, would ensure compliance.

Further Information on HLCP can be found at: http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/

References:

[1] ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals 1997

[2] Proceedings of the 23rd National Renewable Energy Convention, pp. 284-289,
edited by R L Sawhney, D Buddhi, and R P Gautam. Indore: Devi Ahilya
Vishwavidyalaya.
Extract: http://static.teriin.org/division/eetdiv/reta/docs/abs12.htm

[3] Review of Inside Design Conditions in Air Conditioned Spaces, by N. S. Hukmani, The
Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Journal, January 2004.
http://www.hvacindia.com/journals_20042005/2004jan/article05.html

[4] Weather Data & Design Conditions For India,
booklet published by ISHRAE and AIC

[5] InputOutputReference.pdf, 2007
EnergyPlus documentation.

[6] Carrier Systems Design Manual

[7] Weather data - ISHRAE
http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/cfm/weather_data3.cfm/
region=2_asiawmo_region_2/country=IND/cname=India

[8] EnergyPlus: The Merger of BLAST and DOE-2, 1998 - Dru Crawley
http://eetd.lbl.gov/newsletter/CBS_NL/nl18/energyplus.html

[9] What outside Design Conditions should I use in calculating a heat load?

[10] ECBC 2007

The Great Indian Building Simulation Race

2007-12-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

Key sentence:

"Run it again"

End of Post

The Eagle...has landed!!

2007-12-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

Or maybe, HLCP has landed on the Eagle!

"Indian Interface to EnergyPlus: HLCP Hourly Load Calculation Program HLCP (Hourly Load Calculation Programme) is a graphical user interface for design-day and hourly load calculations for Indian cities, meant to be used with the EnergyPlus simulation engine. HLCP is a for-purchase program. For details, please go to http://www.hvacindia.com/hlcp/ "

http://gundog.lbl.gov/dirun/28nov.pdf

End of Post

WINDOW and THERM (for thermal performance of fenestration)

2007-12-01T14:06:00.000-08:00

WINDOW 5.2 is a publicly available computer program for calculating total window thermal performance indices (i.e. U-values, solar heat gain coefficients, shading coefficients, and visible transmittances). WINDOW 5.2 provides a versatile heat transfer analysis method consistent with the updated rating procedure developed by the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) that is consistent with the ISO 15099 standard. The program can be used to design and develop new products, to assist educators in teaching heat transfer through windows, and to help public officials in developing building energy codes.

http://windows.lbl.gov/software/window/window.html

THERM is a module of the WINDOW+5 program under development by LBNL. WINDOW+5 is the next generation of the WINDOW software series and is being developed for the Microsoft Windows™ operating environment. THERM's results can be used with WINDOW's center-of-glass optical and thermal models to determine total window product U-factors and Solar Heat Gain Coefficients.

THERM is a state-of-the-art, Microsoft Windows™-based computer program developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for use by building component manufacturers, engineers, educators, students, architects, and others interested in heat transfer. Using THERM, you can model two-dimensional heat-transfer effects in building components such as windows, walls, foundations, roofs, and doors; appliances; and other products where thermal bridges are of concern.

http://windows.lbl.gov/software/therm/therm.html
End of Post

EnergyPlus Software Named "Best Invention of the Year" by Time Magazine

2007-11-30T18:26:00.000-08:00

Time Magazine has named the San Francisco Federal Building one of its 2007 "Best Inventions of the Year" winners in the architecture category. Its citation noted that the building is "really a machine for delivering sunlight and fresh air to the people who work there." EnergyPlus was used to model the building's energy efficiency features. End of Post

The Pioneer of Energy Simulation. "Gint" Mitalas

2007-11-29T19:48:00.000-08:00

We have all heard of Willis Haviland Carrier as the engineer and inventor, and who is known as the man who invented modern air conditioning. At the age of 25, he devised his first important invention, a system to control heat and humidity for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company in Brooklyn, and was eventually made the head of the Buffalo Forge subsidiary named Carrier Air Conditioning Company in his honor.

Not many may have heard of Gintautas “Gint” Povilas Mitalas.

Photo courtesy IBPSANews

Gint was born in Lithuania in April 1928. In 1953 he went to the University of Toronto to study mechanical engineering, graduating with a BASc in 1957 and an MSc in 1959. Gint joined the staff of the National Research Council of Canada in 1959 to work in the Division of Building Research, where he was part of a small group that was exploring ways to improve the accuracy of the calculation of heat transfer through walls. In the early 1960s he used an analog computer to simulate the heat flow through walls and roofs. Later he shifted his effort to using digital computers for calculating heat gain through walls and roofs. This led to the Response Factor approach, and finally to the Z -Transfer Function method that was adopted by ASHRAE. He became a member of ASHRAE in 1966.

Gint presented two papers at the highly successful “First international symposium on the use of computers for environmental engineering related to buildings” that was held in Washington, DC in 1970.

IBPSA makes awards for outstanding work in the building performance simulation field. It was first awarded in 1991 to Gint Mitalas for his outstanding service and lifetime accomplishments in building simulation.

He passed away in Ottawa, Canada on 13 May 2005.

Gint shall be remembered for his pioneering work on energy simulation which has lead to the current revolution in whole building energy simulation software.
End of Post

EnergyPlus, SketchUp, Google Earth, India and China

2007-11-29T14:49:00.000-08:00

With the release of EnergyPlus 2.1, there's been a very interesting announcement in connection with Google SketchUp and the weather data convertor, which now produces KML output for Google Earth.

A beta version of building simulation within SketchUp is planned n the next few weeks. In the first release in early 2008, users will be able to draw their building, paint the surfaces with thermophysical properties, select default building type information, schedules, and HVAC systems, and simulate the energy performance of their building — all within SketchUp.

WeatherConverter now produces KML output (for Google Earth) of latitude, longitude, elevation, and a few climate statistics for locations in a list processing run.

Several other interfaces are under development—including two from China and India. These are likely to be announced shortly on; http://www.energyplus.gov/ep_interfaces.html

EnergyPlus V 2.1 is now available at no cost from the EnergyPlus web site http://www.energyplus.gov
End of Post

Google Expands Into Alternative Energy

2007-11-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

As part of a project announced Tuesday, the Internet search leader and its philanthropic arm will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a quest to lower the cost of producing electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and the sun.

If Google realizes its goal, the cost of solar power should fall by 25 to 50 percent, co-founder Larry Page said in an interview.

"If we achieve these goals, we are going to be in the (electricity) business in a very big way," Page said. "We should be able to make a lot of money from this."

http://www.tech2.com/india/news/general/google-expands-into-alternative-energy/
22785/0?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email

End of Post

EnergyPlus "Most Wanted" and HLCP "Young Turks"!

2007-11-24T12:14:00.000-08:00

EnergyPlus "Most Wanted!"

http://gundog.lbl.gov/dirpubs/wanted.pdf

HLCP "Young Turks!"

http://picasaweb.google.com/hlcp.support/HLCPTeam

End of Post

Just give me a day or two more!!

2007-11-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

Update:

It is done!!

Name: HLCP - Hourly Load Calculation Programme
Date of Birth (DD/MM/YYYY)
22/11/2007
Time of Birth (24Hrs Format)
4:39:0
Place of Birth
Mumbai,Maharashtra,India
Latitude (Degree/min/(North/South))
018/58/N
Longitude (Degree/min/(East/West))
072/50/E
Time Zone
5.5
DST Correction
0
Moon sign: Pisces

And I'll be ready to ship HLCP!! The last bug has been captured, the screens are clean, the colours are bright again, and the software is well obfuscated. :)End of Post

How costs of sustainable Energy Development can be cut in half

2007-11-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

Ellen Brown, November 5th, 2007

Excerpt:
"During the recent bank credit crisis in August 2007, the central banks of the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan collectively extended a $315 billion credit line to commercial banks. This credit was created out of nothing – something central banks assume the right to do as "lenders of last resort" – and the sums advanced were huge.6 For comparative purposes, a mere $188 billion would have been enough to repair all of the 74,000 U.S. bridges known to be defective, preventing another disaster like that in Minnesota in July 2007. The Carbon Trust, a well-known UK company dedicated to cutting carbon emissions, is responsible for reducing emissions by nearly 2 million tons per year on a 2007 budget of only £115.9 million (about $240 million U.S.). If central banks can create hundreds of billions of dollars to save floundering private banks, governments can create comparable credits to adapt to climate change, an even more pressing problem."

Read more

http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/energy-costs.php

EnergyPlus GUI demo

2007-11-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

A short demo of a GUI for EnergyPlus developed by Gurneet Singh.

http://cbs.iiit.net/resume/2002batch/gurneet/cad/demo/EnergyGSdemo.html

End of Post

HLCP, Hourly Load Calculation Programme Help file

2007-11-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Update: The final HLCP Help file dated 20th November 2007 has been uploaded to www.hvacindia.com/hlcp/

Finally, a detailed 74 page Help file in pdf format (1.6 mB) uploaded for download to:

http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/

Screen animations coming soon. First copies of HLCP, the Hourly Load Calculation Programme (using the EnergyPlus engine), developed by ISHRAE to be shipped on Teusday, the 20th of November 2007. End of Post

The deceit behind global warming

2007-11-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

By Christopher Booker and Richard North

"Mann's hockey stick was just what the IPCC wanted. When its 2001 report came out it was given pride of place at the top of page 1. The Mediaeval Warming, the Little Ice Age, the 20th century Little Cooling, when CO2 had already been rising, all had been wiped away.

But then a growing number of academics began to raise doubts about Mann and his graph. This culminated in 2003 with a devastating study by two Canadians showing how Mann had not only ignored most of the evidence before him but had used an algorithm that would produce a hockey stick graph whatever evidence was fed into the computer. When this was removed, the graph re-emerged just as it had looked before, showing the Middle Ages as hotter than today.

It is hard to recall any scientific thesis ever being so comprehensively discredited as the "hockey stick". Yet the global warming juggernaut rolled on regardless, now led by the European Union. In 2004, thanks to a highly dubious deal between the EU and Putin's Russia, stage four of the story began when the Kyoto treaty was finally ratified."

"If global warming does turn out to have been a scare like all the others, it will certainly represent as great a collective flight from reality as history has ever recorded. The evidence of the next 10 years will be very interesting." End of Post

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/04/eaclimate104.xml

Blondes and global warming

2007-11-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with that expensive double-pane energy efficient kind, and then today, I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the work had been completed a whole year ago and I still hadn't paid for them. Hellloooo,...........just because I'm blonde doesn't mean that I am automatically stupid. So, I told him just what his fast talking sales guy had told me last year, that in ONE YEAR these windows would pay for themselves! Helllooooo? It's been a year! I told him. There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally just hung up. He never called back. Guess I won that stupid argument. I bet he felt like an idiot. End of Post

India: be the party pooper

2007-10-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

India: be the party pooper (Editorial)
By Sunita Narain

US President George Bush played host to a party of the top polluters of
the world called to discuss climate change. He exhorted his guests that
the world needed to act and called for a "new approach" to reduce
emissions. But if you think that he has changed his mind about the
science which has established the reality and urgency of climate change,
think again. Or if you think he has changed his position that his
country will not take on commitments to cut emissions because the
American lifestyle is not open to negotiation, think yet again and again.

The Bush meeting was strategic: first, it was an attempt (and a
successful one) to club the rich countries, who have been old and big
polluters, with the emerging countries-China and India. The meeting was
to remove the difference between the two categories-those who need to
make deep cuts in their emissions and those who need the space to grow.
If the Indians (and the Chinese) were looking for a place at this high
table of polluters, they certainly got their wish.

There is nothing new about Bush's position on climate change. In fact, I
would go so far as to say that there is nothing different about his
position from that of the previous Democratic government led by Bill
Clinton and Al Gore.

This is nothing more than recent history repeating itself. It is
predictable and it is dangerous for the climate and for our common future.

What Bush did should not surprise us. The US has been steadfast: it will
take action (whatever that means) only when it includes all big
polluters, including China and India.

I remember clearly the events in Kyoto in 1997, when the emissions
treaty was being finalised to set legally binding targets on
industrialized countries. That week all the stops were pulled out. The
phones buzzed between the White House and the prime minister's office.

The US made it clear that it wanted "meaningful participation" from
India and China. Its intransigence meant that all other governments
(those of the European Union to Japan) had to work hard to play
matchmaker to get the Chinese and Indians to bend so the US could sign
up to the treaty.

But what the Indian government did by accepting the Bush party invite
now should surprise us. I do accept that its position also remained
steadfast at the recent meeting. It did inform its host that the world
needed to act on the basis of historical contributions to the stock of
greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. And that India's per capita
emissions are negligible compared to those of the flatulent US or the
developed European countries. But believe me when I say this is nothing
other than posturing: rhetoric without any substance.

The fact is that we have agreed tacitly to join the membership of the
polluters-only club. In this way we have blurred (if not altogether
removed) the distinction-followed in all global agreements-between
countries which need to take action first and those who need the
ecological space to grow. But this is just one part of a much bigger
problem.

We have also asserted our right to development without insisting that
the US should take on deep and obligatory emission targets, for all our
sake. We have agreed to this ultimate marriage of convenience-not to ask
the us to commit so that we can get off the hook. We will all take on
"aspirational" targets, Bush said at the meeting. Let us understand this.

This is the ultimate and deadly bribe to seduce India and China: we will
not allow the Europeans and others to push us into legally binding
targets. This way is better: voluntary commitments and no targets.

Just think. This is a way in which we will all go to hell together. The
fact is that the world needs to act. It needs to act decisively and
urgently. We can already see the repercussions of a mere 0.7°c increase
in global temperatures in terms of melting glaciers and extreme weather
and rain events. Just think what it will be like when the world sees, on
average, an increase of 1.5°c, which is now inevitable because of the
stock of emissions already in the atmosphere, or 2°c, which is the best
we can get if we are responsible. The Bush way is disastrous. It must
not be acceptable.

But we are hypocrites. We laid the foundation stone for this Bush
conclave when we agreed to join the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean
Development and Climate, which was launched by the US administration
just under two years ago. This partnership had just one aim: to break
the multilateral processes built around legally binding commitments by
proving that voluntary action agreed by the major polluting nations
would be effective. Many meetings down the line, the partnership has led
to nothing concrete on the ground. But then who cares?

But we have to care. Climate is too serious a business to be made a joke
out of, as is done by the US president and his administration. We need
to explain to the rich world why it needs to act decisively and cut its
emissions and how it needs to change its lifestyle. We need to show how
we can participate meaningfully in a strategy to avoid future emissions.

We also need to say how this can be done through providing emission
rights for all; effective technology transfer and hard funds to pay for
transition into low-carbon growth options.

We must make it clear that we are not unwilling and reluctant partners
in this climate endgame. We are players and we are serious. Bush's party
is not ours to enjoy.

Read editorial online >>
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/cover_nl.asp?mode=2

To comment, write to >> editor[AT]downtoearth[DOT]org[DOT]in

Simupedia - A wiki about building simulation

2007-10-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

The goal of Simupedia is to provide qualified information about building simulation to different stakeholders of the built environment, with focus on energy consumption, thermal comfort, room airflow, daylighting and environmental impact. Based on practise in design of real buildings Simupedia shows that building simulations - as a new, innovative approach in the planning process - are superior to the standard way of planning. End of Post.

A Getting Started Tutorial for EnergyPlus

2007-10-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

Dr. Vishal Garg of the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderbad, India, has created an EnergyPlus tutorial aimed at architects and engineers who are familiar with the basic concepts of energy simulation and HVAC systems. The tutorial out-lines the procedures for modeling a small room using EnergyPlus, including instruction on how to run the simulation, and how to interpret the output files. The output presents both heating and cooling energy consumption so the user may experiment with size, orientation, material properties, location, etc., and compare heating/cooling energy usage. End of Post.

The Google of 3D

2007-09-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

Geolus Search - a 3D geometry search engine with real benefits
If you know two parts are similar a world of possibilities opens.

Check it out here. (Registration required). End of Post

What Outside Design Conditions should I use in calculating a heat load?

2007-09-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

The weather data in use earlier, was not the "coincident" data. As an example, for any outside design Dry Bulb temperature, the corresponding Wet Bulb temperature was no the Wet Bulb temperature occurring simultaneously at that Dry Bulb temperature. In all probability, it was also a maximum Wet Bulb temperature for the particular season in question.

For years, Indian HVAC engineers have been using legacy weather data for Indian cities whose origins are not known. In 1999, the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE) http://www.ishrae.org.in, in association with Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) http://www.teriin.org/ , developed a set of Indian weather data, based on the concept of "coincident" temperatures, in line with and in the format as published in the ASHRAE 1997 Fundamentals Handbook.

The set of weather data was created in TMY2 format, a commonly used format in the industry, and was developed for use in Building hourly load, and Building energy simulation programmes.

In 2004 the weather data set was converted to the EPW format as is used by EnergyPlus, an energy simulation engine, and uploaded to and made available to EnergyPlus users.

The "mean coincident Wet Bulb temperature", on the other hand, means the wet bulb temperature occurring at that particular dry bulb temperature, and in that particular 5 degree F interval.

For the first time, the research carried out by ISHRAE and TERI provided users with the "coincident" temperatures.

In addition, the design weather data was classified into three categories, viz; 2%, 1% and 0.4%. annual frequency of occurrance.

The design values represent the value that is exceeded on average by the indicated percentage of the total number of hours in a year (8,760). In other words, the 0.4%, 1.0%, and 2.0% values are exceeded 35-, 88-, and 175-hrs per year respectively.

The weather data for a particular city, at 2% annual frequency of occurance means that for 2% of the hours in a year, (i.e., (2/100) * 24 * 365 = 175 hours), the temperature will be above the temperature in question for 175 hours in a year. (A year has 8760 hours).

For example, for the city of Mumbai, the legacy Summer outside design conditions being considered so far have been 95 deg F and 83 deg F. Compare this with the 2% Dry bulb temperature, and Mean coincident wet bulb temperature from the new weather data, which is 92.3 deg F and 75.2 deg F, figures which are considerably lower than the legacy data.

It is also understood that the air-conditioning system would now be designed such that it was likely that for around 2% of the days in a year, the outside conditions would be higgher than the design conditions. This is acceptable practice for comfort air-conditioning and could result ni considerable savings in initial equipment costs and running loads.

If slightly more stringent conditionas are desired, then the 1% values could be considerd, and for very stringent industrial applications, the 0.4% values could be considered.

While earlier, outside design conditions were provided under the sub-heads of "Summer" "Monsoon" and "Winter", these sub-heads do not exist in the new classification based on annual occurances. Instead for calculating instantaneous space loads for Summer outside conditions, one would usually use the Cooling DB temperature / Mean coincident WB temperature while in Monsoon one would use the Cooling WB temperature / Mean Coincident DB temperature. (For Winter one would use the Heating Db temperature / Mean coincident Wet bulb temperature.

Merely following the above over-simplified rule blindly, however, could lead to serious errors in design.

Consider the situation for a 100% outside air application, (or for a treated air application, or even for an application where the outside air ventilation loads are high):

Assuming that the design is being carried out for the city of Mumbai, we list out the enthalpies of air for both the outside design conditons under investigation.

Design Conditions Comparison

City: Mumbai
Annual frequency of occurance: 2%

Design DB with Mean Coincident WB Design WB with Mean Coincident DB

In the first case for Design DB and mean coincident WB, the enthalpy of the outside air is 38.53 Btu/lb, and would be exceeded for a period of 175 hours as explained earlier.

In the second case for Design WB and mean coincident DB, the enthalpy of the outside air would exceed for a far greater number of hours than in the first case.

Had the outside design conditions been selected as the DB temperature and mean coincident WB temperature, there would have been serious under-sizing of the equipment and the systemw would have been pushed to its limits for a far greater number of hours.

Rajeev Kakkar

Why the Global Warming Potential of a refrigerant should figure in your decision.

2007-09-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

Ted has a very interesting podcast on R-22 and related refrigerants, and selecting a new refrigerant for home use and general climate change topics.

http://mediacloud.libsyn.com/tedg332/CI5.mp3

You can near more of Ted's wonderfully modulated podcasts at :

Carbon issues podcasts

End of Post

New age Refrigerants

2007-09-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

R-22 (HCFC-22) is the most widespread refrigerant being used in India for room air-conditioners, split air-conditioners, packaged air-conditioners and reciprocating central plant systems. R-22 (HCFC-22) is currently also being used in a large proportion of positive displacement compressor based chillers and in some larger tonnage centrifugal chillers. These uses predate the Montreal Protocol, but will be phased out as part of the overall HCFC phase-out. In the U.S., HCFC-22 cannot be used in new equipment after Jan 1, 2010.

So what's so special or different in the new refrigerants, such as R-407C and R-410A that make them different from the user-friendly R-22?

R-22 is a HCFC, i.e, a Hydro-Chloro-Flouro-Carbon, that contains chlorine, and which when released in the atmosphere, causes ozone, O3 to be converted to O2, and thereby depletes the Ozone layer.

However, R-22 has zero potential to increase global warming.

R407C is one of the HFC blends that is intended for HCFC-22 replacement, but it is zeotropic and not suited for use in a flooded evaporator. R-407C has been used in reciprocating chillers with direct expansion evaporators.

R-407C Contains R-32, R-125 and R-134a (23/25/52 by weight in %).

The use of substitute refrigerants such as R407C and 410A, while having zero potential to deplete the Ozone layer, create a new set of issues which must be understood. The following sections explain these issues in layman's terms:

The Ozone Depletion Potential
The Global Warming Potential
Zeotropes and Non-Zeotropes
The lubricating oil issue
The Glide problem
The Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) issue
The Servicing issue
The Toxicity issue
The Flammability issue
The Training issue

The Ozone Depletion Potential:

R-22 refrigerant is allowed to be used in the USA till Jan 1st 2010 and till 2030 in India, as per the Montreal Protocol. Leaked refrigerant is not the sole cause of depletion of the ozone layer. The Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) of R407C is 0, while that of R22 is 0.05.

The Global Warming Potential:

The 100 Year ITH Global Warming Potential in (kg CO2/kg) for the refigerants are similar:

HCFC-22 1,700 1,500
R-407C 1,530 1,525

GWP:

"The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of a gas relates the cumulative (integrated) warming over time caused by the emission of the gas to the cumulative warming caused by the emission of the same mass of CO2. The two basic factors that drive the GWP value are the “radiative forcing” (the infrared absorption of an incremental amount of the gas in the atmosphere) of the gas and the rate of decay of the gas in the atmosphere, compared to CO2. There are uncertainties in establishing quantitative values for both radiative forcing and atmospheric decay rate for both the fluorocarbons and CO2. As a result the IPCC estimated that the accuracy of the GWP values is+ 35%. As new data has been and continues to be developed, GWP values have been revised and are subject to future revision. A detailed presentation of the methodology for determining GWP is contained in [IPCC [2001]. The fundamental importance of GWP values to this study is that it permits the warming impact of fluorocarbon emissions to be compared to the warming impact caused by energy consumption (and the associated CO2 emissions) for the various applications that make use of HFCs."

Fluorochemical 100 Year ITH GWP (kg CO2/kg)
TEWI-3 Appendix B Climate Change 1995 WMO 19993 Climate Change 2001

HCFC-22 1,700 1,500 1,900 1,700

R-407C 1,530 1,525 1,984 1,653

Reference:
http://www.arap.org/adlittle/appendixb.html

Zeotropes and Non-zeotropes:

R407C is a non-azeotropic (zeotropic) refrigerant mixture of Contains R-32, R-125 and R-134a (23/25/52 weight-%) and exhibits a quite different condensation phenomenon from those of R22.

The Lubricating Oil issue:

R-22 refrigerant requires that the lubricating oil in the compressor may be mineral oil, whilst for R-407C, specifically synthetic Polyolester or POE oils need to be used, as R407C does not contain chlorine, and therefore cannot dissolve mineral oil.While these oils are considered to be superior oils, less liable to breakdown, however they are more hygroscopic – they must therefore be kept from contact with air as far as is practical.

The Glide problem:

Unlike R22, R407C is a mixture of three refrigerants, which boil at different temperatures. As a zeotrope, R407C exhibits a phenomenon known as ‘glide’, that is changing state (evaporating or condensing) over a range of temperatures. 'Glide' has an adverse effect on the performance of conventional, mixed flow, shell and tube heat exchangers. For best performance, R407C should be used in plant with counterflow plate heat exchangers. 'Glide' can also increase the risk of freeze-up, in the event of a loss of flow or a localised restriction in the evaporator.

Since R407C is a zeotrope, the mixture will fractionate should a leak occur from a part of the system that contains both vapour and liquid. Service techniques have to be adapted in the light of this characteristic. After a significant leak, a moderate loss of refrigerant R407Cwill require the entire charge to be removed, before the system can be pressure tested, repaired, and fully re-charged. In short, systems will no longer be able to be topped up.

The Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) issue:

"In this study, condensation heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) were measured on a horizontal plain tube, low fin tube, and Turbo-C tube at the saturated vapor temperature of 39 °C for R22, R407C, and R410A with the wall subcooling of 3–8 °C. R407C, a non-azeotropic refrigerant mixture, exhibited a quite different condensation phenomenon from those of R22 and R410A and its condensation HTCs were up to 50% lower than those of R22. For R407C, as the wall subcooling increased, condensation HTCs decreased on a plain tube while they increased on both low fin and turbo-C tubes. This was due to the lessening effect of the vapor diffusion film with a rapid increase in condensation rate on enhanced tubes. On the other hand, condensation HTCs of R410A, almost an azeotrope, were similar to those of R22. For all refrigerants tested, condensation HTCs of turbo-C tube were the highest among the tubes tested showing a 3–8 times increase as compared to those of a plain tube."

Reference

The Servicing issue:

"Clean installation practices, effective leak testing and de-hydration and the weighing of additional refrigerant requirements remain vital. But all of these procedures have long been associated with R22 and indeed any other refrigerants."

"Concerns have been expressed that a moderate loss of refrigerant will now require the entire charge to be removed, before the system can be pressure tested, repaired, and fully re-charged. In short, systems will no longer be able to be topped up. Once again, this is no different to the procedures required with R22 but supports the case for ensuring that the system is leak free at installation.

There are seriuos issues relating to the use of R407C refrigerant, especially when servicing work needs to be carried out at site post-installation. The vendor has to ensure that:"
It will however be necessary to add R407C as a liquid, to ensure that the correct mix is added.

"In operation, R407C provides a number of indications that, if applied to R22 would indicate that the system were overcharged. Although slight, the following changes may be anticipated:

Higher head pressure
Lower compressor superheat
Lower refrigerant temperature difference across the condenser.
Also there may be frosting at the evaporator inlet."

Equipment

All equipment used with the new refrigerant and oil must be compatible.
Vacuum pump should be compatible however provided that oil is regularly changed it can be universal.Leak testers that rely on a reaction with chlorine (i.e. halide) will not work with R407C.
Gauges should be universal however do provide a means of contamination between oil types. Purge and blow through with OFN if in doubt.
Reclaim unit – dedicated to refrigerant.
Reclaimed refrigerant cannot and should not be re-used, which is difficult for the customer to monitor.
R407C has to be charged in the liquid state. This implies that some sort of chilling device (usually ice), would be required in case the unit needs to be re-charged at a site.
The condensing pressure of R407C is about 10% higher, providing a derated performance. Guage manifolds for service must be suitable for this higher pressure.
R407C being an HFC refrigerant, is extremely susceptible to mixing of impurities (oil, water, pipe during brazing) as compared to R-22 refrigerant.

Reference:
http://www.aquaair.org/R22-R407C-Differences.html

The Toxicity issue:

Refrigerants are divided into two groups according to toxicity:

Class A signifies refrigerants for which toxicity has not been identified at concentrations less than or equal to 400 ppm;

Class B signifies refrigerants for which there is evidence of toxicity at concentrations below 400 ppm.

R-22 is non-toxic, and no data is available about the non-toxicity of R407C below a concentrationm of 400 ppm, implying that R407C is toxic above 400ppm on prolonged exposure, though the toxicity levels of both refrigerants has been defined as A1 based on Safety Group Classification.

Classification of R-407C: R32/R125/R134a (23/25/52)- A1

The Flammability issue:

Refrigerants are divided into three groups according to flammability:

Class 1 indicates refrigerants that do not show flame propagation when tested in air at 21°C and 101 kPa;

Class 2 indicates refrigerants having a lower flammability limit of more than 0.10 kg/m3 at 21°C and 101 kPa and a heat of combustion of less than 19 kJ/kg;

Class 3 indicates refrigerants that are highly flammable as defined by a lower flammability limit of less than or equal to 0.10 kg/m3 at 21°C and 101 kPa or a heat of combustion greater than or equal to 19 kJ/kg.

Mixtures, whether zeotropic or azeotropic, with flammability and/or toxicity characteristics which may change as the composition changes during fractionation, shall be assigned a safety group classification based on the worst case of fractionation.

Reference:
http://www.fluorocarbons.org/en/applications/refrigeration.html

The Training issue:

Train-the-Trainers in Good Practices in Refrigeration Train-the-Trainers in Good Practices in Refrigeration. The Networking activity is managed by the Network and Policy Manager based at UNEP DTIE in Paris, France.
http://www.uneptie.org/ozonaction/news/mpaw.htm

Action pack for Schools:
http://www.uneptie.org/ozonaction/information/mmcfiles/4820-e-EdPack_1_guide_low.pdf.pdf

Check out the R407C - The Engineers Guide. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
www.3dair.co.uk/download-files/r407c-guide.pdf

Designing Effective Powerpoint Presentations

2007-09-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

End of post

DesignBuilder 3-D CFD

2007-09-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Coming soon.

DesignBuilder CFD has been specifically designed to provide users with a tool that can be used to predict airflow and temperature distribution in and around buildings using the same methods as the general purpose pure CFD packages but at a fraction of the cost and without the need for any specialist knowledge.

Some of the key DesignBuilder CFD features:
3-D CFD grids are generated automatically from model geometry and boundary conditions using algorithms to promote optimal solution convergence.

The CFD engine has been developed around the SIMPLER algorithm, which belongs to one of the most widely used families of CFD solution methods. Turbulence can be modelled using the widely researched and documented k-e model and there are plans to introduce additional models for specific applications.

The interface incorporates tools to enable a wide range of boundary conditions such as supply diffusers, extracts, temperature patches, etc. to be assigned to room surfaces. A component library is also provided to enable radiators, fan-coil units, furniture, occupants, etc. to be located anywhere within the model and automatically incorporated within the analysis.

Boundary conditions can be automatically assigned from a previous EnergyPlus simulation.

3-D CFD results are displayed using the DesignBuilder OpenGL graphics engine providing impressive, easy-to-interpret images and movies of velocity vectors, temperature contours, iso-surfaces, particle streams, etc.

Check your posture

2007-09-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

There is always a possibility that over the long term, your workstation seating height and the other egronomic details of your table could actually give you a severe backache and spondilytis.

Here's a nifty interactive web application which determines the work station and seating heights based on your height. End of Post

The search for the Holy Grail of CMS systems

2007-09-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

May have finally come to an end. If you are wondering why the previous post has been ~~struck~~ off, then blame it all on my CSS wizard. I listen intently to what she speaks, and the point was subtly drilled home that a site made in Wordpress was going to look more or less like this blog. A site made by an amateur. A site not befitting the status of the organisation. Which actually summarises to a "Don't be nuts", or even a mere "hah"!.

Open-source Umbraco 3.02 (the current version has been released, and from what I read, this may turn out to be another gem similar to the Dasblog 1.6 engine running www.hvacindia.com .

Umbraco 3.02 build:
http://www.codeplex.com/umbraco/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=5136

What can Umbraco do? Basically, everything I want, plus the fact that the it has a flexible template design, and also CSS templates for documents.

Here's a summary:

Create document types with whatever properties you want.
Add/edit content on your site.
Set your XHTML and CSS templates for different document types.
Upload and use photos and other images.
Create a basic membership system, to allow logged in people to view certain sections of your site.
Create separate user accounts with customizable permissions to access the back-end to write, edit and publish content.
Have a multi-lingual site.
Create dynamic navigation and pull your content dynamically (aka showing "latest" items on the homepage).
Have your site consume RSS feeds.

The additional feature of creating a membership system, and create separate user accounts can be a very valuable feature for a Society website, going forward.

Frankly, the thing which really got me excited was the fact that Umbraco was 100% compatible with Windows Live Writer which is Beta 3 now, and looks pretty good.
http://get.live.com/en-us/betas/writer_betas

There are a huge amount of plug-ins available for Windows Live Writer Beta 3 here.

Take a look at Sites running Umbraco 3.x

You need, For local development and production hosting:

A Windows 2000+ computer with an installed web server (either IIS, or other that supports ASP.Net)
Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) or Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) or SQL Server 2005 Express
Edition.
ASP.Net 2.0 (to run umbraco v.3.x) installed.
Internet Explorer web browser to interact with the CMS back-end (websites created are viewable on any
browser your HTML code supports)

Finally, a website "package" to check out, which would demostrate the amazing power of Umbraco: (rename zip to umb before importing the package).
http://www.creativewebspecialist.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/creativewebpackage_v096.zip

Ugrading the existing Society static html website.

2007-09-09T03:32:00.001-07:00

Currently, the website is in static html, and requires editing of html pages to update content.
It does not have the features which are so neccessary today, such as RSS feeds.

I am proposing to upgrade the Society website using WordPress, a free blogging engine, and the basic Kubrick theme since this theme is very stable, and easy to customise as per our needs.

A few useful sites to browse to achieve this aim would be:

WordPress download:
http://wordpress.org/download/

Installing WordPress:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress

5 minute install:
http://wordpress.org/docs/installation/5-minute/

Step by Step WordPress Installation:
http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/wordpress-installation.htm

Customise your webtheme:
http://www.vandelaydesign.com/blog/design/customize-your-own-wordpress-theme/

HLCP - The simple test case, IP and SI

2007-09-09T01:52:00.001-07:00

The IP example:

Click to enlarge

The almost equivalent SI example:

DesignBuilder, first one of the block.

2007-09-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

Interested in whole building energy performance, including HVAC? Look no further. Download a 30 day trial version of DesignBuilder and check it out for yourself.

DesignBuilder is one of the first whole building energy performance simulation programmes, including simplified models of HVAC systems, and uses the validated EnergyPlus simulation engine.

http://www.designbuilder.co.uk/

Designbuilder has a great demo here:

http://www.designbuilder2.co.uk/tutorials/DesignBuilderDemo.htm

DesignBuilder offers a 50% discount for educational institutions.

HLCP Help file specifications

2007-09-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

HLCP requires that a suitable graphical help file be provided.

The Help file is a combination of still screenshots with text boxes, and short animated screen captures, for each "How To" for HLCP, basically to focus on how to get things done, rather than explain everything. Information needs to be presented in a logical manner so that the work flow is clear.

Since it is presumed that the user is familiar with HVAC Load calculations, there is no link to any "Reference" as such, but brief introductionary details shall be provide in text boxes on static screens to explain certain features such as "Project Masters", Schedule Masters", etc. which may be new to the HVAC engineer experienced only in manual Heat Loads .

To meet this end, an sectionalised HTML Help file, each section being a mix of static screenshots with dialogue boxes giving explanations, and short animated swf flash screen captures, which show an animated mouse cursor actually performing a certain task

The final file shall be a set of swf files, linked to HTML files, which can be accessed through the menubar of HLCP or even ported to a website.

"Wink" shall be used to create the animations, and "Shalom Help Maker v 0.6.1" shall be used for the compiled help file.

Download links here:

Wink

http://www.debugmode.com/wink/download.php

Shalom Help Maker

http://www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/shelpm/

You will need the compiler files for turning your project (the shp file and images) into a help file.

Help Compiler

http://www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/shelpmbeta/helpcompiler.zip

A preliminary broad index for the various Sections of the Help file is given below. (Note that within these sections, there would be sub-sections, i.e., that for each section, we may need subdivided sections to cover all aspects.

The proposed sections (index) of the HLCP Help.

Index for HCLP Help file.

Introduction to HLCP
What is HLCP?

Starting HLCP
Accessing the Getting Started pdf file
Accessing the FAQ pdf file

Defining a Building

The HLCP Environment
The Menubar
The tab bar
Getting Help

The user files
eplusout.csv
PostProcess.csv

projectname_input.csv
projectname_postprocess.csv
projectname.pdf

What is a Project
Starting a new Project
Opening an existing Project
Filling in Project Details
Saving a Project
Deleting a Project
Deleting a Project Master
Deleting a Schedule Master

Projects Tab

Selecting the units
Location / Weather Tab
Selecting the location
Selecting the Weather Data source
Selecting the City
Selecting the Range

Project Master tab

Project Masters Tab
What is a Project Master
Creating a new Project Master
Loading an existing Project Master
Saving a Project Master

Select the Project Master tab
Selecting a U value for the Project Master
Adding / deleting a value in the Project Master
Changing default safeties

U value calculator

Opaque U value calculator
What is the opaque U value calculator
Film coefficients
Maximum number of layers
Order of layers
Units

How to create a new opaque Construction...
How to select and transfer an opaque Construction...
How to delete an opaque Construction
How to add a U value directly
Exiting the U value Calculator

How to create a new window Construction...
How to select and transfer a window Construction...
How to delete a window Construction
How to add a U value directly*
Exiting the U value Calculator

Shedule Master tab

What is a Schedule Master
Creating a new Schedule Master
Loading an existing schedule Master
Saving a Schedule Master

System Details tab

What are System Details
Adding a new System
Deleting a System
Duplicating a system
Inside Design Conditions
Bypass factor
System multiplier

Zone Details tab

Defining a new Zone
Entering basic Zone details
Drawing a Zone
Saving a Zone

Entering Wall/ Partition details
Entering Window details
Entering shade (external to window) details
Entering Blinds / Drapes details
Entering Door details
Entering Floor details
Entering Flat Roof/Ceiling details
Entering Skylight details
Entering Gable Roof details

Internal Loads tab

Entering Occupancy details
Entering Infiltration details
Entering Heat Recovery details
Entering Ventilation Air details
Entering Equipment details
Entering lighting details

Input Summary tab

Reports tab

What are seasonal loads
What are monthly loads
What are hourly loads

Selecting the output type required.
Adding a monthly time period
Adding a hourly time period

The Run tab

Save and Simulate
Save and Simulate Later

The Outputs Tab

The Seasonal load output
Accessing the output csv files

The Error window

HLCP: Some possible user errors that I've documented.

2007-09-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Useful as a common error list in HLCP documentation.

List of Likely Errors in data Entry:

While an extensive Help file, with animations has been provided, you may still face a few user errors. A list of possible common errors are given below. If you face errors while executing HLCP, check this error list first before contacting:

1. If you are seeing the Seasonal Load pdf output has lengths, breadths and areas far larger than they should be, (especially a multiple of 3.28 for lengths, or 10.76 for areas), it could mean that you are working in the SI units thinking that you are working in IP units, and vica versa.

2. If you see a severe or fatal error in the error screen, then possibly you did not "save" all schedules.

3. If you do not see the schedule populating a drop-down list, then you did not "save" all schedules.

4. Always "exit" HLCP after doing a calculation, and re-start HLCP to prevent faulty threading. If for any, reason, you still face errors, re-boot. This is not merely a "file" that you are dealing with. These are database "tables" and such problems occur sometimes, due to open threads (processes) and open tables, causing a conflict. It does not mean it's a bug.

5. If you face errors, please clearly define the error, and if possible attach a screen-shot (by using the "PrtScr" key on your keyboard, and send your query to "hlcp.support@gmail.com" It will be answered promptly. Only queries related to the working of the progamme shall be answered, not queries related to the theory of calculating cooling loads.

6. We expect values entered to be in a reasonable range, and that unusual values are not entered, so that the programme functions normally. Be especially careful of entering values null "0" values (in lengths for example), or negative values. There are no user entries which are negative.

7. If the hourly load is taking an unusually long time, please note that 8760 hour hourly loads will take time due to the extensive post-processing involved. To improve calculation times, increase the RAM. ensure that you have installed HLCP on a machine which has components rated higher than the "minimum" mentioned.

8. Just after a simulation, HLCP seems to hang. I am unable to click any tab.

This happens sometimes, because just after a run a small window pops up with the text "Successfully Completed"" and the OK button needs to be clicked. This small window sometimes is hidden behind the HLCP screen. In Windows XP, minimise all screens by pressing "ctrl d" and then maximise the small window and click "OK".

9. If you have made a mistake of not entering an item in the Project Master, and therefore do not see it in the dropdown box, remember, you cannot go back to the Project Master, add a new item, and expect it to become visible in the dropdown box! you wuold be forced to start the Project all over again. So, do fill up the Project Master correctly, and don't forget to SAVE it.

EnergyPlus utilities

2007-09-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

In the process of working on HLCP, I came across a few utilities which proved to be very useful during testing. These utilities can also be used on the .eso and .dxf files generated for the project by EnergyPlus through the HLCP interface.

xEsoView

xEsoView is a file viewer for Energy+ .eso output files. xEsoView uses the Qwt extension of the Qt toolkit from Trolltech Inc.

http://xesoview.sourceforge.net

DrawEzPlus

DrawEzPlus is a 3-D rendering tool that reads the geometry data in an EnergyPlus input file and uses a set of OpenGL commands to render the building objects. Two key steps are involved. First, the E+ input file is parsed and all vertices data is extracted into a temporary file, organized by type of building object. Second, the temporary file is processed by a set of OpenGL utilities that produce renderings of the 3-D data.

To Download DrawEzPlus 1.1, click here.
Courtesy: The Deringer group

HLCP Version 1.0 brochure text preview (Beta)

2007-09-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

HLCP has been developed and promoted by ISHRAE, "The Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers".

HLCP, Hourly Load Calculation Programme.

HLCP software enables calculations of design day and hourly cooling loads from user entered data.

FREE upgrade to Version 1.1 for purchasers of Version 1.0!

Highly subsidised pricing by ISHRAE.

INPUTS

Engineer-friendly numerical inputs through an easy tabbed Windows graphical user interface.
Help file with screenshots for step-by-step guidance for inputs available in both pdf and html formats.

OUTPUTS

Output available in pdf format for Design Day loads.
Output available in Microsoft Excel or csv format for for 288 hour and 7680 hourly loads.

Why HLCP*?

FEATURES

Friendly graphical user interface.
WeDCo and BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) design conditions.
Uses the validated Energyplus simulation engine which is based on heat balance method.
Self-shading of the building.
Wall and roof tilts.
Window external shading and reveal effects.
Treated fresh air.
Design Day cooling loads.
288 hour monthly cooling loads.
7860 hourly annual loads.
Schedules for occupancy, lighting and equipment.

WEATHER DATA

WeDCo Hourly weather data for 58 stations.
WeDCo Design Day weather data, 2%,1% & 0.4% for 58 stations.
ASHRAE Hourly and Design Day weather data for 8 stations.

Stations covered:

Ahmedabad, Akola, Allahabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Barmer, Belgaum, Bhagalpur, Bhopal, Bhubneshwar, Bikaner, Chennai, Chirtadurg, Dehradun, Dibrugarh, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Gwalior, Hissar, Hyderabad, Imphal, Indore, Jabalpur, Jagdelpur, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Jorhat, Kolkata, Kota, Kurnool, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nellore, New Delhi, Panjim, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ramagundam, Ranchi, Ratnagiri, Raxaul, Saharanpur, Shillong, Sholapur, Sundernagar, Surat, Tezpur, Thiruchchirapalli, Thiruvananthapuram, Veraval, Vishakhapatnam

Developed and promoted by ISHRAE, "The Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers".

* Product suitable for installation on a single machine.

*For educational purposes only

Trademarks:

BIS© is a copyright of Bureau of Indian Standards

Microsoft, Windows, MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint and/or other Microsoft products referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Intel© is a copyright of Intel Corporation.

EnergyPlus© 1996-2004 is a copyright of The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and The Regents of the University of California through the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. All rights reserved. EnergyPlus is a trademark of the United States Department of Energy).

Sales Contact:

ISHRAE Mumbai Chapter
ishrae_m@vsnl.com

HLCP support:

hlcp.support@gmail.com

Webpage:

http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/

HLCP FAQ

2007-09-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

HLCP has been developed and promoted by ISHRAE, "The Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers".

1. What is EP and HLCP?

EnergyPlus (EP) is a simulation engine. Normally it is used in conjunction with a graphical user interface. HLCP (Hourly Load Calculation Programme) is a graphical user interface for designday and hourly load calculations for Indian cities.

2. What is WeDCo?

WeDCo means: Weather data and Design Conditions for India

3. How do I model Thermal zones? (Courtesy Energyplus, text reproduced from "Getting started.pdf"

This section provides a step by step outline that will help you streamline creating your building models for using HLCP.

Step 1: Checklist before you start to construct your input file:

EnergyPlus requires some information in specified, externally available formats; other information may require some lead time to obtain. The following checklist should be completed before you start to construct your input file.

Obtain location and design climate information for the city in which your building is located. If possible, use one of the weather files available for your weather period run.

Obtain sufficient building construction information to allow specification of overall building geometry and surface constructions (including exterior walls, interior walls, partitions, floors, ceilings, roofs, windows and doors).

Obtain sufficient building use information to allow specification of the lighting and other equipment (e.g. electric, gas, etc.) and the number of people in each area of the building.

Obtain sufficient building thermostatic control information to allow specification of the temperature control strategy for each area of the building.

Obtain sufficient HVAC operation information to allow specification and scheduling of the fan systems.

Obtain sufficient central plant information to allow specification and scheduling of the boilers, chillers and other plant equipment.

Step 2: Zone the systems

In the general sense, there are two types of "surfaces" in EnergyPlus. These are:

1. heat transfer surfaces and
2. heat storage surfaces

The first rule of building modeling is, "Always define a surface as a heat storage surface unless it must be defined as a heat transfer surface". Any surface, which is expected to separate spaces of significantly different temperatures, must be defined as a heat transfer surface. Thus, exterior surfaces, such as outside walls, roofs and floors, are heat transfer surfaces. Interior surfaces (partitions) are heat storage surfaces if they separate spaces maintained at the same temperature and heat transfer surfaces if they separate spaces maintained at different temperatures. A discussion of how to define heat transfer and heat storage surfaces will occur in later steps. In order to correctly "zone" the building it is necessary only to distinguish between the two.

A "zone" is a thermal, not a geometric, concept. A "zone" is an air volume at a uniform temperature plus all the heat transfer and heat storage surfaces bounding or inside of that air volume. EnergyPlus calculates the energy required to maintain each zone at a specified temperature for each hour of the day. Since EnergyPlus performs a zone heat balance, the first step in preparing a building description is to break the building into zones. The objective of this exercise is to define as few zones as possible without significantly compromising the integrity of the simulation.

Although defining building zones is somewhat of an art, a few general rules will keep the new simulation user out of trouble.

The inexperienced building modeler may be tempted to define each room in the building as a zone, but the thermal zone is defined as a volume of air at a uniform temperature. The general rule then is to use the number of fan systems (and radiant systems) not the number of rooms to determine the number of zones in the building. The minimum number of zones in a general simulation model will usually be equal to the number of systems serving the building. The collection of heat transfer and heat storage surfaces defined within each zone will include all surfaces bounding or inside of the space conditioned by the system.

1. Notice that Zones 4 and 7 include two rooms that are not adjacent to one another but are served by the same system. Because the air temperature in the two spaces is maintained at the same uniform temperature, the two spaces, though separated spatially, may be defined as a single zone. For our purposes, we will define them as separate zones.

2. Notice that Zone 1 and Zone 2 are served by the same fan system and could be defined as a single zone with 7650 cfm of conditioned air supplied to the space. The space was split into two zones because the designer expected higher solar loads on the South and West sides of the wing and wanted to examine the distribution as well as the magnitude of the load in the space.

When the building was zoned our objective was to define as few zones as possible.

Step 3: Prepare to Construct the Building Model:

Working from blueprints or sketches and following the guidelines in Step 2, the building zones were determined. It is recommended that the engineer sketch the building with its zones. Surface dimensions should be included in the sketch. Additional geometric and surface information is required before an input file describing the building can be constructed.

Compile surface and subsurface information.:

Building information:

Building North Axis: This syntax simplifies building geometry specification by designating one wall of the building as the building's north pointing axis. The building model North axis is measured from true (compass) North. Surface facing angles (see surface information below) are then specified relative to the building north axis.

Zone information:

Wall height: This is entered once. All walls are assumed to be the same height. If the height for a given wall differs from the specified height, the wall length should be adjusted by the user to give the correct equivalent area. In certain conditions this may not be possible and you will need to resize each wall accordingly.

Surface information:

1. Base Surface Type: Heat Transfer/Heat Storage Surfaces may be of the following types: wall, floor, roof, internal mass, or subsurface.

2. Construction: The type of construction of the surface (see previous table).

Subsurface information:

1. Subsurfaces are Windows, Doors or GlassDoors
2. Area: Area of the subsurface.
3. Reveal: For windows only, the distance it is inset from the outside surface of a wall.

Step 4: Finally Compile Internal Space Gain Data:

4. What are the outputs available from HLCP?

HLCP has three distinct and exclusive types of outputs.

Type 1:
Design loads - Design loads for summer, monsoon and winter based on WeDCo ambient design conditions. available as a pdf output, and also as a csv output.

Type 2:
Monthly loads - hourly loads are calculated for a 12 representative days corresponding to the 12 months of the year. Data for these 12 representative days are extracted from WeDCo. Available as a csv output.

Type 3:
Hourly loads are calculated for the user selected period (days). available as a csv output.

5. What HLCP would not do?

Dynamic Simulation by changing building parameters such as orientation, etc. (one could always do a kind of "manual" simulation by re-loading data with different parameters).

Input from CAD packages, and interfacing with the same.

Moisture adsorption and desorption in building elements, moisture load calculations, load calculations for cold stores, deep freezers (or calculations for DB temperatures below 18 °C, 60% RH and snow conditions).

Radiant heating and cooling systems, passive and solar systems.
Energy calculations, simulations and costs.
Sizing and optimizing cooling equipment.
Any special convolution required by a specific user.
Effect of heat recovery.
Interface with Linux, Macintosh, and link with TRNSYS, SPARK or other programs.
Effect of external shading such as adjacent buildings.

6. What are the features of HLCP over the conventional heat load calculations being used?

Self-shading of the building.
Wall and roof tilts.
Window external shading and reveal effects.
Treated fresh air.
Monthly loads.
Validated simulation engine.
WeDCo and BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) design conditions.
Heat recovery.

7. Can I do heat loads for multiple buildings?

No. You would need to do separate runs.

8. Can I change the outside design conditions given for various cities?

No.

9. Can I import a CAD drawing into HLCP?

No.

10. What is a "Building", System" and "Zone", "Multiple zones" as defined in HLCP?

Energyplus input is from a thermal model made by the user, from the building geometry inputs. Output is of the thermal model only.

A "zone" is a thermal, not a geometric, concept. A "zone" is an air volume at a uniform temperature plus all the heat transfer and heat storage surfaces bounding or inside of that air volume. EnergyPlus calculates the energy required to maintain each zone at a specified temperature for each hour of the day. Since EnergyPlus performs a zone heat balance, the first step in preparing a building description is to break the building into zones. The objective of this exercise is to define as few zones as possible without significantly compromising the integrity of the simulation.

Geometrical Zones: (Pic courtesy Energyplus)

Thermal Zones: (Pic courtesy Energyplus)

The minimum number of zones in a general simulation model will usually be equal to the number of systems serving the building.

Thermal model:

Sketched by HVAC engineer.
Zone has a common temperature.
Walls have a common height.

Definition:

Building Building has Floors (Systems)
Floor (System) Floors have Zones (Zones)
Zone (Zone) Zone has uniform inside conditions.

Multi-zone (one)1 Building:

Building: "n" Floors (Systems)
"n" Zones

Block load: Single Building only.
One Floor (System)
One Zone

Building should be:
Closed polygon.

Technically speaking, there is no limit to the number of Zones, Surfaces, etc. that EnergyPlus can process. The input routines allocate according to how many of these the user enters. Practically speaking, your simulation may take longer with more complex / larger numbers of these items.

11. Does HLCP consider self-shading from walls?

Self shading on the building walls by other walls, will only be considered if the building is entered as one system and one zone, as would normally be done, for an hourly load calculation, which as it is, is for a single zone only. Else, multiple zones are "unconnected" so to speak, and self-shading is not considered.

12. Can I change the calculated ADP temperature and will it reflect the re-calculated dehumidified air quantity?

Yes.

13. Why do we have to create a "Project Master"?

A Project Master holds all the construction types being used in a building, chosen from the hundreds of constructions that you may created in the U value calculator.

Constructions from the Project Master are then available for selection in drop-down boxes as "construction names" for selection.

14. What is a Schedule Master?

A Schedule Master holds all definitions of schedules for the particular project. Schedule Masters can be saved for use with other projects. See Masters menu.

Refer ASHRAE 90.1,1-1989, section 13 for representative inputs.

15. Could you list out what is not possible with HLCP at this version?

100% fresh air applications.
Moisture transfer applications.
Direct import of CAD data.

16. Why are film coefficients missing from the U value calculator?

EP calculates the film coefficient based on exposure, wind speed and wind direction.

17. What is the time-step being used in HLCP?

1 hour.

18. Can I get some training in how to use HLCP?

Maybe, at a future date, though currently there is no formal training programme put in place by ISHRAE.

19. Can I consider any external wall as a shaded wall?

Yes.

20. How are psychrometric calculations done in HLCP?

Through a purchased DLL from a reputed source.

21. People: What does the "Activity Level" describe?

Activity level is the amount of heat generated by one person.
The values are obtained from 2001 ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals, page 8.7, Table 4.

22. Curtain Glazing: How can curtain glazing be handled in HLCP

The concept of curtain glazing is akin to a passive trombe wall system, which is a glazing + solid opaque wall. Currently, you would have to model this as a separate zone.

23. Should I measure the outside dimensions of walls, or the inside dimensions?

Size of the wall is always the internal measure, although we look at the wall from outside when describing vertices. As far as the simulation is concerned, the inside and outside measurements are identical from a heat-transfer perspective. So, one could argue that the average of the two is more appropriate to pick up the additional outside heat transfer.

24. What are the outputs available in an hourly load analysis? Could you describe the output of the hourly load calculations?

Through EnergyPlus:

Zone Window Heat Gain[W]
Zone Window Heat Loss[W]
Zone Opaque Surface Inside Conduction Gain[W]
Zone Opaque Surface Inside Conduction Loss[W]
Zone-Total Internal Latent Gain[J](Hourly)
Zone-Total Internal Radiant Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Zone-Total Internal Convective Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Zone-Total Internal Lost Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Zone-Total Internal Visible Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
People-Sensible Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
People-Latent Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
People-Total Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Lights-Total Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
TaskLights-Total Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Total Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Radiant Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Convective Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Latent Heat Gain[J](Hourly)
Electric Eq-Lost Heat Gain[J](Hourly)

Through Post-Processing:

SH (Sensible heat total)
LH (Latent heat total)
BVSH (Bypass value of sensible heat, ventilation air)
BVLH (Bypass value of latent heat, ventilation air)
NBVSH (Non-bypass value of sensible heat, ventilation air)
NBVLH (Non-bypass value of latent heat, ventilation air)
INSH (Sensible heat, infiltration)
INLH (Latent heat, infiltration)
RSH (Room Sensible Heat)
RLH (Room Latent Heat)
RTH (Room Total Heat)
LIGHTFRACT Sensible heat fraction, lights, return air)
GTH (Grand Total Heat)
RSHF (Room Sensible Heat Factor)
ERSH (Effective Room Sensible Heat)
ERLH (Effective Room Latent Heat)
ERTH (Effective Room Total Heat)
ESHF (Effective Sensible Heat Factor)
ISH (Sensible heat, infiltration)
SHR (Sensible heat, heat recovered)
LHR (Latent heat, heat recovered)

25. Are the inputs available as an output file?

Yes, in the form of a comma-delimited file, and a pdf file.

The file structure is as under:

1 Units;
2 Source of Weather Data, Location, DB Temp Summer, Monsoon, Winter, WB Temp Summer, Monsoon, Winter;
3 System name, Zone name, Rotation;
4 Walls/Partitions, Surface Name, Orientation, Exposure, Temp Diff, Length, Tilt, Construction name, U value;
5 Windows, Surface name, Window Name, Quantity, Length, Reveal, Height, Construction name;
6 Shades, Surface name, Window Name, Shade name, Overhang projection, Overhang elevation, Right fin projection, Right fin offset, left fin projection;
7 Doors, Surface name, Door Name, Quantity, Height, Width, Construction name, U value;
8 Flat roof, Ceiling,Ceiling Name, Length, Width, Area, Tilt, Exposure, Temp diff., Const. name, U value;
9 Gable roof, Roof Name, Length, Width, Height, Area, Tilt, Exposure, Temp diff., Const. name, U value;
10 Gable roof skylight, GableRoof name, Sky Light Name, Qty, Length, Width, Const. name, U value;
11 Floors, Ceiling Name, Length, Width, Area, Tilt, Exposure, Temp diff., Const. name, U value;
12 People, Nos, units, activity, Schedule name;
13 Lighting Flourescent, Value, units, ballast multiplier, Fraction return air, schedule;
14 Lighting incandescent, Value, units, Fraction return air, schedule;
15 Ventilation per person, Rate / quantity, total, units;
16 Ventilation air changes, Rate / quantity, total, units;
17 Treated fresh air, Qty, DB, WB, RH;
18 Equipment Sensible, Total, Diversity Factor, Fraction lost, Units, Schedule;
19 Equipment latent, Total, Units, Schedule;
20 Infiltration, Value, Units;
21 Schedule Occupancy, value, value, etc.;
22 Schedule Lights, value, value, etc.;
23 Schedule Equipment, value, value, etc.;

26. How do I enter numerical data in various units?

Data entry has to be in the units selected.

If SI units selected as default units:

a. Whole meters: xx or xx m
b. Decimal meters: xx.xx or xx.xx m
c. Centimeters: xx cm
d. Millimeters" xx mm

If Inch Pound (IP) units selected as default units:

a. Whole feet: xx or xx '
b. Decimal feet: xx.xx or xx.xx '
c. Feet-whole inches: xx '(space) xx "
d. Feet-Fractional inches: xx'(space)xx-1/xx"
e. Whole inches: xx"
f. Decimal inches: xx.xx"
g. Fractional inches: xx-1/xx"

27. Can I change the safety factors?

Safety factors are user-definable, and can be set as defaults. However the range of values which can be input is as under:

The limits for safety factors are 0 - 20 %.

The default values are as follows.

Sensible load safety = 3%
Supply fan heat gain = 5%
Return fan heat gain = 0%
Return air duct gain = 0%
Latent load safety = 3%
Pump and pipe losses = 0%"
Pump and pipe losses = 0%

(This is a part of the equipment load, not the room load. For centrally air
conditioned systems, the losses are taken to be 3% of the sum of
sensible and latent loads.)

Supply fan heat gains:

Supply fan heat gains could be taken as follows:

Up to 40 mm static pressure, 3%
Between 40 and 50 mm, 5%
Between 50 and 100 mm, 12%
Above 100 mm, 17.5%

28. How many layers can I have in a construction?

A maximum of 10 layers are permitted for layered constructions.

Layers are to be sorted, "Outside" to Inside" by user, unless the construction
is symmetrical, in which case it does not matter. Layers can be sorted

29. Are user-defined materials possible?

User defined materials and constructions are also possible.

30. Is there a limit to the thickness of a material in a construction?

Yes, the limit is 3 metres.

31. What enhancements are expected in version 1.1?

The major enhancements shall be:

1. Return air with plenum.
2. Direct entry of composite U values, and / or ECBC U values.
3. SI output of seasonal loads.
4. At least 6 more cities in the WeDCo database.

32. What is the minimum system requirements?

1. Seasonal and Monthly loads:

Windows® System OS:

* Intel Pentium® IV 1.7 GHz or eq. AMD.
* 512 MB or more of RAM
* 32 MB graphics card.
* 1.0 GB available HD space
* 24x CD-ROM drive
* A 56k or better Internet connection
(for registration only).

2. Hourly loads.

Windows® System XP OS:

* Intel Pentium® IV 2.4 GHz or eq. AMD.
* 1024 MB or more of RAM
* 64 MB graphics card.
* 2.0 GB available HD space
* 24x CD-ROM drive
* A 56k or better Internet connection
(for registration only).

The Pros and Cons of air-conditioning

2007-08-27T06:13:00.000-07:00

Owner of one car, working from home, producing less that 400 kilograms of carbon dioxide, during his live confessions on global warming.

Madonna, owner of 6 cars producing 440,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide, during her Confessions tour, performs at Live Earth in London. Ain't she cute?

Are air-conditioners a necessary evil today?

Air-conditioning systems are used for both comfort and industrial applications. To that extent they are necessary, and not really per se, evil! In hot and humid climates such as India, it is really a boon. All of them increase the efficiency of living. Air-conditioning is essential for hospitals, and also a necessity for industrial processes. Having said that, these devices of comfort consume energy, and do have the potential to deplete the ozone layer and cause global warming.

However, I would like to make one thing clear. The refrigerant gases which circulate in the air-conditioning system, are in a closed system, and have the potential to cause environmental problems only if released into the atmosphere. I think people are now conscious of this, and ensure that these gases are recovered and not leaked out to the atmosphere.

Could you tell us the pros and cons of air-conditioning?

Well, the positive effects of air-conditioning are really very easy to define. Simply put, they provide they keep the human body comfortable, by providing uniform and controlled temperature and relative humidity levels in a closed space, apart from the diverse industrial, critical healthcare, and cold store applications which cannot be achieved by without air-conditioning or refrigeration, as the case may be.

In a non-air-conditioned building, you always have the option to keep the windows open. This option is not possible in an air-conditioned space, since it is a closed space. So, apart from catering to the physical comfort of the human being, air-conditioning systems also need to overcome the limitations of the closed space, as far as fresh air is concerned.

(We cannot really call it fresh air now-a-days! Rather, I think the right term would be outside air!). This controlled amount of fresh air is necessary to dilute the levels of CO2 build-up in the room, and also dilute and exhaust out other gaseous pollutants from the space.

The problem is that window-type room air-conditioners, and non-ducted type split air conditioners really do not have any facility to provide fresh air. Around 60% of the installations in India are split and room air conditioners, so it becomes important to address the issues concerning them.

In earlier models of window type room air conditioners, there used to be a facility of providing around 5 to 6 cubic feet per minute of fresh air which really is just about adequate for a couple sleeping in a bedroom at night, but is as it is totally inadequate for an office. So, it is this prime concern, that the smaller units do not have this facility to provide fresh air.

I do think that it is time that the industry paid some attention to this issue. The concept that the opening and closing of the main door provides adequate fresh really does not hold water in each and every case.

So, really, while there is no apparent current solution to this problem, unless one is ready to do a lot of customisation, its necessary to make sure that the windows of the room and office are opened every morning for at least 1/2 an hour to provide larger ductable type units, though, do have the capability of providing fresh air.

Look, fresh air is required; otherwise you are going to have a feeling of general malaise throughout the day.

Here again, there is every possibility that the fresh air damper is kept closed by the user so as to save power and energy costs. After all, every 1000 cubic feet per minute of fresh air requires around 7 tons of refrigeration to cool it down from the outside conditions to the room conditions.

An International team of researchers have recently announced that hospitals constructed in the 1950's which did not have air-conditioning but had large windows and high ceilings, had a lower rate of infection than modern hospitals, which had mechanized methods of pressurisation. This has been reported in the PLOS Medicine Journal

It not difficult to guess why all of a sudden there is so much interest in the infection issues in hospitals. It's because of the potential HN51 bird flu pandemic.

The next issue I would like to speak of is about keeping the cooling coil and the filter of the air-conditioner clean. In most cases, the filters are choked with filth, and the moist and dirty condition of the cooling coil, coupled with a clogged filter is a prime cause of all sorts of infections.

And then we have the problem of other pollutants in the air-conditioned space which we inadvertently generate, usually without our knowledge. Most offices keep volatile compounds such as disinfectants and other cleaning liquids in the pantry of an office, and the bottle containing these liquids are not usually properly corked or capped. These compounds constantly leak into the air, and their concentrations increase due to the absence of fresh air to dilute them and flush them away. I think that this, apart from the lack of fresh air, is possibly the main cause of absenteeism in Indian offices! Basically, we are speaking of a feeling of illness and a lack of energy, or even watering eyes, without being able to specifically pin-point the cause. And we then seek solutions by visiting the doctor who really may not be able to identify the actual cause, since the symptoms are so generic!

The last issue, I think which deserves attention, is that air conditioners provide air to the room in a chilled state. This chilled air should never be directed directly to an exposed part of the body, especially, and I emphasise this, to the back of the nape of the neck. Prolonged exposure of the nape of the neck to chilled air, can lead to paralysis!

I think if we are able to take care of the points that I have mentioned, we would have really eliminated those so-called "evils" of air-conditioning which are in our control.

As far as the use of safe refrigerants is concerned, there is legislation in place now, to phase out refrigerants which can potentially damage the environment.

What are the effects of refrigerants used in air-conditioners on our environment?

The effects of leaked or released refrigerants on the environment are really three-fold. (These are the known effects, by the way. there may be more about which we have no idea as yet or are unable to pinpoint).

Firstly, there is issue that CFCs, and HCFCs to a lesser extent, damage the Ozone layer. Chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons have atoms of chlorine. This chlorine atom strips away an atom of oxygen from ozone which is a tri-atomic molecule of oxygen, turning ozone into ordinary oxygen. It's the ozone which prevents excessive amounts of ultra-violet rays to reach the earth. Excessive ultraviolet rays are damaging to all living things, and can cause melanoma, a type of skin cancer in humans, eye cataracts, weakened immune systems, reduced plant yields, damage to ocean eco systems and reduced fishing yields, adverse effects on animals and so on. So you see why it's so important to prevent the depletion of the ozone layer.

Secondly, we have the problem of global warming, which is not only linked to excessive energy usage and the production of high levels of carbon dioxide, but also to the fact that many of the newer refrigerants that are replacing the older ones, have the potential to increase global warming if released into the atmosphere. It’s really ironical, that a depleting ozone layer may actually bring about global cooling!!

Or is it that the phenomenon of global warming is merely a cyclical event?

"Do rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations cause increasing global temperatures, or could it be the other way around? This is one of the questions being debated today. One thing is certain-- earth's climate has been warming and cooling on it's own for at least the last 400,000 years, as the data below show".

http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/last_400k_yrs.html

So, you see that merely substituting new refrigerants may not be necessarily the only path to tread. We must look at more radical ideas, or combine modern thinking, with the retro concepts that we threw away long back. Some of these are, of course that of using ammonia as a refrigerant, and the incorporation of natural cooling techniques.

We have a global energy crisis on our hands and soon we will not have a choice about what we do. Government legislation is now in place and the heat transfer coefficients of building construction is now defined by ECBC, The Energy Code Building Council.

Thirdly, while the CFCs and HCFCs were really harmless to human health, (and that's why they have been extensively used in propellants and aerosols. Till the 1980s, aerosols really contributed to over 40% of the release of these gases in the environment), the newer refrigerants, especially the transient refrigerant R-123, have the potential to cause liver cancer under prolonged exposure, as documented by The Lancet.

(The earlier refrigerants used in AC's (e.g. CFC's & HCFCs) were not toxic at any dilution but had a molecule of chlorine, which had an affinity to radical oxygen and when leaked this was not good for the environment & ozone layer. Hence newer refrigerants were created like R123, R134, R-22, R-13, R-11 which have no chlorine in them but which had other side effects. According to the Lancet Journal R 123 is found to have caused cirrhosis of the liver in plant operators. R 134 is also found to have some level of toxicity if leaked. R 22 is used in medium & small AC's, R 11in car AC's & R11 & R13 are also used in aerosols and are responsible in some in some way for the increase in global warming. However as per the Montreal protocol R 22 can be used by the developing countries upto 2030. (The effects if any, of newer refrigerants like R407C will be known only after a certain period of years.)

These new complications have lead to a worldwide debate whether or not to start re-using ammonia a very effective refrigerant, which was also completely safe for the environment and which though toxic if leaked could easily be sensed by the olfactory system of the nose.

The phenomenon of "Sick Building Syndrome" is usually caused by gaseous elements that exist in an office environment which are let out by various materials, paints & furnishings used in modern offices. Melamine, Pesticides & phenyl bottles with loosely fitted caps are some of the harmful materials used in modern offices, coupled with the fact that inadequate or even nonexistent fresh air levels are maintained in the space.

How can we run our air-conditioners most effectively thus causing least damage to the environment?

Of course, a prime factor would be to ensure that the air-conditioning system is sized correctly. The unfortunate situation is that 30-40% of all installations are oversized, due to current methods of load calculation, and because of not taking into account factors such as external window shading.

Newer methods of load calculation, such as hourly load calculations are now being developed indigenously, and are on the verge of being available at reasonable cost.

Really, using an air-conditioning system, per se, does not damage the environment! It does consume energy, and so in that way it does have an indirect effect on the environment, since the production of energy may have been through a non-renewable source, such as nuclear power, or by the burning of coal.

So having understood that, it’s pretty easy to figure out that we must promote the use of renewable energy sources such as hydronic, wind, and solar energy. Once again, this is not a choice available to the general user.

What can be done, however, is to ensure that building construction is carried out in such a manner, so as to make it "green". See, "green" is a colour that happens to reflect a natural environment. So, by constructing buildings, which make maximum use of any sort of free-cooling, and are constructed using materials and constructions which have low heat transfer conductance values, and say, by ensuring some sort of treatment to the roof, and yes, making sure that glass and glazing areas are not only kept to the minimum, but are adequately shaded externally to provide substantial shading to the window to reduce the heat gains, and by planting a lot of trees, for the same purpose, to provide the building with a shade, and maybe, by using some high-tech paints on walls and roofs, paints which have a high emissivity to prevent absorption of heat, then we would have achieved low values of building fabric conductance and therefore reduced the air-conditioning load.

As far as the internal loads are considered, the use of high efficiency low energy Compact Fluorescent Lamps and energy efficient computer monitors and CPUs will also bring down the air-conditioning loads. (Looks like we are supposed to ignore the effect of mercury, which is present in CFL lamps, on the environment when the lamps are disposed!)

In larger installations, metering the right amount of fresh air, depending on the level of carbon dioxide in the space, would help reduce fresh air loads, when peak occupancy does not exist. The use of daylighting and maybe, if the possibility exists, of pre-cooling the fresh air naturally, as has been done in the CII-_Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, would also bring down the air-conditioning loads.

As far as the temperature is concerned, maintain room temperatures between 24 and 25 deg C, and even higher temperatures are comfortable, in very hot exterior environments, such as the interiors.

Of course, perception of comfort varies from culture to culture and also depend on the clothing that the person is wearing and the metabolic rate. In our quest for comfort we should not set the air conditioner at a temperature lower than required as for every one degree that we lower the temperature we are using 15 to 20% more energy. Running ceiling fans at slow speed while maintaining temperatures at even as high as 27 degrees C, is comfortable! I can say that from first hand experience, as I conduct training in HVAC, and there seems to be consensus amongst the trainees, that this is indeed so!

A very good energy-saving solution, apart from switching off the air-conditioners during lunchtime, and say, ½ an hour before office closure. This simple action over an 8 hour period, can itself bring about a reduction of energy consumption of 10%!

Can you tell us some alternate cooling techniques?

India has a heritage of naturally cooled buildings, from the sheetal Minar to the Taj Mahal. These naturally cooled buildings make use of some natural principles of cooling. A few of the common ones are, evaporative cooling, which is the phenomenon that the dry bulb temperature of the air, the one you measure by a thermometer, is lowered without using any energy, but merely by passing the air through a spray of water. We have all seen this concept used in desert coolers which use this evaporative cooling technique to cool the air. The same principle should be applied to buildings, wherever and whenever possible, especially in the arid and hot parts of the country.

The other natural principle that has been used for thousands of years to keep buildings naturally cooled is the fact that if we remove the heat from the building structure itself, the air within will remain cool. This is how the Taj Mahal is cooled, as it is built over a huge block of basaltic rock, which is cooled all throughout winter by the chilled waters of the Yamuna, and during summer, the heat from the structure of the Taj flows into this chilled rock, thereby keeping the Taj cool!! I think its is due to this particular reason that the Taj should figure in the Top Ten Wonders of the world, and it foretells and shows the way to energy conservation!

The CII Godrej Green Business Centre makes use the principal of pre-cooling large cavity walls with fresh air at night, and then, during the day, the warm ambient air which is sucked though the cooled mass, is pre-cooled, before entering the space or the air handler. The CII Green building Centre has been given the prestigious "Platinum" rating by LEED, the "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design", which provides guidelines based on a point system for evaluating the "greenness" of a building.

An Indian chapter of LEED has also been incorporated recently, so that practical standards for Green Buildings could be set as is suitable for the warm and humid climate of India, and taking into account local building techniques and materials.

Recently, on 27th May, the ECBC, that is the Energy Conservation Building Code has been released by BEE, the Bureau of energy Efficiency, which provides guidelines to states, for all aspects of building construction to reduce the energy usage of large buildings.

The ICICI Bank Towers located in Bandra - Kurla complex, has also incorporated green building concepts.

What according to you is the future of the Air conditioning systems?

I think that the future of air-conditioning lies in an integration of everything that I have spoken on, from the construction of Green buildings, to using renewable energy sources, the use of refrigerants which do not damage the environment, and the integration of natural cooling methods. If we do not do something radical, I'm afraid that we are leaving a terrible legacy for our children to deal with. What’s more so, mere legislation cannot be a solution to all the problems that we face today. It is the action by the individual, by his inner sense of responsibility that can bring about a sustainable infrastructure, and in balance with the natural environment. We will need to sacrifice some of our pleasures and comforts, and if we do that voluntarily, well and good, otherwise the laws of nature will ensure it at some time or the other.

Local Cooling

So, how can you do your bit to help prevent Global Warming? Easy. Start a little Local Cooling by optimizing your processor's power consumption.

LocalCooliing-1.03.exe

Download the 100% free LocalCooling Application and automatically optimize your PC's power consumption. Join the LocalCooling project today and start fighting global warming from your desktop. From the Local Cooling Application you are directly presented with detailed information on how much power your PC is consuming based on a large database of hardware and in-depth research.

By adjusting the power mode settings our advanced algorithms will predict how much you will save based on past PC usage and statistical data. Every time LocalCooling saves power by either turning of your screen, putting your hard drive to sleep when not used or shutting down your PC when you are away your savings stats will start to grow. Download LocalCooling today and optimize your PC's energy efficiency in minutes.

Local Cooling will:
- Cut your energy bills
- Reduce the amount of Greenhouse Gas CO2 emissions as a direct result of your reduced PC power consumption
- Give you full control over any power mode settings
- Improve your overall computing experience and efficiency.
- Show you in detail how much you have saved since installing the software.

Here are ten ways to reduce the energy consumption from your PC: Read the alternate text).

http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Energy-Savers/