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Specious Beliefs in Code Gods

By Energy Rant No Comments
I received a lot of feedback on last week’s Code Compliance Villains, which described blunders that occurred as part of my high-efficiency boiler installation. Such mistakes would likely erode 50% of the estimated savings claimed in a deemed savings document. Efficiency issues included: Improper outdoor temperature sensor location giving false inputs to the controls. High boiler water temperature setpoints resulting in lower operating efficiency. Heat exchanger piped in parallel, rather than counterflow, resulting in higher boiler water temperatures and less efficiency. The problem with efficient equipment and energy codes is that equipment is tested in the lab, and hands are…
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EE Ignorance

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Sustainability No Comments
A few years ago I was on a marketing visit to a hospital for non-energy related services and of course I had to work energy efficiency into the conversation.  “So, have you done any energy efficiency upgrades in recent years?”  “Yes we replaced windows in the old section of the facility and installed new boilers.  We’re all set with energy efficiency.” Palm, meet forehead. I could be a lousy salesman but that conversation ended with a pregnant pause.  This was a hospital, probably the most energy intensive type of commercial facility there is, and replacing windows might reduce consumption by…
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Hannibal, Max and Me

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Retrocommissioning (RCx) No Comments
I hate electricity.  I love what it allows me to do but I just don’t understand it.  I sat through an in-house safety training session on arc flash, which I actually understood – there is a huge burst of energy through a “fault” that melts and actually vaporizes the copper conductor, which expands 7,000 times at Mach 2 and 1 million degrees F (made up numbers but the premise is correct).  It’s one heck of an explosion.  During a break I was asking our electrical engineers what the difference between a neutral and ground was, the flow of electrons, the…
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