|
Not mine but worth sharing...
"The
best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or
even touched."
Helen Keller
On
heating lines,
"It's
about going from A to B without losing
°C" unknown
“I don’t care if you work for me, I don’t care if you
work for so-and-so, I just want you to design like you give a
damn.”
C. Sinclair, Architecture for Humanity
"Manufacturers need to use less so-called jargon
monoxide and communicate more about the human experience, not
just about the object."
Esty Pujadas
"A moron switch: a switch which enable something to
operate more on than necessary."
Paul Raymer
A throw away air filter is worth throwing away.
The answer to almost everything related to indoor air quality is, IT DEPENDS. Hal Levin
We are running out of atmosphere to put our pollution in.
There is a backlash against complexity. The coming together of the architects and engineers is what will take us to the next level. The training of architects and engineers is leading to simplicity and elegance. Joseph Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng.
I don’t like mini splits. They’re ugly and ineffective. They’re a passing fad. Joseph Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng.
|
We’re celebrating February with 28 bits of wit, wisdom and
witticisms – one for each day of the month. Most are original,
some are borrowed, a few are derivatives from other fields - all should be considered
seriously. Share with those that care...
1) If some cause and effect relationships are not fully established
scientifically - it’s best to
take precautionary measures.
2) If building to ASHRAE Standards is considered an upgrade, then
building anything below an ASHRAE Standard must be considered a
downgrade...so are you
paying too much for downgrades? Think about it.
3) Creating
3400°F flame temperatures in a 98% efficient furnace or
boiler to maintain 72°F is not sustainable no matter how you
look at it.
4) Proponents of naturally ventilated spaces might want to consider
the stack effect and powerful draft it pulls when the outside
air is hot, humid and polluted. At over 10 air changes per hour
it only takes minutes for the quality of the indoor air to
become the quality of the outdoor air.
5) We don’t inhale thermal comfort -
it's sensed predominately
through our skin with radiation being one of the defining
factors - so remind me why we try to use air exclusively to
condition people?
6) 100% of all condensation problems in buildings conditioned
exclusively with air did not have
radiant cooling
panels to
blame. Go figure.
7) Once again for the gazillionth time…indoor air quality is not a
proxy for thermal comfort quality.
8) We're repositioning HVAC under the healthcare, cash flow management &
asset protection industry instead of construction, are you ok
with that?
9) Don’t ya just wish the makers of Clearasil would come up with
paint to vanish away all the control acne adoring the walls of
American homes?
10) Are we done polishing the cannon balls in
architecture, building construction and engineering? I mean, if
you can’t measure beyond two decimal places with standard
instrumentation - it hardly makes sense to calculate to
four!
11) If architects and their clients really cared about energy and
IEQ they’d stop commissioning origami buildings.
12) Developers of CADD programs have figured out how to make
everything plumb, level and square so that contractors have
something to laugh at over safety meetings and coffee breaks.
13) How do you figure that an electric based HVAC system is 100%
efficient when it’s connected to a coal fired power plant where
the cooling tower spews copious amounts of unused energy into
the environment? A cooling tower at a power plant is by far the biggest
oxymoron known to mankind.
14) Building scientists, interior designers, HVAC and lighting
engineers are to the building as DNA is to the body. This is why
architects should only be commissioned after the DNA has been
defined.
15) Architecture constructs a judgment conflict between what you
spend on stimulating your vision versus what you spend
stimulating what you
smell, feel and hear.
16) A very famous architect recently stated something that could be
interpreted as, “sustainability is thoughtless and a
mantra for less talented people to get their way.” You’ll have
to guess who it is but his first name was Frank and his last
name rhymes with scary.
17) 125 million visual receptors per eye vs. appx 166,000 thermal
sensors in the skin - is why, “In a Town Called Comfort, Only
the Blind Can See”.
18) If construction were a ProAm boxing match, where would the
minimum requirements of the building codes
be positioned?
19) If ASHRAE's High Performance Buildings is not the cook book for
your new building you may want to look for another chef.
20) Let’s make complicated
programmable thermostats’ with small
little buttons and a 20 page manual printed in #6 font and then
sell them to older people who have or are losing their visual
acuity, manual dexterity and cognitive ability. Duh?
21) Is it true - if all one knows about is
air filtration,
everything looks like particulate?
22) 100% of all
hardwood flooring
problems in buildings conditioned
exclusively with air did not have radiant floor heating to
blame.
23) EcoBling for houses, a sure cure for EcoGuilt - the gift that
keeps on giving! Available now without prescription at your
local RES outlet.
24) Sales before science is just wrong! A message to those selling
high efficiency appliances for systems needing to operate above
the combustion gas dew point.
25) The hereditary conflict between consumer and contractor is borne
unto every construction project from the process of building for
bullion versus building for the body.
26) We can move forward once the construction industry grasps the H
in
HVAC
is not exclusively heating comfort, the V is not
exclusively air quality and the AC is not exclusively cooling
comfort.
27) They are part of the autonomic functions of the body, the ASHRAE
Standards attempt to reflect them and the commerce of
contracting gets to ignore them. Guess what “they” are?
28) Help me understand why most HVAC technicians say separate ventilation
systems are more effective but the problem with hydronics is you
need one? Duh?
There you have it...our ode to each day in February, 2014 - have
a great year.
If February had more than 28 days...
If the thermostat is supposed to be our thermal ambassador to
the HVAC system, why doesn’t it sense what we sense? Does this
make sense?
Rule #1 with HVAC – its not what you get for
3% to 5%...it’s what you didn’t pay for that will
add discomfort and stress to your life.
At the end of the day,
building enclosures must change to enable maximum
performance from indoor environmental systems – full
stop.
Character traits of people I like working for: plumb,
level and square with a bit of a chip off the block.
Architects see engineers as solution providers;
engineers see architecture as something that fouls or
facilitates maximum performance from indoor
environmental systems.
Start with mandatory 97% boiler eff. or HP COPs > 4 and
work backwards; ask what would the building and HVAC
systems have to look like?
The retention or release of ones body heat is an
intimate function of the
mean radiant temperature ...this must become the
focus of comfort control.
It's time for "Hydronics Haiku" need I say more?
The difference between control automation and control
intimidation is highly dependant on the skills of user.
Am I the only one who finds it odd that
most HVAC designers never get to talk to the HVAC client?
The temperature of stratified air in a space conditioned
with radiant floors will never exceed that of the
radiant floor panel temperature (sans discussion on
solar gains).
Prescribing before diagnosing leads to unintended
consequences.
If satisfying a thermostat setting destroys the process
of decontamination, deodorization and dehumidification
of ventilation air the HVAC system is dysfunctional.
My ethos towards humanity and skills as an indoor
climate designer doesn't allow me to accept the rise and fall of
outdoor temperatures as a means of population control.
A few by others...
The indoor environment doesn’t
come with nutritional labels – it’s up to you to write your own.
We can not forget - energy efficiency in buildings is
for the benefit of conditioning the occupants. Dr. B.W. Olesen
An energy declaration without a declaration related to
the indoor environment makes no sense. Dr. F. Nicol
Owning a recirculating range hoods would be like owning
a recirculating toilet. Dr. J. Straube
It's taken America 10 years to realize that tankless
water heaters work better with tanks. Dr. J. Straube
If you want to something to be dirt-cheap, make it out
of dirt. Unknown
Comfort should always trump energy use. In truth, we
are, first of all, in the business of applied biophysics. Doing
so using the least amount of energy is not the goal, but part of
the process. Dan In-Hout
To reduce energy consumption by decreasing the quality
of the indoor environment is a bad investment. Dr. B.W. Olesen
"...efficiently
wasted energy is not sustainability." Dr. W. Bahnfleth,
P.E., 2013/14 ASHRAE President
"...air
pollution
is
not
a
lifestyle
choice
but
a
ubiquitous
involuntary
environmental
exposure...it
can
affect
everyone"
J.Bonnici,
M.D
"It’s as if we’re a screwdriver in a world where people
don’t quite understand screws."
R. Hoffman, Linked-In co-founder |
