Energy Codes to Resilience: ASHRAE Learning Institute Courses Address Need-to-Know Topics
From eSociety, December 2018
From commercial building energy audits to resilience to chilled beam systems to operations and maintenance, 20 courses from ASHRAE Learning Institute (ALI) are addressing topics industry professionals need to know.
ALI is offering five full-day seminars and 15 half-day courses during the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Atlanta.
“The demands placed on buildings professionals and their teams mean that maintaining a high level of knowledge is essential to keep up with the technological advances within our industry,” says 2018-19 ASHRAE President Sheila J. Hayter. “ALI courses provide in-depth, high-quality technical training, giving professionals the tools needed to create a healthier, more energy efficient built environment.”
All courses are open for registration and are eligible for Professional Development Hours (PDHs) or Continuing Education Credits (CEUs). ASHRAE recommends participants check with their specific State Board for PDH and/or CEU requirements.
Below are a few courses being offered at the conference:
“Commercial Building Energy Audits” (6 Hour)
Jim Kelsey, P.E., Member ASHRAE, BEAP, LEED® AP
Jan. 12
This seminar provides guidance on how to perform commercial building energy audits. Best practices and other information relevant for building owners, managers and government entities are covered. The seminar includes a summary of materials essential for performing ASHRAE Level 1, 2, and 3 audits, time-saving tips for every auditor, how to hire an auditor, what to ask for in a comprehensive audit report and how to build a successful energy efficiency retrofit team.
“Operations and Maintenance of High-Performance Buildings” (6 Hour)
Laurie Gilmer, P.E., Member ASHRAE, LEED® AP
Jan. 12
Operating and maintaining high-performance buildings often requires different actions than for a typical commercial or institutional building. The course includes an interactive group project to reinforce concepts such as how to identify and define energy and maintenance management metrics and how to make the business case for changes to an existing building and its systems.
Understanding and Designing Chilled-Beam Systems (3 Hour)
Ken Loudermilk, P.E., Member ASHRAE
Jan. 14
This course is primarily designed for mechanical engineers with at least three years of experience in the design of commercial HVAC systems. Chilled-beam systems save on cooling and transport energy by decoupling most or all of the space sensible loads from the air-distribution system and removing them with water, a much more efficient heat transfer medium.
Attendees will review HVAC fundamentals as they relate to chilled-beam system design. They will also understand the system benefit, be able to identify suitable applications, and learn how to design chilled-beam systems to optimize the energy and operational benefits. Properly identifying and controlling equipment and components that optimize design are also major components of this course. Efficient design of a chilled-beam system requires some departure from practices and conventions used to design all-air VAV systems.
As most North American HVAC designers have almost exclusively used VAV systems, they are often not aware of the energy benefits that can be derived by departure from some of these VAV-system rule-of-thumb design procedures. This course seeks to identify those areas where slight design modifications can greatly enhance the performance of the system.
Choosing the Right Energy Code for your Project—IECC 2018 or ASHRAE 90.1-2016 (6 Hour)
McHenry (Mack) Wallace, P.E., Member ASHRAE, LEED® AP
Jan. 15
This seminar will compare the requirements of ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2016 and the IECC. It is based on the instructor's experience with the two documents and will explain how to apply the codes based on the project design. The participants will identify the effort and compromises required to show compliance with codes based on the project design. This seminar will provide the information necessary to make the code determination with full knowledge of the requirements that must be met.
How Smart, Efficient, Sustainable Systems Lead to Improved Resilience (3 Hour)
Tom Lawrence, Ph.D., P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, LEED® AP, and Dru Crawley, Ph.D., AIA, Fellow ASHRAE, BEMP
Jan. 15
In the case of individual buildings, resilience can depend on diverse issues such as building function, interrelated systems and equipment, and occupant demographics. This course provides a descriptive summary of the concept of resilience in the built environment and how sustainability, efficiency, and smart technology can help improve resilience.
The concept of resilience in the context of the built environment applies to both manmade (e.g., terrorism) and natural (e.g., weather events) events as they influence the infrastructure and systems that our society is built around. Future trends and technologies will also be discussed.