Translated Energy Simulation Aided Design Standard to Help Spanish-Speaking Engineers Achieve Energy Goals
From eSociety, April 2019
ASHRAE’s newly translated energy simulation aided design standard can now help Spanish-speaking engineers meet their energy efficient benchmarks.
The ASHRAE Argentina Chapter translated Standard 209-2018, Energy Simulation Aided Design for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, into Spanish recently creating, Estándar ASHRAE 209-2018, Diseño Asistido por Simulación Energética para Edificios excepto Edificios Residenciales de Baja Altura.
One of the translators Verónica Rosón, BEAP, Member ASHRAE, who is a Chapter Technology Transfer Committee co-chair for the ASHRAE Argentina Chapter, said the translated standard can help Spanish-speaking engineers, architects and technicians create projects that are international benchmarks for sustainable buildings.
ASHRAE Standard 209 describes a methodology to apply building energy modeling to the design process and outlines minimum requirements for providing energy design assistance using building energy simulation and analysis in new and existing buildings.
The standard resource is helpful for modelers seeking to quantify the impact of design decisions at the point in time at which they are being made.
Rosón explains the significance of the standard and more below.
1. What is the significance of this topic being translated into Spanish?
It is important to translate this topic into Spanish because the majority of the countries in South and Central America are Spanish-speaking.
In the last few years, ASHRAE chapters or sections in many of these countries have proposed themselves to provide the latest standards in Spanish to their building communities and professionals working in the HVAC&R industry.
Contributing to the translation of standards, just as the translation of any other material of interest, has also been an important activity for Student Branches. Last but not least, economically speaking, translating this standard will also help the Argentina chapter.
2. Why is it important to translate this topic now?
In the case of Argentina, energy was subsidized and provided at a very low cost until recently. As this has changed in the last couple of years, more and more attention is being paid to energy efficiency.
The possibility of saving energy by using an “Energy Simulation Aided Design” standard or any other standard aiming at regulating or reducing energy consumption has become really important.
3. What lessons, facts and/or guidance can an engineer working in the field take away from this translated standard?
Standard 209 defines the minimum requirements for providing energy design assistance using building energy simulation and analysis.
By means of this translated standard, an engineer, architect or technician working in Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay, Spain, Argentina or any other Spanish-speaking country in the world can project his/her work using a global standard that will allow his/her work to become an international benchmark for sustainable buildings.
4. How can this translation further the industry's knowledge on this topic?
This translation will enable professionals to put into practice and test the standard’s scope and usefulness. The more tools engineers and architects have, the more energy efficient their projects will be.
5. Were there any surprises or unforeseen challenges for you when preparing this translated standard?
As this is not the first standard* we have translated regarding energy-efficiency, the vocabulary and methods proposed by Standard 209 were in line with what we had already worked on.
In general, the hardest part is translating specific references to American institutions or acronyms, which have no literal translation into Spanish.
*The ASHRAE Argentina Chapter translated Standard 100-2015, Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings, into Spanish.