ATLANTA – Reducing energy costs through reuse of air to help make homes cool for low-income households in hot and humid climates is the goal of a student research project being funded by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Through ASHRAE’s grants-in-aids program, Simge Andolsun, a student at Texas A&M University, plans to model a new HVACR energy-saving strategy with partial conditioning or reuse of air. Partial conditioning is based on using the remaining energy of the air returning from the occupied zones in unoccupied zones before it returns to the system or is exhausted from the system, according to Andolsun.

“The strategy is expected to provide substantial - over 50 percent - reduction in the overall HVACR energy consumption of residential buildings before any onsite energy reduction,” according to the project, Partial Conditioning (Reuse of Air) as an Energy Saving Strategy for Sustainable Affordable Housing in Hot and Humid Climates.

Andolsun is one of 21 students who will receive a grant through ASHRAE’s Graduate Student Grant-In-Aid Award Program, which is designed to encourage students to continue their education in preparation for service in the HVACR industry. The grants, totaling $210,000, are awarded to full-time graduate students of ASHRAE-related technologies.

Publication date: 06/13/2011