ATLANTA - To assist the industry in meeting the challenges of sustainability, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has announced that guidance on designing for effective energy resource use is being emphasized in the newest edition of the ASHRAE Handbook.

The 2009 ASHRAE Handbook – Fundamentals, covers basic principles and provides essential data for HVACR design. In all, the Fundamentals volume includes more than 1,000 pages and 39 chapters on a variety of HVACR topics, covering general engineering information, basic materials, load and energy calculations, and duct and pipe design.

The new chapter on sustainability defines this concept for HVACR and describes the principles, design considerations, and detailed evaluations needed in designing sustainable HVACR systems.

“HVACR engineering design on projects concerned with performance and sustainability requires understanding of more than just HVACR,” said Dave Grumman, who oversaw writing of the chapter on behalf of ASHRAE’s technical committee on building environmental impacts and sustainability. “Engineers must consider projected energy and water demands, storm water runoff generation, waste generation, and air quality impacts. The guidance in this new chapter will assist engineers as they strive for overall sustainability in buildings.”

The chapter covers characteristics of sustainability, factors impacting sustainability, primary HVACR considerations in sustainable design, factors driving sustainability into design practice, and designing for effective energy resource use.

Another change is the addition of climate data for 5,564 stations on the CD accompanying the book, an increase of 1,142 stations compared to the 2005 Handbook on the CD accompanying the book. A subset of data for selected stations is included in the printed chapter, Climatic Design Information.

Other new information can be found in chapters titled Psychrometrics, Mass Transfer, Fundamentals of Control, Thermal Comfort, Indoor Environmental Health, Fenestration, Ventilation and Infiltration, Nonresidential Cooling and Heating Load Calculations, Space Air Diffusion, Duct Design, Insulation for Mechanical Systems, Airflow Around Buildings, Refrigerants, Thermophysical Properties of Refrigerants, and Measurement and Instruments.

The 2009 ASHRAE Handbook is published in two editions. One contains inch-pound (I-P) units of measurement, and the other contains the International System of Units (SI).

The cost of the 2009 ASHRAE Handbook – Fundamentals, which includes the CD is $195, in I-P or SI. The 2009 ASHRAE Handbook CD, which contains both the I-P and SI editions, costs $155.

To order, contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 404-321-5478, or visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore.

Publication date: 06/22/2009