The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) EnergyPlus building energy simulation software has helped in designing more efficient buildings for more than a decade, but it was difficult to use. Now, DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has announced the development of a graphical user interface (GUI) to make the program much easier to use.
Taco announced that its “March to Efficiency” promotion will begin on Friday, March 1. Each day in March, Taco will give away a featured e-smart product — the company’s most resource-saving technology — or a seat in a factory training course.
The United States is consuming energy considerably more efficiently and with lower emissions than just five years ago thanks to a number of modern technologies that are changing decades-old patterns, according to a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy.
The “Education … The Key to a Sustainable Future” conference provides lectures, hands-on sessions, and nearly 80 industry exhibits for persons providing training in the HVACR and energy-auditing fields.
Educational sessions at the 35th World Energy Engineering Congress, held Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, covered a broad range of energy-related topics. Two of particular interest to the HVAC industry included energy management and building commissioning.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the superstorm it spawned in the northeastern United States, manufacturers represented by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) have increased production to meet the unexpected increased demand for residential and light commercial boilers, furnaces, and heat pumps.
Although residential electricity consumption is increasing, a national survey finds Americans blame their utilities or their inefficient homes for their rising energy bills rather than putting the blame on themselves for using more power.
“Energy is what keeps the United States, and the world, going,” said Colin Powell, retired four-star general, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and secretary of state for President George W. Bush. “And what I see is demand for energy is getting greater and greater and greater.”
According to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Americans used less energy in 2011 than in the previous year due mainly to a shift to higher-efficiency energy technologies in the transportation and residential sectors.
The global energy map is changing in dramatic fashion, primarily due to increased oil and gas production in North America, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced as it introduced the 2012 edition of its World Energy Outlook.
