New Ways to Turn Waste Heat into Electricity
Researchers at Penn State have developed a practical way to harness the energy from curved, hot surfaces and convert it to electricity. Devices known as thermoelectric generators have been around for some time. They use silicon and other compounds to convert heat into a small electric current. These devices have been mounted onto rigid metal […]
Immersion Cooling Technology Gaining Ground in Data Centers
Cooling of data centers is one of the US Department of Energy’s challenges and poses a real challenge for HVAC design engineers. Traditionally, this has been done by blowing large volumes of cold air through the building. Directing the air through the racks to pass over cooling fins to dedicated return air aisles behind the […]
Energy Efficiency using 100% Outside Air?
Every HVAC engineer knows that air quality usually improves with the more outside air that is brought into a space. This is particularly true for hospitals and other spaces where indoor air contamination is an issue. However, using lots of outside air means also having to use more energy to condition the air. In many […]
Gender Differences Create Expensive Overcooling in Offices
A Nature.com scientific report provides additional confirmation of something most of us that work in offices or who design office buildings already know – women are always cold and men always hot in the office. The authors analyzed over 38,000 responses from a Center for the Built Environment survey performed by the University of California, […]
FEATURED TESTIMONIAL – “Wonderful Training for the PE”
“I took my computer based exam after going through the newly developed DTC training for Mechanical CBT, and it was a huge help. And the BEST news? I passed!! The testing strategy provided by Dr. Tom and team allowed me to stay relaxed and I found myself with plenty of time after each section to go back and […]
Utilizing Parking Garages to Heat Homes
A company in Switzerland has developed panels that can be installed in underground parking garages that can provide geothermal heat to adjacent homes. Enerdrape has created 1.3 m x 0.7 m (4 ft x 3 ft) thin metal panels that can be installed onto concrete walls in underground parking garages. The panels exchange heat with […]
Cooling from Saltwater
Standing on the beach and feeling the cooling breezes from the ocean is a great way cool off in the summer, but scientists in Saudi Arabia have come up with a new way of providing cooling using the power of saltwater. When certain salts are dissolved into water, they absorb energy and the solution becomes […]
Bedroom Temperature and Ventilation Affect Sleep Quality
OK, that might not be a huge revelation, but a new study published in Science and Technology for the Built Environment says we should pay more attention to both. According to a recent ASHRAE article on the study, the researchers selected average people in their own homes and monitored temperature, indoor air quality via CO2, and […]
