| If you have trouble viewing this email, click here to view it in your browser. |
|
|
|
 |
|
Shaping Tomorrow's Built Environment Today
|
|
|
|
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a five-year investment of $104 million in four new NSF Engineering Research Centers (ERCs), focused on tackling the carbon challenge, expanding physical capabilities using robotics, making heating and cooling more sustainable and enabling the U.S. supply and manufacturing of natural rubber. One of these centers, the NSF ERC for Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH), aims to create a transformative, sustainable refrigerant life cycle to reduce global warming from refrigerants while increasing the energy efficiency of heating, ventilation and cooling. Earlier in the year, ASHRAE supported a successful bid from the University of Kansas (KU) for EARTH, and KU will receive $26 million in funding. Read more |
|
|
This week, ASHRAE launched a new Data Center Resources page to help professionals maintain optimal temperature and humidity levels in data centers, where servers and other computing equipment generate significant amounts of heat. This resource hub provides data center design and operations professionals with the latest standards, guidelines and best practices, helping them enhance sustainability. Read more |
|
| |
| |
|
New England could require a vast renewable build-out to achieve state decarbonization goals. Most of the region’s six states have set policies to reduce emissions at least 80% from 1990 levels by mid-century, using renewable energy to electrify heating and transportation systems. Current policies will shift New England peak load from summer to winter by the mid-2030s and create large disparities in electricity demand between mild and severe cold weather years. Read more |
| |
| |
|
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently revealed that renewable energy sources, including geothermal, hydropower, solar and wind, are 30% of total U.S. electrical generating capacity. Moreover, June was the tenth month in a row in which solar was the largest source of new capacity, making up 97% of new capacity in June and 77% during the first six months of 2024. Read more |
|
Join Michael Licastro, Associate Member ASHRAE, and Technical Editor Rebecca Matyasovski as they discuss using hydronic HVAC systems to aid in decarbonization. This technical feature appears in the September 2024 issue of ASHRAE Journal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By Jason Robbins, P.E., Member ASHRAE, Benjamin Skelton, P.E., Member ASHRAE, and Francis Kohout, P.E., BCxP
McDonald’s global flagship, built on the Walt Disney World campus in Florida, is the first quick service restaurant to go net zero. To achieve this, a net positive electric design was implemented in the building project, as well as the elimination of natural gas-source cooking and water heating equipment typically used in this kind of building. On-site solar photovoltaic (PV) generation offset the entire annual electric consumption of the high energy use intensity (EUI) 24-hour store. Download here
|
|
|
Abstract submissions for the REHVA HVAC World Congress CLIMA taking place June 4-6, 2025 in Milan, Italy, have been extended until August 31, 2024. The REHVA HVAC World Congress CLIMA is the leading international scientific congress in the field of HVAC and topics include new HVAC components and systems, HVAC impact on comfort and health of occupants and operatores, environmental impact of new technologies, smart buildings and more. Please visit the CLIMA website for more information on the conference.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Engineers at Tsinghua University have made a nuclear safety breakthrough by shutting off power to the cooling systems of two large-scale nuclear reactors and showing their design can’t meltdown because it passively cools itself. Conventional nuclear reactors require power to release water or CO2 to combat the heat produced by radioactive fuel. The researchers developed a cooling system design using a helium-cooled pebble bed reactor that naturally circulates the heat through uranium “pebbles” coated in carbon. Read more
|
|
Feedback
|
Ideas for future ASHRAE HVAC&R Industry News content are welcome. Email us.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
