I have always been a big fan of the Building Energy Operations guru, Mr. Tom Hartman. I ran across this article a while back in AutomatedBuildings.com which outlines some unconventional concepts regarding building design which could shake up the industry.
In a nutshell, Hartman suggests that the construction industry switch to a "“Performance Based” Building Design and Operations" strategy. The strategy addresses the main need of ACCOUNTABILITY for energy performance within the design and construction process.
Monday, February 22, 2010
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- 121gigawatts
- I'm a building energy engineer spending the year on a Fulbright Grant in Singapore. My focus in is building energy optimization and HVAC technologies. This is not an official Dept of State website or blog. The views and information presented does not represent the Fulbright Program or the US Dept of State.
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Hi Clayton, I am a friend of Josh and Jenn Tweedy and I follow their blog. I saw that you follow it too, and that you write your own blog here. My name is J.P. Robinette and I am a mechanical engineer working for a company that delivers turn-key biomass boilers and co-gen facilities. As a turn-key OEM, we design everything in the system, including the building that houses our boiler; and in many cases the turbine and auxiliary power equipment. The article you reference is very interesting to me, as we are often in the gray area of mechanical, structural, and architectural design. It seems to me, when looking at industry, that mechanical design practices and architectural/structural design practices differ GREATLY when the reality is: they are both engineering. This article attempts to address these issues with what looks to be a hybrid of engineering practices and a focus on performance. This makes great sense to me, as I am positioned to see the advantages of the way some of these disciplines approach problems. As one company delivering the entire package including mechanical, electrical, structural, and architectural we are challenged to optimize our design through a sort of “interdepartmental iteration”. This is challenging enough for a small group of only 20 or so engineers, but when scaled to the extent Mr. Hartman refers to, this is a global mind-set change for one of the most old-school, timeline driven industries around: buildings. He talks about a very sound approach in this article, and lets all hope the building industry is up to the challenge!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, feel free to check out my blog www.engineerpepper.blogspot.com.
Take care,
J.P.