Tag: Energy

Vehicle to Building Integration

Vehicle to Building Integration

Vehicle to Building Integration

01/08/18

“How can we integrate electric vehicles with buildings energy systems?”

 

With the ascent of building integrated renewable energy, the need for storage is now more important than ever. However, current forms can be quite expensive and difficult to implement. So how can we use our engineering mindset to think outside of the box for this problem? Well, many people now own electric vehicles, which have onboard batteries. So what if we were to connect these batteries to homes, enabling a quick and portable storage solution for renewable energy? Well, this technology is known as Vehicle to Building Integration, and will be a hot topic in the coming decade. V2B is very similar to Vehicle to Grid Systems, except that they work with buildings instead of grids

Building Heating Loads

Building Heating Loads

Building Heating Loads

01/06/18

“What are the heating requirements of buildings?”

 

We know that the electricity needed by the building represents its energy load, but electricity is often not the only thing that a building requires. Furthermore, said building will also need heating and cooling. So how can we represent this in a quantitative fashion? Well, taking inspiration from energy loads, we can use a building energy load to show the information for heating or cooling in a building. The building energy load can be regulated through the use of an HVAC system.

Building Energy Loads

Building Energy Loads

Building Energy Loads

01/06/17

“What exactly draws energy in a building?”

 

The vast majority of people (in the developed world) spend the vast majority of their lives within a building. Whether it be the hospital they were born, the house they grew up in, or the school they attended, they were in some sort of edifice. And being modern society, we also use electricity within these buildings. And if we were to summate all of the energy-using technologies inside a building, then we would obtain the Building Energy Load. People are billed for how high their energy load is, so the less energy used the more money will be saved. Building Energy Loads also illustrate how important HVAC technology is since typically half of the energy supplied to a building is taken up by heating and cooling needs.

How Local Wildlife Can Affect a Building’s Power

How Local Wildlife Can Affect a Building’s Power

How Local Wildlife Can Affect a Building’s Power

01/03/18

“How can a building’s energy be shut down by a little critter?”

 

Something very interesting happened at my school today. A little squirrel found its way into the central power line and decided to have a nibble on the insulation cord. Soon enough, (s)he had destroyed the connection, knocking out power to the entire university, even the cogeneration facilities! I think that this little event illustrates how local wildlife can affect a building’s power systems. To guard against such an event, construction managers add further insulation from the external world or apply animal repellent in the wires. If such an event does happen, then local generators, batteries, or solar panels can be placed to allow for backup power

Thermal Efficiency

Thermal Efficiency

Thermal Efficiency

12/28/17

“How can we calculate the efficiency of a heat engine?”

 

Heat Engines are one of the most widely used technologies today, being used in applications from automobiles to trains. However, our purchase of any model will be guided by the efficiency we want. So how can we measure this quantity? Well, we know that a heat engine works by taking in and putting out heat. And we also know that because of the second law of thermodynamics, some of this input heat will be converted to useful work. So what if we were to simply take the ratio of the output work and input heat (w_out/q_in) and use this as a quantifier? Well, this value is known as the Thermal Efficiency and is one of the most vital concepts of thermodynamics.

Thermal Power Stations

Thermal Power Stations

Thermal Power Stations

12/21/17

“What type of facility can convert thermal energy to electrical?”

 

Energy can be generated in a wide multitude of methods. However, (and perhaps unfortunately) the most popular method is to heat an energy dense material to boil water into steam to drive a turbine. This facility known as a Thermal Power Station. Thermal Power Stations usually operate under a Rankine Cycle and can run on multiple types of input such as coal, petroleum, and municipal waste.

California Title 24

California Title 24

California Title 24

12/17/17

“What is the official building energy efficiency standard for California?”

 

In the U.S, most building efficiency standards are regulated by ASHRAE 90. However, some states go a little bit further with their regulations. In California, a series of codes known as Title 24 is the law of the land. Title 24 contains all of the specifications that a construction firm must consider before going through with a project. These include a requirement for LED lights, motion sensors for buildings, a specified minimum reflectivity for roofs,  electrical service panels for disaggregated measurement, and many other variables. California Title 24 is updated every 3 years such that the next set of rules saves more energy than the last.

Electrical Service Panels

Electrical Service Panels

Electrical Service Panels

12/14/17

“What connects a house to the grid?”

 

Electricity from the grid has made modern living much better, whether it be in the lights that allow us to stay up late into the night, the HVAC systems that keep our place cool, or the energy that powers our computers. However, what exactly connects these services to our built environment? Well, let’s use our engineering mindset to think of it.

 

First, we will need a central location to keep all of the connecting circuits. This will allow us to centrally deliver power throughout a unit. We must also keep in mind that a circuit overload may occur, in which case circuit breakers will be attached. Now let’s place all of these in a central frame, making a device called an Electrical Service Panel. Electric Service Panels are one of the foundations of modern home energy systems and can be found in nearly every grid-connected building.

Disaggregated Measurement

Disaggregated Measurement

Disaggregated Measurement

12/11/17

“How does California specify how all building loads must be measured?”

 

Most areas of the developed world have stringent building energy standards that include analysis for measurement. And as such, California is no exception. But it does so in a very special way. California title 24 (the building energy codec) stipulates that all new buildings must sort their energy loads (HVAC, lighting, etc.) into discrete piles in a method known as Disaggregated Measurement. This way, each subset can be monitored for its energy consumption.