Montreal Protocol

The Montreal Protocol established an international agreement to make a concerted effort to reduce emissions that deplete the ozone layer. Since many refrigerants have an effect on the ozone layer, this was a key piece of legislation for the HVAC community.

It was agreed that several refirgerants will be banned and others phased out. The goal was to move from chloroflorocarbons (CFCs) to hydrochoroflourocarbons (HCFCs) and ultimately Hydroflourocarbons (HFCs).

CFCs are no longer sold and cannot be recharged into systems. HCFCs are being phased out with the goal of having them gone by the year 2030.

ASHRAE

American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers

http://www.ashrae.org/

ASHRAE sets the standard for the majority of HVAC work. It is essentially the governing body that decides what best practices, standards and requirements will be adhered to.

It is important to makes sure all HVAC systems are in compliance with ASHRAE codes. Recently ASHRAE has passed several environmental laws that will be phased in to major commercial property.

Air Handlers

Air Handling Units (AHU) or Air Handlers are used to circulate air throughout a space. On the most basic level, an AHU consists of a fan, a motor, a heating/cooling coil and duct work to supply the air to the space.

In refrigeration, chilled water is typically supplied from a central plant to the cooling coil. The supply/return air will pass over the cooling coil and give up its heat to the chill water. The now-conditioned air will be pushed to the zone.

Energy Star Bench Mark

"The Benchmarking Law requires that owners of covered buildings benchmark their buildings no later than May 1, 2011, and every May 1 thereafter. Like city buildings, only buildings equipped with DEP automatic meter reading equipment for the entirety of the previous year are required to benchmark water."

May 2011 is right around the corner!

Bench marking your building is fairly easy, but you want to make sure you do it right. Register for a username for Portfolio Manager on the Energy Star website and begin uploading you site's data.

To get officially bench marked you will need a PE but you can begin the process now.

Spare Parts

I can't emphasize the value of spare parts. As a former property manager I no the difficulty of balancing being prepared and working with in a budget. In these difficult financial times there is obviously pressure on management to "trim the fat".

Spare parts are NOT fat!

Even a full service contract that includes replacement parts are not going to guarantee zero down time for critical systems. When it comes to optimum operating conditions, having key components of your system backed up by spare parts are is paramount.

While there will be an extra cost, you'll save on lead time when a problem arises. An evaluation of longer lead-time parts should be done as soon as any new system is in place. For older systems that do no have spare parts on hand, consider adding them too.

There is nothing worse than knowing that your plant could be operating perfectly with a replacement part, but that part is weeks or even months away from being delivered.

Greater, Greener NYC

The Greater Greener New York Initiative is a terrific opportunity for the HVAC community. Announced in 2007, the Greater, Greener New York is part of PlaNYC, a revolutionary declaration backed by Mayor Bloomberg.


PlaNYC sets forth a variety of environmentally conscious goals. The earliest of these actions involves an Energy Star benchmarking, for commercial buildings over 50,000 sqft, that is required by May 2011. The benchmark is easily filed for online and made public. Buildings will be required to record their energy ranking and make efforts to increase efficiency.

While energy efficiency has always been a goal for the HVAC community, the Greater, Greener New York Initiative and PlaNYC puts an even greater emphasis on it. Nearly all of NYC's hundreds of skyscrapers will be looking for creative ways to save energy. This can vary from lighting retrofits, to chiller optimization, to load-shedding. It's possible that new ways to monitor and save energy that have not yet even been implemented will come from these efforts. As a whole, the HVAC community will need to meet this challenge as one of the #1 goals moving forward.