Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings


Book Description

How efficient are front-load washing machines? When is it time to replace your old refrigerator? These questions and many more are answered in The Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings, a one-stop resource for consumers who want to improve their home's energy performance and reduce costs. Zeroing in on the most useful response can be a challenge; this ninth edition cuts through the confusion. Well-organized and highly readable, The Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings begins with an overview of the interrelationships between energy use, economics, and the environment. Chapters focus on specific areas in the home, such as electronics, lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, kitchen, and laundry, and provide helpful explanations for each, including: Describing energy use characteristics Drawing comparisons between available technologies Outlining the most cost-effective repair and replacement options Providing step-by-step guidance for finding the right equipment Describing how the equipment operates Summarizing how much energy is used or lost Included are tips on improving existing equipment and guidance for when and why consumers should purchase new energy-efficient equipment, as well as a reminder to check local government and utility incentives for purchase or retrofit grants. This guide will be an invaluable resource to all consumers concerned about reducing both their energy bills and their environmental impact. Jennifer Thorne Amann is a senior associate in the ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) Buildings and Equipment Program. Alex Wilson is president of BuildingGreen, Inc., author of Your Green Home, and executive editor of Environmental Building News.




Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings-10th Edition


Book Description

The most complete and up-to-date guide available to energy savings in the home . Increasing the energy efficiency of your home can save you money, help the environment, and enhance your comfort, but how do you decide which improvements are the most beneficial and cost-effective? Completely revised to incorporate the latest developments in green technology, The Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings is the definitive resource for consumers who want to better their home's performance while reducing their energy bills. Well-organized and highly readable, The Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings begins with an overview of the relationships between energy use, economics and the environment. Updated and expanded chapters focus on specific aspects of any home, such as heating and cooling, ventilation, electronics, lighting, cooking and laundry, and provide helpful explanations for each, including: Energy use characteristics Comparisons between available technologies Cost-effective repair and replacement options Step-by-step guidance for finding the right equipment. This comprehensive resource is packed with tips on improving existing equipment and guidance for when and why to invest in new purchases, as well as a reminder to check local government and utilities for purchase or retrofit grants or incentives. It is a must-read for anyone concerned about reducing both their energy bills and their environmental impact.




Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps


Book Description

Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps, Fifth Edition, provides a comprehensive introduction to the principles and practice of refrigeration. Clear and comprehensive, it is suitable for both trainee and professional HVAC engineers, with a straightforward approach that also helps inexperienced readers gain a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of the technology. With its concise style and broad scope, the book covers most of the equipment and applications professionals will encounter. The simplicity of the descriptions helps users understand, specify, commission, use, and maintain these systems. It is a must-have text for anyone who needs thorough, foundational information on refrigeration and air conditioning, but without textbook pedagogy. It includes detailed technicalities or product-specific information. New material to this edition includes the latest developments in refrigerants and lubricants, together with updated information on compressors, heat exchangers, liquid chillers, electronic expansion valves, controls, and cold storage. In addition, efficiency, environmental impact, split systems, retail refrigeration (supermarket systems and cold rooms), industrial systems, fans, air infiltration, and noise are also included. - Full theoretical and practical treatment of current issues and trends in refrigeration and air conditioning technology - Meets the needs of industry practitioners and system designers who need a rigorous, but accessible reference to the latest developments in refrigeration and AC that is supported by coverage at a level not found in typical course textbooks - New edition features updated content on refrigerants, microchannel technology, noise, condensers, data centers, and electronic control




A Handbook on Low-Energy Buildings and District-Energy Systems


Book Description

Winner of Choice Magazine - Outstanding Academic Titles for 2007 Buildings account for over one third of global energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Reducing energy use by buildings is therefore an essential part of any strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and thereby lessen the likelihood of potentially catastrophic climate change. Bringing together a wealth of hard-to-obtain information on energy use and energy efficiency in buildings at a level which can be easily digested and applied, Danny Harvey offers a comprehensive, objective and critical sourcebook on low-energy buildings. Topics covered include: thermal envelopes, heating, cooling, heat pumps, HVAC systems, hot water, lighting, solar energy, appliances and office equipment, embodied energy, buildings as systems and community-integrated energy systems (cogeneration, district heating, and district cooling). The book includes exemplary buildings and techniques from North America, Europe and Asia, and combines a broad, holistic perspective with technical detail in an accessible and insightful manner.




Green Restorations


Book Description

Some 40 percent of North Americans live in homes built prior to 1940, and when it comes time to remodel or restore our older homes, homeowners and contractors can find themselves lost in a morass of wildly divergent information and opinion. With Green Restorations , author Aaron Lubeck brings his expertise as a restoration contractor and preservation consultant to this first-of-its-kind guide, leading the reader through the steps for restoring historic building using sustainable practices and green building techniques. In a readily accessible room-by-room and system-by-system format, Green Restorations covers rehabilitation and remodelling questions applicable to old homes, focusing on the core techniques and debates often seen in practice. Here you'll find the answers to restoration questions, such as: Is sealing my old crawl space a good idea? Should I replace or rehabilitate my windows? Are there historic aspects of my home I need to preserve and what can I change? What are the cultural, environmental and financial implications of my proposed changes? Do residential historic tax credits apply to my home and how can I access them? Written in such a way as to be accessible for homeowners but technical enough for contractors, this book will appeal to anyone trying to green an older home while preserving its historic and cultural significance.







The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America


Book Description

The Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government.







Energy Technology Choices


Book Description




Switched Reluctance Motor Drives


Book Description

Electric motors are the largest consumer of electric energy and they play a critical role in the growing market for electrification. Due to their simple construction, switched reluctance motors (SRMs) are exceptionally attractive for the industry to respond to the increasing demand for high-efficiency, high-performance, and low-cost electric motors with a more secure supply chain. Switched Reluctance Motor Drives: Fundamentals to Applications is a comprehensive textbook covering the major aspects of switched reluctance motor drives. It provides an overview of the use of electric motors in the industrial, residential, commercial, and transportation sectors. It explains the theory behind the operation of switched reluctance motors and provides models to analyze them. The book extensively concentrates on the fundamentals and applications of SRM design and covers various design details, such as materials, mechanical construction, and controls. Acoustic noise and vibration is the most well-known issue in switched reluctance motors, but this can be reduced significantly through a multidisciplinary approach. These methodologies are explained in two chapters of the book. The first covers the fundamentals of acoustic noise and vibration so readers have the necessary tools to analyze the problems and explains the surface waves, spring-mass models, forcing harmonics, and mode shapes that are utilized in modeling and analyzing acoustic noise and vibration. The second applies these fundamentals to switched reluctance motors and provides examples for determining the sources of any acoustic noise in switched reluctance motors. In the final chapter two SRM designs are presented and proposed as replacements for permanent magnet machines in a residential HVAC application and a hybrid-electric propulsion application. It also shows a high-power and compact converter design for SRM drives. Features: Comprehensive coverage of switched reluctance motor drives from fundamental principles to design, operation, and applications A specific chapter on electric motor usage in industrial, residential, commercial, and transportation applications to address the benefits of switched reluctance machines Two chapters address acoustic noise and vibration in detail Numerous illustrations and practical examples on the design, modeling, and analysis of switched reluctance motor drives Examples of switched reluctance motor and drive design