![]() The results?Ĭalibrated building energy models with actual R-values, U-values and meaningful air leakage rates. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in the early 80’s and put it into use. Now we are able to take the work begun by the U.S. It’s established science that just wasn’t feasible until computing power got cheap and other technology became accessible (think 3D printing and the like). Throw in some physical condensation (dew point) analysis and you have a good bit of useable data to use for energy upgrade measures both Architechtural and mechanical. In addition we will be doing localized multi-point air infiltration measurements on fenestration, roof and wall sections to determine the impact of air leakage. We are going to characterize heat flux, the thermal transmittance of the walls, roofs and windows for more precise energy modeling. Mobilizing for physical energy analysis at this pretty famous NYC building. I think they may be an answer to this issue. I know very little about these products and I think it’s safe to say I’m ootspoken on my opinion about not fooling ourselves about “buying” our way to efficiency but in this case we should look at the tech and products more closely. Sizes are consistent and you could do the upgrade with minimal intrusion into occupied spaces. Embrace some of the new tech like vaccum insulate panels and glass, aerogels. If we are looking for a quick and cost effective way to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions I think we could save 30-40% of heating costs by just super insulating behind these radiators. That intense source of heat saturates the wall quickly so the sponge starts dripping, all day and all night. The wall directly behind them saturates quickly, the air in the room may be 72f but at the radiator it can be 172! At a source of intense heat like radiators it’s terrible. In most parts of buildings this is great. Think of a sponge below a dripping faucet, it takes lots of drips for the sponge to get saturated but once it does… Or maybe a better visualization is a sponge. They also have very low diffusivity which makes them interesting because they absorb and release heat slowly so they can act like a battery. Masonry, stone and concrete have terrible R-values, almost non-existent. When done well they are options that last centuries not decades and although you may have seen posts about thermal mass and diffusivity where I talk about not focusing on U-value of masonry alone, in this case it’s the key thing to focus on. I love masonry, stone and other natural materials. In older buildings its likely a non-insulated or minimally insulated masonry wall. That means 180 deg of heat generated into the air in the room and about an equal amount directed at the wall. Most of them are up against a perimeter wall. I explained that radiators function as the name implies to radiate heat, 360 degrees. I pointed to the baseboard fin tube radiators and said that’s the biggest problem on older buildings, not windows (those are 2nd). We got to talking about preservation and energy retrofitting older buildings. We got to thermal transmittance (U-value and R-value) measurements and we showed them our system and explained how it works. We talked about measurement and verification and some of the things we have seen as the testers that can be improved in the construction and renovation process. Yesterday We had an opportunity to host some folks from our local nyc dob at a project we are doing down the block from their offices.
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