Building Energy Resilience

Ideas to fuel a sustainable built environment

3 min read

Striving for Net Zero: Part II

By Krystina Kattermann on Jul 12, 2023 10:00:00 AM

Over the last few years, climate action has become a central focus for governments, and the business case for doing something about climate change has become clearer than ever before. With this shift, “Net Zero by 2050” is a term that seems to get thrown around by organizations, businesses, and municipalities alike. But what does it mean, and how do we get there? We continue our endeavor to answer this question in the second part of this two-part blog.

Topics: Energy Efficiency Heat Pumps #decarbonization #renewables Building Envelope Building Enclosure Carbon Reduction NZE Net Zero
7 min read

Striving for Net Zero: Part I

By Krystina Kattermann on Nov 30, 2022 11:00:00 AM

Over the last few years, climate action has become a central focus for governments, and the business case for doing something about climate change has become clearer than ever before. With this shift, “Net Zero by 2050” is a term that seems to get thrown around by organizations, businesses, and municipalities alike. But what does it mean, and how do we get there?

Topics: Energy Efficiency Heat Pumps #decarbonization #renewables Building Envelope Building Enclosure Carbon Reduction NZE Net Zero
5 min read

Sustainable Home Appliances: Ventless Dryers

By Jamie Hand on Jul 29, 2020 10:00:00 AM

I started this post before the COVID-19 pandemic. While a lot of our attention has shifted to slowing and fighting the pandemic, I hope you find some refreshment in a lighthearted but still important sustainability story.

Topics: Sustainability Heat Pumps
5 min read

Making our Commissioning Process Remote

By Katie Mason on Apr 22, 2020 10:00:00 AM

With the current COVID-19 global crisis, organizations all over the country are actively seeking ways to continue to provide the same level of services to their customers while keeping their employees safe. Cx Associates is known for its rigorous standards in the commissioning process, but a large portion of our work is contingent on our ability to be on construction sites, working with contractors to verify the installation and functionality of equipment. With Vermont’s order that all non-essential employees work from home, and with Cx Associates’ commitment to both keep our employees safe and prevent us from potentially spreading the virus on construction sites, we needed to quickly find a way to provide our on-site services remotely for the essential construction work that continues to move forward in a way that still matches our high standards. This blog discusses our approach to remote site work and how we're continuing to serve our clients while safely social distancing from our home offices.

Topics: Building Performance & Technology commissioning HVAC Heat Pumps technology Utility building automation system COVID-19 coronavirus remote problem solving
3 min read

Understanding the Basics of a Ground-Coupled (Closed Loop) Heat Pump Design: Part 2

By Tate Colbert on Nov 15, 2019 10:00:00 AM

Thanks for following the second part of the ground coupled heat pump design. If you haven’t already, now’s a good time to go back and read Part 1. In the first part of this post, we discussed the importance of understanding thermal imbalance in a ground source heat pump system and the longevity impacts associated with an imbalanced system. Despite the issues associated with a thermally imbalanced system, there are ways to address building loads with additional technology that will further enhance the performance of the ground-coupled heat pump system, as well as provide long term performance.

Topics: Energy Efficiency solar energy commissioning Heat Pumps Energy Management New Construction design review
4 min read

Understanding the Basics of a Ground-Coupled (Closed Loop) Heat Pump Design: Part 1

By Tate Colbert on Oct 9, 2019 10:00:00 AM

The ground source heat pump is a wonderful technology that will be vital in achieving energy efficiency goals this century. This technology isn’t new, but it is beginning to become more accepted as a viable solution for large scale, high efficiency HVAC performance. There are two main types of ground source heat pump systems: those that are “Ground Water” (also called Open Loop) and those that are “Ground-Coupled” (also called Closed Loop), see Figure 1 below. In either case, the water from the ground is pumped to a heat pump, where heat is either extracted out of or rejected into the ground and moved into or out of the conditioned space.

Topics: commissioning HVAC Heat Pumps Energy Management New Construction

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