The design and construction teams cannot continue to wear blinders when drafting the owner’s project requirements, construction budget, and job’s timeline.
Last month, I looked back at my Engineered Systems' experience, which rekindled some fond memories. But, now, it’s time to look ahead. Such forward-thinking includes learning the latest in HVAC vocabulary. These terms include words such as “decarbonization,” which is defined as “the reduction of carbon dioxide [CO2] into the atmosphere with the aspiration to create an environmentally friendly environment.” An example of decarbonization is engineering HVAC systems based on their use of energy sources other than fossil fuels — e.g., selecting a geothermal ground-source heat pump instead of an oil-fired, hot water boiler — to generate the heating side of an HVAC central air system.
“Electrification” is yet another buzzword in the HVAC industry, and, like building decarbonization, it refers to swapping fossil fuels for electric heating and cooling.