The ASHRAE 2023 Handbook HVAC Applications is now out, and we need to get ready to revise it again. Updated every four years, this volume is significantly larger than its previous editions, in part due to a new Chapter 66, In-Room Air Cleaners. The process of revising each of the four handbooks begins all over again almost as soon as the Handbook is published and distributed.
That said, you won’t find in this year’s Handbook the topics decarbonization or electrification discussed, and yet these two subjects are fast becoming important issues for the HVAC building industry. In my February 2023 column titled “Design Engineering: Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk,” I highlighted these two challenges for the HVAC design engineer to embrace. Quite often, design engineers will simply use the same application from the last job engineered — e.g., commercial office space — when assigned a new commercial project to produce the contract documents. It is simple to do, reusing several of the previous contract drawing detail sheets and automatic temperature control (ATC) sequence of operation diagram drawings. This also provides the consultant with an opportunity to increase their profit margin for the project. For the most part, the decision on which HVAC application will be made by the design engineer with little or no input from the rest of the design team and/or the building owner.