A GSHP innovator inspires a new engineering award, and we have some big BAS news to share.
I’m happy to share a call to action of sorts this month. As you noticed on the cover, Lisa Meline, P.E. and Steve Kavanaugh, Ph.D., Fellow ASHRAE have written an article in hopes of encouraging engineers to dig in (pun semi-intended) to the factors that are critical for achieving the performance potential of a ground source heat pump (GSHP).
However, they passed along a related item that we only have room for here: the Kirk T. Mescher Award. To lift some background from the info sheet on the award: Mr. Mescher, who passed away in August, started in the realm of GSHP design in 1993, constructing his own test rig for ground thermal properties testing. He developed the one-pipe distribution system for GSHP systems and extended its application from individual building to campus scale. He pioneered ground loop designs that eliminated the use of costly valve vaults and associated manifolds, along with outside air handling designs that permitted the use of standard heat pumps for this duty. His GSHP designs consistently achieved EPA scores in the 90 percentile.