The HVAC Simulation Guidebook Volume I (2nd Edition) has been updated to cite new research and reflect recent changes in the California Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24 2008). It contains three chapters with step-by-step instructions on how to simulate the following advanced HVAC technologies:

• Underfloor Air Distribution
• Energy Efficient Chillers
• Advanced Control Sequences

Radiant heating and cooling systems are more energy efficient compared to traditional forced air systems for several reasons.  But let's start at the building occupant since their comfort is one of the main reasons we have the built environment.

Though more costly to install and more complicated to operate, a chiller plant offers a number of benefits over simple packaged cooling units, including greater energy efficiency, better controllability, and longer life.

The Advanced Variable Air Volume (VAV) System Design Guide (Design Guide) is written for Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) designers and focuses on built-up VAV systems in multi-story commercial office buildings in California.

Using the whole-systems approach to building design, designers around the world have succeeded at creating highly efficient air-conditioning systems that provide excellent workspace comfort.

This Advanced VAV System Design Brief provides recommendations to help engineers improve the efficiency of large HVAC systems. It focuses on built-up variable-air-volume (VAV) systems in multistory office buildings.

To truly minimize the energy use of a drivepower system-which includes the motor, its controls, and the connection between the motor and the equipment it drives-designers need to consider how these components operate as a system rather than looking at them on an individual basis.

Evaporative coolers provide cool air by forcing hot dry air over a wetted pad. The water in the pad evaporates, removing heat from the air while adding moisture. Although the concept has been used in residential "swamp" coolers in the Southwest for decades, technology advances have made evaporative cooling a viable alternative to conventional cooling in commercial buildings and in other areas of the country.

Chilled beams are among the recent energy-saving innovations making their way to the U.S. market. Chilled beam technology, which involves locating a low-temperature radiator at ceiling level to cool the rising warm air, has been utilized in Europe and Australia for more than a decade. Once cooled, the air slowly descends into the occupied zone, providing adequate cooling with minimal air movement and fan power, while providing an unobstructed radiant heat sink above the occupied zone.

Energy costs are a significant expense for facilities that operate industrial refrigeration systems. In new construction projects, significant energy savings can be achieved by incorporating energy efficiency technologies in the project design. For facilities being expanded or upgraded, ensuring the efficiency of the refrigeration systems can lead to significant energy savings without compromising productivity.

San Francisco's Orchard Garden Hotel was San Francisco's first hotel to implement a cardkey system to control lights and HVAC systems in guestrooms. Monitored data from four rooms in the hotel showed a reduction in heating and cooling energy of 45% during the peak cooling season. Computer simulations based on monitored occupancy levels in the hotel estimate a savings of 32% of annual heating and cooling costs. Modeled across five different climate zones, the average savings were 26%.

Many large buildings, campuses, and other facilities have plants that make chilled water and distribute it to air handling units and other cooling equipment. The design operation and maintenance of these chilled water plants has a very large impact on building energy use and energy operating cost.

The Multifamily Design Guide For Energy Efficiency provides a summary of resources, methods, and tools to assist the design community in building more energy efficient multifamily buildings, which are increasingly popular in California.

Process heating is a significant source of energy consumption in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, and it often results in a large amount of waste heat that is discharged into the atmosphere.

In California, electrical  power demand reaches its peak during the hottest summer days, mostly due to air  conditioning loads, which account for almost 28% of California's peak electrical demand. A cool storage  thermal energy storage system (TES) provides a means for shifting all or part  of a facility's cooling energy use to off-peak hours, when energy costs are  lower and cooling systems can potentially run more efficiently. A TES system  uses cooling equipment at night to remove heat from a thermal reservoir of  chilled water or ice, which can then be used for space cooling throughout the day.