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Ryan Swanson

Impacts of Thermal Stratification on Building Comfort, Cost and Product Integrity

Title image source: natasaadzic / Getty Images via Canva.com I first encountered challenges of thermal stratification when working with wineries. Winery barrel warehouses tend to lack good air mixing, and the thermostats—positioned at human height near the ground—read an allowable 60°F while the air at the upper barrel racks could reach temperatures of 70°F or […]

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Improve Building Ventilation with Fan System Maintenance

Monitoring and maintaining building ventilation rates are now more relevant than ever for occupant health and safety. In this article, I share how our team diagnosed an underperforming supply fan and underscore the importance of routine fan system maintenance. In March of this year, I conducted airflow measurements at a Bay Area building and discovered

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Improving Fan System Energy Efficiency, Acoustic Comfort, and Building Value with New Construction Commissioning

We often speak of new construction commissioning as a quality assurance process for new buildings, beginning from conception and design and continuing through construction and into initial occupancy. Some see it merely as a necessity for obtaining LEED points and complying with energy code. Others see it as an opportunity to construct a high performing

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Onsite Generation Adjustments: How They Affect Utility Incentives for Your Energy Efficiency Projects

Many of us who work with commercial and industrial facilities are familiar with utility programs that pay cash incentives to encourage energy efficiency projects. The more energy you save from an eligible retrofit, the more cash incentive the utility will pay you—usually with a cap at a certain percentage of the project cost. The rules

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How To Optimize Your Condensing Boiler System For Maximum Energy Savings

I first encountered condensing boiler woes when conducting an energy audit for a winery which had retrofitted its conventional boilers to condensing boilers. Operating with a supply water temperature of 180°F and a return water temperature of 140°F, the boilers never operated in condensing mode and the actual boiler efficiency was around 85%, far from

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