theothermy

With the release of EnergyPlus 2.1, there's been a very interesting announcement in connection with Google SketchUp and the weather data convertor, which now produces KML output for Google Earth.

A beta version of building simulation within SketchUp is planned n the next few weeks. In the first release in early 2008, users will be able to draw their building, paint the surfaces with thermophysical properties, select default building type information, schedules, and HVAC systems, and simulate the energy performance of their building — all within SketchUp.

WeatherConverter now produces KML output (for Google Earth) of latitude, longitude, elevation, and a few climate statistics for locations in a list processing run.

Several other interfaces are under development—including two from China and India. These are likely to be announced shortly on; http://www.energyplus.gov/ep_interfaces.html

EnergyPlus V 2.1 is now available at no cost from the EnergyPlus web site http://www.energyplus.gov
End of Post Read more on this article...

As part of a project announced Tuesday, the Internet search leader and its philanthropic arm will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a quest to lower the cost of producing electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and the sun.

If Google realizes its goal, the cost of solar power should fall by 25 to 50 percent, co-founder Larry Page said in an interview.

"If we achieve these goals, we are going to be in the (electricity) business in a very big way," Page said. "We should be able to make a lot of money from this."

http://www.tech2.com/india/news/general/google-expands-into-alternative-energy/
22785/0?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email

End of Post
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EnergyPlus "Most Wanted!"

http://gundog.lbl.gov/dirpubs/wanted.pdf

HLCP "Young Turks!"

http://picasaweb.google.com/hlcp.support/HLCPTeam

End of Post Read more on this article...

Update:

It is done!!

Name: HLCP - Hourly Load Calculation Programme
Date of Birth (DD/MM/YYYY)
22/11/2007
Time of Birth (24Hrs Format)
4:39:0
Place of Birth
Mumbai,Maharashtra,India
Latitude (Degree/min/(North/South))
018/58/N
Longitude (Degree/min/(East/West))
072/50/E
Time Zone
5.5
DST Correction
0
Moon sign: Pisces

And I'll be ready to ship HLCP!! The last bug has been captured, the screens are clean, the colours are bright again, and the software is well obfuscated. :)End of Post Read more on this article...

Ellen Brown, November 5th, 2007

Excerpt:
"During the recent bank credit crisis in August 2007, the central banks of the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan collectively extended a $315 billion credit line to commercial banks. This credit was created out of nothing – something central banks assume the right to do as "lenders of last resort" – and the sums advanced were huge.6 For comparative purposes, a mere $188 billion would have been enough to repair all of the 74,000 U.S. bridges known to be defective, preventing another disaster like that in Minnesota in July 2007. The Carbon Trust, a well-known UK company dedicated to cutting carbon emissions, is responsible for reducing emissions by nearly 2 million tons per year on a 2007 budget of only £115.9 million (about $240 million U.S.). If central banks can create hundreds of billions of dollars to save floundering private banks, governments can create comparable credits to adapt to climate change, an even more pressing problem."

Read more

http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/energy-costs.php Read more on this article...

A short demo of a GUI for EnergyPlus developed by Gurneet Singh.

http://cbs.iiit.net/resume/2002batch/gurneet/cad/demo/EnergyGSdemo.html

End of Post Read more on this article...

Update: The final HLCP Help file dated 20th November 2007 has been uploaded to www.hvacindia.com/hlcp/


Finally, a detailed 74 page Help file in pdf format (1.6 mB) uploaded for download to:

http://hvacindia.com/hlcp/

Screen animations coming soon. First copies of HLCP, the Hourly Load Calculation Programme (using the EnergyPlus engine), developed by ISHRAE to be shipped on Teusday, the 20th of November 2007. End of Post Read more on this article...

By Christopher Booker and Richard North

"Mann's hockey stick was just what the IPCC wanted. When its 2001 report came out it was given pride of place at the top of page 1. The Mediaeval Warming, the Little Ice Age, the 20th century Little Cooling, when CO2 had already been rising, all had been wiped away.

But then a growing number of academics began to raise doubts about Mann and his graph. This culminated in 2003 with a devastating study by two Canadians showing how Mann had not only ignored most of the evidence before him but had used an algorithm that would produce a hockey stick graph whatever evidence was fed into the computer. When this was removed, the graph re-emerged just as it had looked before, showing the Middle Ages as hotter than today.

It is hard to recall any scientific thesis ever being so comprehensively discredited as the "hockey stick". Yet the global warming juggernaut rolled on regardless, now led by the European Union. In 2004, thanks to a highly dubious deal between the EU and Putin's Russia, stage four of the story began when the Kyoto treaty was finally ratified."

"If global warming does turn out to have been a scare like all the others, it will certainly represent as great a collective flight from reality as history has ever recorded. The evidence of the next 10 years will be very interesting." End of Post

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/04/eaclimate104.xml
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Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with that expensive double-pane energy efficient kind, and then today, I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the work had been completed a whole year ago and I still hadn't paid for them. Hellloooo,...........just because I'm blonde doesn't mean that I am automatically stupid. So, I told him just what his fast talking sales guy had told me last year, that in ONE YEAR these windows would pay for themselves! Helllooooo? It's been a year! I told him. There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally just hung up. He never called back. Guess I won that stupid argument. I bet he felt like an idiot. End of Post Read more on this article...

India: be the party pooper (Editorial)
By Sunita Narain

US President George Bush played host to a party of the top polluters of
the world called to discuss climate change. He exhorted his guests that
the world needed to act and called for a "new approach" to reduce
emissions. But if you think that he has changed his mind about the
science which has established the reality and urgency of climate change,
think again. Or if you think he has changed his position that his
country will not take on commitments to cut emissions because the
American lifestyle is not open to negotiation, think yet again and again.



The Bush meeting was strategic: first, it was an attempt (and a
successful one) to club the rich countries, who have been old and big
polluters, with the emerging countries-China and India. The meeting was
to remove the difference between the two categories-those who need to
make deep cuts in their emissions and those who need the space to grow.
If the Indians (and the Chinese) were looking for a place at this high
table of polluters, they certainly got their wish.

There is nothing new about Bush's position on climate change. In fact, I
would go so far as to say that there is nothing different about his
position from that of the previous Democratic government led by Bill
Clinton and Al Gore.

This is nothing more than recent history repeating itself. It is
predictable and it is dangerous for the climate and for our common future.

What Bush did should not surprise us. The US has been steadfast: it will
take action (whatever that means) only when it includes all big
polluters, including China and India.

I remember clearly the events in Kyoto in 1997, when the emissions
treaty was being finalised to set legally binding targets on
industrialized countries. That week all the stops were pulled out. The
phones buzzed between the White House and the prime minister's office.

The US made it clear that it wanted "meaningful participation" from
India and China. Its intransigence meant that all other governments
(those of the European Union to Japan) had to work hard to play
matchmaker to get the Chinese and Indians to bend so the US could sign
up to the treaty.

But what the Indian government did by accepting the Bush party invite
now should surprise us. I do accept that its position also remained
steadfast at the recent meeting. It did inform its host that the world
needed to act on the basis of historical contributions to the stock of
greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. And that India's per capita
emissions are negligible compared to those of the flatulent US or the
developed European countries. But believe me when I say this is nothing
other than posturing: rhetoric without any substance.

The fact is that we have agreed tacitly to join the membership of the
polluters-only club. In this way we have blurred (if not altogether
removed) the distinction-followed in all global agreements-between
countries which need to take action first and those who need the
ecological space to grow. But this is just one part of a much bigger
problem.

We have also asserted our right to development without insisting that
the US should take on deep and obligatory emission targets, for all our
sake. We have agreed to this ultimate marriage of convenience-not to ask
the us to commit so that we can get off the hook. We will all take on
"aspirational" targets, Bush said at the meeting. Let us understand this.

This is the ultimate and deadly bribe to seduce India and China: we will
not allow the Europeans and others to push us into legally binding
targets. This way is better: voluntary commitments and no targets.

Just think. This is a way in which we will all go to hell together. The
fact is that the world needs to act. It needs to act decisively and
urgently. We can already see the repercussions of a mere 0.7°c increase
in global temperatures in terms of melting glaciers and extreme weather
and rain events. Just think what it will be like when the world sees, on
average, an increase of 1.5°c, which is now inevitable because of the
stock of emissions already in the atmosphere, or 2°c, which is the best
we can get if we are responsible. The Bush way is disastrous. It must
not be acceptable.

But we are hypocrites. We laid the foundation stone for this Bush
conclave when we agreed to join the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean
Development and Climate, which was launched by the US administration
just under two years ago. This partnership had just one aim: to break
the multilateral processes built around legally binding commitments by
proving that voluntary action agreed by the major polluting nations
would be effective. Many meetings down the line, the partnership has led
to nothing concrete on the ground. But then who cares?

But we have to care. Climate is too serious a business to be made a joke
out of, as is done by the US president and his administration. We need
to explain to the rich world why it needs to act decisively and cut its
emissions and how it needs to change its lifestyle. We need to show how
we can participate meaningfully in a strategy to avoid future emissions.

We also need to say how this can be done through providing emission
rights for all; effective technology transfer and hard funds to pay for
transition into low-carbon growth options.

We must make it clear that we are not unwilling and reluctant partners
in this climate endgame. We are players and we are serious. Bush's party
is not ours to enjoy.

Read editorial online >>
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/cover_nl.asp?mode=2

To comment, write to >> editor[AT]downtoearth[DOT]org[DOT]in

Read more on this article...

The goal of Simupedia is to provide qualified information about building simulation to different stakeholders of the built environment, with focus on energy consumption, thermal comfort, room airflow, daylighting and environmental impact. Based on practise in design of real buildings Simupedia shows that building simulations - as a new, innovative approach in the planning process - are superior to the standard way of planning. End of Post. Read more on this article...

Dr. Vishal Garg of the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderbad, India, has created an EnergyPlus tutorial aimed at architects and engineers who are familiar with the basic concepts of energy simulation and HVAC systems. The tutorial out-lines the procedures for modeling a small room using EnergyPlus, including instruction on how to run the simulation, and how to interpret the output files. The output presents both heating and cooling energy consumption so the user may experiment with size, orientation, material properties, location, etc., and compare heating/cooling energy usage. End of Post. Read more on this article...

Geolus Search - a 3D geometry search engine with real benefits
If you know two parts are similar a world of possibilities opens.

Check it out here. (Registration required). End of Post Read more on this article...

The weather data in use earlier, was not the "coincident" data. As an example, for any outside design Dry Bulb temperature, the corresponding Wet Bulb temperature was no the Wet Bulb temperature occurring simultaneously at that Dry Bulb temperature. In all probability, it was also a maximum Wet Bulb temperature for the particular season in question.

For years, Indian HVAC engineers have been using legacy weather data for Indian cities whose origins are not known. In 1999, the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE) http://www.ishrae.org.in, in association with Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) http://www.teriin.org/ , developed a set of Indian weather data, based on the concept of "coincident" temperatures, in line with and in the format as published in the ASHRAE 1997 Fundamentals Handbook.

The set of weather data was created in TMY2 format, a commonly used format in the industry, and was developed for use in Building hourly load, and Building energy simulation programmes.

In 2004 the weather data set was converted to the EPW format as is used by EnergyPlus, an energy simulation engine, and uploaded to and made available to EnergyPlus users.

The "mean coincident Wet Bulb temperature", on the other hand, means the wet bulb temperature occurring at that particular dry bulb temperature, and in that particular 5 degree F interval.

For the first time, the research carried out by ISHRAE and TERI provided users with the "coincident" temperatures.

In addition, the design weather data was classified into three categories, viz; 2%, 1% and 0.4%. annual frequency of occurrance.

The design values represent the value that is exceeded on average by the indicated percentage of the total number of hours in a year (8,760). In other words, the 0.4%, 1.0%, and 2.0% values are exceeded 35-, 88-, and 175-hrs per year respectively.

The weather data for a particular city, at 2% annual frequency of occurance means that for 2% of the hours in a year, (i.e., (2/100) * 24 * 365 = 175 hours), the temperature will be above the temperature in question for 175 hours in a year. (A year has 8760 hours).

For example, for the city of Mumbai, the legacy Summer outside design conditions being considered so far have been 95 deg F and 83 deg F. Compare this with the 2% Dry bulb temperature, and Mean coincident wet bulb temperature from the new weather data, which is 92.3 deg F and 75.2 deg F, figures which are considerably lower than the legacy data.

It is also understood that the air-conditioning system would now be designed such that it was likely that for around 2% of the days in a year, the outside conditions would be higgher than the design conditions. This is acceptable practice for comfort air-conditioning and could result ni considerable savings in initial equipment costs and running loads.

If slightly more stringent conditionas are desired, then the 1% values could be considerd, and for very stringent industrial applications, the 0.4% values could be considered.

While earlier, outside design conditions were provided under the sub-heads of "Summer" "Monsoon" and "Winter", these sub-heads do not exist in the new classification based on annual occurances. Instead for calculating instantaneous space loads for Summer outside conditions, one would usually use the Cooling DB temperature / Mean coincident WB temperature while in Monsoon one would use the Cooling WB temperature / Mean Coincident DB temperature. (For Winter one would use the Heating Db temperature / Mean coincident Wet bulb temperature.

Merely following the above over-simplified rule blindly, however, could lead to serious errors in design.

Consider the situation for a 100% outside air application, (or for a treated air application, or even for an application where the outside air ventilation loads are high):

Assuming that the design is being carried out for the city of Mumbai, we list out the enthalpies of air for both the outside design conditons under investigation.


Design Conditions Comparison

City: Mumbai
Annual frequency of occurance: 2%

Design DB with Mean Coincident WB Design WB with Mean Coincident DB



In the first case for Design DB and mean coincident WB, the enthalpy of the outside air is 38.53 Btu/lb, and would be exceeded for a period of 175 hours as explained earlier.

In the second case for Design WB and mean coincident DB, the enthalpy of the outside air would exceed for a far greater number of hours than in the first case.

Had the outside design conditions been selected as the DB temperature and mean coincident WB temperature, there would have been serious under-sizing of the equipment and the systemw would have been pushed to its limits for a far greater number of hours.

Rajeev Kakkar
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Ted has a very interesting podcast on R-22 and related refrigerants, and selecting a new refrigerant for home use and general climate change topics.

http://mediacloud.libsyn.com/tedg332/CI5.mp3

You can near more of Ted's wonderfully modulated podcasts at :

Carbon issues podcasts

End of Post Read more on this article...

R-22 (HCFC-22) is the most widespread refrigerant being used in India for room air-conditioners, split air-conditioners, packaged air-conditioners and reciprocating central plant systems. R-22 (HCFC-22) is currently also being used in a large proportion of positive displacement compressor based chillers and in some larger tonnage centrifugal chillers. These uses predate the Montreal Protocol, but will be phased out as part of the overall HCFC phase-out. In the U.S., HCFC-22 cannot be used in new equipment after Jan 1, 2010.

So what's so special or different in the new refrigerants, such as R-407C and R-410A that make them different from the user-friendly R-22?

R-22 is a HCFC, i.e, a Hydro-Chloro-Flouro-Carbon, that contains chlorine, and which when released in the atmosphere, causes ozone, O3 to be converted to O2, and thereby depletes the Ozone layer.

However, R-22 has zero potential to increase global warming.

R407C is one of the HFC blends that is intended for HCFC-22 replacement, but it is zeotropic and not suited for use in a flooded evaporator. R-407C has been used in reciprocating chillers with direct expansion evaporators.

R-407C Contains R-32, R-125 and R-134a (23/25/52 by weight in %).

The use of substitute refrigerants such as R407C and 410A, while having zero potential to deplete the Ozone layer, create a new set of issues which must be understood. The following sections explain these issues in layman's terms:

The Ozone Depletion Potential
The Global Warming Potential
Zeotropes and Non-Zeotropes
The lubricating oil issue
The Glide problem
The Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) issue
The Servicing issue
The Toxicity issue
The Flammability issue
The Training issue


The Ozone Depletion Potential:

R-22 refrigerant is allowed to be used in the USA till Jan 1st 2010 and till 2030 in India, as per the Montreal Protocol. Leaked refrigerant is not the sole cause of depletion of the ozone layer. The Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) of R407C is 0, while that of R22 is 0.05.


The Global Warming Potential:

The 100 Year ITH Global Warming Potential in (kg CO2/kg) for the refigerants are similar:

HCFC-22 1,700 1,500
R-407C 1,530 1,525

GWP:

"The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of a gas relates the cumulative (integrated) warming over time caused by the emission of the gas to the cumulative warming caused by the emission of the same mass of CO2. The two basic factors that drive the GWP value are the “radiative forcing” (the infrared absorption of an incremental amount of the gas in the atmosphere) of the gas and the rate of decay of the gas in the atmosphere, compared to CO2. There are uncertainties in establishing quantitative values for both radiative forcing and atmospheric decay rate for both the fluorocarbons and CO2. As a result the IPCC estimated that the accuracy of the GWP values is+ 35%. As new data has been and continues to be developed, GWP values have been revised and are subject to future revision. A detailed presentation of the methodology for determining GWP is contained in [IPCC [2001]. The fundamental importance of GWP values to this study is that it permits the warming impact of fluorocarbon emissions to be compared to the warming impact caused by energy consumption (and the associated CO2 emissions) for the various applications that make use of HFCs."

Fluorochemical 100 Year ITH GWP (kg CO2/kg)
TEWI-3 Appendix B Climate Change 1995 WMO 19993 Climate Change 2001

HCFC-22 1,700 1,500 1,900 1,700

R-407C 1,530 1,525 1,984 1,653


Reference:
http://www.arap.org/adlittle/appendixb.html


Zeotropes and Non-zeotropes:

R407C is a non-azeotropic (zeotropic) refrigerant mixture of Contains R-32, R-125 and R-134a (23/25/52 weight-%) and exhibits a quite different condensation phenomenon from those of R22.


The Lubricating Oil issue:

R-22 refrigerant requires that the lubricating oil in the compressor may be mineral oil, whilst for R-407C, specifically synthetic Polyolester or POE oils need to be used, as R407C does not contain chlorine, and therefore cannot dissolve mineral oil.While these oils are considered to be superior oils, less liable to breakdown, however they are more hygroscopic – they must therefore be kept from contact with air as far as is practical.


The Glide problem:

Unlike R22, R407C is a mixture of three refrigerants, which boil at different temperatures. As a zeotrope, R407C exhibits a phenomenon known as ‘glide’, that is changing state (evaporating or condensing) over a range of temperatures. 'Glide' has an adverse effect on the performance of conventional, mixed flow, shell and tube heat exchangers. For best performance, R407C should be used in plant with counterflow plate heat exchangers. 'Glide' can also increase the risk of freeze-up, in the event of a loss of flow or a localised restriction in the evaporator.

Since R407C is a zeotrope, the mixture will fractionate should a leak occur from a part of the system that contains both vapour and liquid. Service techniques have to be adapted in the light of this characteristic. After a significant leak, a moderate loss of refrigerant R407Cwill require the entire charge to be removed, before the system can be pressure tested, repaired, and fully re-charged. In short, systems will no longer be able to be topped up.


The Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) issue:

"In this study, condensation heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) were measured on a horizontal plain tube, low fin tube, and Turbo-C tube at the saturated vapor temperature of 39 °C for R22, R407C, and R410A with the wall subcooling of 3–8 °C. R407C, a non-azeotropic refrigerant mixture, exhibited a quite different condensation phenomenon from those of R22 and R410A and its condensation HTCs were up to 50% lower than those of R22. For R407C, as the wall subcooling increased, condensation HTCs decreased on a plain tube while they increased on both low fin and turbo-C tubes. This was due to the lessening effect of the vapor diffusion film with a rapid increase in condensation rate on enhanced tubes. On the other hand, condensation HTCs of R410A, almost an azeotrope, were similar to those of R22. For all refrigerants tested, condensation HTCs of turbo-C tube were the highest among the tubes tested showing a 3–8 times increase as compared to those of a plain tube."

Reference


The Servicing issue:

"Clean installation practices, effective leak testing and de-hydration and the weighing of additional refrigerant requirements remain vital. But all of these procedures have long been associated with R22 and indeed any other refrigerants."

"Concerns have been expressed that a moderate loss of refrigerant will now require the entire charge to be removed, before the system can be pressure tested, repaired, and fully re-charged. In short, systems will no longer be able to be topped up. Once again, this is no different to the procedures required with R22 but supports the case for ensuring that the system is leak free at installation.

There are seriuos issues relating to the use of R407C refrigerant, especially when servicing work needs to be carried out at site post-installation. The vendor has to ensure that:"
It will however be necessary to add R407C as a liquid, to ensure that the correct mix is added.

"In operation, R407C provides a number of indications that, if applied to R22 would indicate that the system were overcharged. Although slight, the following changes may be anticipated:

Higher head pressure
Lower compressor superheat
Lower refrigerant temperature difference across the condenser.
Also there may be frosting at the evaporator inlet."


Equipment

1. All equipment used with the new refrigerant and oil must be compatible.
2. Vacuum pump should be compatible however provided that oil is regularly changed it can be universal.Leak testers that rely on a reaction with chlorine (i.e. halide) will not work with R407C.
3. Gauges should be universal however do provide a means of contamination between oil types. Purge and blow through with OFN if in doubt.
4. Reclaim unit – dedicated to refrigerant.
5. Reclaimed refrigerant cannot and should not be re-used, which is difficult for the customer to monitor.
6. R407C has to be charged in the liquid state. This implies that some sort of chilling device (usually ice), would be required in case the unit needs to be re-charged at a site.
7. The condensing pressure of R407C is about 10% higher, providing a derated performance. Guage manifolds for service must be suitable for this higher pressure.
8. R407C being an HFC refrigerant, is extremely susceptible to mixing of impurities (oil, water, pipe during brazing) as compared to R-22 refrigerant.

Reference:
http://www.aquaair.org/R22-R407C-Differences.html


The Toxicity issue:

Refrigerants are divided into two groups according to toxicity:

Class A signifies refrigerants for which toxicity has not been identified at concentrations less than or equal to 400 ppm;

Class B signifies refrigerants for which there is evidence of toxicity at concentrations below 400 ppm.

R-22 is non-toxic, and no data is available about the non-toxicity of R407C below a concentrationm of 400 ppm, implying that R407C is toxic above 400ppm on prolonged exposure, though the toxicity levels of both refrigerants has been defined as A1 based on Safety Group Classification.

Classification of R-407C: R32/R125/R134a (23/25/52)- A1


The Flammability issue:

Refrigerants are divided into three groups according to flammability:

Class 1 indicates refrigerants that do not show flame propagation when tested in air at 21°C and 101 kPa;

Class 2 indicates refrigerants having a lower flammability limit of more than 0.10 kg/m3 at 21°C and 101 kPa and a heat of combustion of less than 19 kJ/kg;

Class 3 indicates refrigerants that are highly flammable as defined by a lower flammability limit of less than or equal to 0.10 kg/m3 at 21°C and 101 kPa or a heat of combustion greater than or equal to 19 kJ/kg.

Mixtures, whether zeotropic or azeotropic, with flammability and/or toxicity characteristics which may change as the composition changes during fractionation, shall be assigned a safety group classification based on the worst case of fractionation.

Reference:
http://www.fluorocarbons.org/en/applications/refrigeration.html


The Training issue:

Train-the-Trainers in Good Practices in Refrigeration Train-the-Trainers in Good Practices in Refrigeration. The Networking activity is managed by the Network and Policy Manager based at UNEP DTIE in Paris, France.
http://www.uneptie.org/ozonaction/news/mpaw.htm

Action pack for Schools:
http://www.uneptie.org/ozonaction/information/mmcfiles/4820-e-EdPack_1_guide_low.pdf.pdf

Check out the R407C - The Engineers Guide. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
www.3dair.co.uk/download-files/r407c-guide.pdf

Read more on this article...

End of post Read more on this article...

Coming soon.

DesignBuilder CFD has been specifically designed to provide users with a tool that can be used to predict airflow and temperature distribution in and around buildings using the same methods as the general purpose pure CFD packages but at a fraction of the cost and without the need for any specialist knowledge.

Some of the key DesignBuilder CFD features:
3-D CFD grids are generated automatically from model geometry and boundary conditions using algorithms to promote optimal solution convergence.

The CFD engine has been developed around the SIMPLER algorithm, which belongs to one of the most widely used families of CFD solution methods. Turbulence can be modelled using the widely researched and documented k-e model and there are plans to introduce additional models for specific applications.

The interface incorporates tools to enable a wide range of boundary conditions such as supply diffusers, extracts, temperature patches, etc. to be assigned to room surfaces. A component library is also provided to enable radiators, fan-coil units, furniture, occupants, etc. to be located anywhere within the model and automatically incorporated within the analysis.

Boundary conditions can be automatically assigned from a previous EnergyPlus simulation.

3-D CFD results are displayed using the DesignBuilder OpenGL graphics engine providing impressive, easy-to-interpret images and movies of velocity vectors, temperature contours, iso-surfaces, particle streams, etc.

Read more on this article...

There is always a possibility that over the long term, your workstation seating height and the other egronomic details of your table could actually give you a severe backache and spondilytis.

Here's a nifty interactive web application which determines the work station and seating heights based on your height. End of Post Read more on this article...

May have finally come to an end. If you are wondering why the previous post has been struck off, then blame it all on my CSS wizard. I listen intently to what she speaks, and the point was subtly drilled home that a site made in Wordpress was going to look more or less like this blog. A site made by an amateur. A site not befitting the status of the organisation. Which actually summarises to a "Don't be nuts", or even a mere "hah"!.

Open-source Umbraco 3.02 (the current version has been released, and from what I read, this may turn out to be another gem similar to the Dasblog 1.6 engine running www.hvacindia.com .



Umbraco 3.02 build:
http://www.codeplex.com/umbraco/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=5136

What can Umbraco do? Basically, everything I want, plus the fact that the it has a flexible template design, and also CSS templates for documents.


Here's a summary:

Create document types with whatever properties you want.
Add/edit content on your site.
Set your XHTML and CSS templates for different document types.
Upload and use photos and other images.
Create a basic membership system, to allow logged in people to view certain sections of your site.
Create separate user accounts with customizable permissions to access the back-end to write, edit and publish content.
Have a multi-lingual site.
Create dynamic navigation and pull your content dynamically (aka showing "latest" items on the homepage).
Have your site consume RSS feeds.

The additional feature of creating a membership system, and create separate user accounts can be a very valuable feature for a Society website, going forward.

Frankly, the thing which really got me excited was the fact that Umbraco was 100% compatible with Windows Live Writer which is Beta 3 now, and looks pretty good.
http://get.live.com/en-us/betas/writer_betas

There are a huge amount of plug-ins available for Windows Live Writer Beta 3 here.

Take a look at Sites running Umbraco 3.x

You need, For local development and production hosting:

A Windows 2000+ computer with an installed web server (either IIS, or other that supports ASP.Net)
Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) or Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) or SQL Server 2005 Express
Edition.
ASP.Net 2.0 (to run umbraco v.3.x) installed.
Internet Explorer web browser to interact with the CMS back-end (websites created are viewable on any
browser your HTML code supports)

Finally, a website "package" to check out, which would demostrate the amazing power of Umbraco: (rename zip to umb before importing the package).
http://www.creativewebspecialist.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/creativewebpackage_v096.zip
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