On the case... a forensic investigation

Not a crime scene, but certainly a case of fantastic forensic engineering work. 

Hiram College completed a renovation of the dining/multi-purpose facility. Facilities staff noticed the compact fluorescent lamps (cfl) were not illuminated to full brightness. In preparation for a campus meeting, an electrical contractor was brought in to troubleshoot the problem. After checking the wiring for ground faults and replacing lamps, the problem persisted.

Tim Pool, PE, RCDD - Director of Engineering and a licensed electrical safety inspector - was called to assist the contractor. Working with our lighting designer, Ardra Zinkon and the fixture manufacturer, the team eliminated any lamp or ballast problems with the fixtures. On a lift inspecting fixtures, Tim noticed a cool draft of air coming from the plenum space, flowing out of the fixture housings. CFLs lose efficiency in cold conditions, providing lower illumination output. To test this, Tim used a piece of plastic wrap from the kitchen to cover the opening on the fixture housing, forcing the heat from the lamp to remain in the fixture and preventing the cold air from entering. The lamp went to full illumination almost instantly. 

It was determined that the kitchen hood exhaust combined with the make-up air unit was under pressurizing the main space and cold air from the air plenum was being dragged across the lamp causing a chill to the lamp envelope and thus not allowing the lamp to burn at full brightness. The College hired an air balancer to adjust air flow and the pressurization between the spaces was normalized.  

The solution we developed required an out-of-the box approach to problem solving that crossed disciplines. Who would’ve thought a piece of plastic wrap could be the primary tool to solve an engineering dilemma?

Speaking Engagements

It’s been a busy week for Tec staff.

Director of Client Development, Mike Totsch, presented “Communicate to Win” to the SMPS Hawaii Chapter today. While he is there, Mike will be leading a strategic planning session for the chapter. 

Ardra Zinkon, Director of Lighting Design, will be presenting Lighting 101 at the Evolution of Light tradeshow in Columbus, Ohio tomorrow. As a featured speaker, Ardra will be presenting lighting principles to a full room of architects and engineers attending the tradeshow.  

Keep an eye our Speaking Engagements page for future presentations. 

Engineering, He's Really Not Crazy!

Look closely…stooped down behind the table is an engineer feaverishly working to get a project out the door. It may look like chaos, but he has a plan.

Feel free to finish the story in the comments below.

Simple Energy Strategies From One of our Real-World Applications

We’ve all been to a number of seminars on LEED. They all seem to be heavy on the checklist, but skimp on the details to get you there. On a recent project we employed a number of simple strategies that we believed would make a impact- both on energy consumption as well as yearly operating costs.  Hopefully sharing these ideas, can open up some additional strategies to consider as we all move toward a more sustainable future.  

The project profiled here is a 14 story downtown convention center hotel housing over 500 guest rooms along with full ballroom/meeting facilities and a three meal restaurant.

Stairwell Light Fixture with Integrated Occupancy SensorOne strategy we incorporated was occupancy sensing in the stairwells.  Building studies have indicated that stairwells are only occupied 1-7% of the time, this was clearly an area where we could maximize savings. This project has 3 stairwells that run all 14 floors. We used simple wall mounted luminaires with integrated occupancy sensors. 

This fixture has a stand-alone sensor built in. When occupancy is detected, the two 4’ 32 watt T8 lamps come on at full brightness. When no occupancy is sensed, those lights turn off and the space remains at a lower light level through the use of a single 2’ 17 watt T8.  Using this system, in lieu of having these lights operate 24 hours a day for public access provides a savings to the Owner of about $5000 a year. In addition, it saves about 82,000 lbs of greenhouse gases being emitted.Occupancy sensor fixture in use

Another simple strategy we employed was again, through the use of occupancy sensors- this time it was in back of house corridor spaces.  A hotel operates 24 hours a day, but those spaces are not always in use and can provide savings if lights are dimmed or turned off when not needed.  On this project, we used a clever circuiting pattern that allowed every other light to be control via occ sensor (the others were mastered by a timeclock).  This scenario was employed on 4 floors of back-of-house spaces within the hotel. Based on industry studies, we used a 25% projected energy savings for occupancy sensing in a corridor space and are estimating an energy savings of an additional $750 per year to the Owner in electricity bill savings. 

The project will be opening in the Fall of 2012.  At this point, we are keeping our fingers crossed for Gold certification.  

SMPS Build Business Take Action! Part 2

Picture this, San Francisco the city by the Bay the second week of July. Not typical San Francisco weather, very pleasant, sunny and 70+degrees.  Know why? Because SMPS Build Business Take Action was in town! This was my second foray into the world of SMPS national conferences. It has taken me this long to recover, put my thoughts in order and attempt to write something profound about this year’s experience. Similar to conference last year, this was absolutely time well spent.  So many opportunities to network with a variety of professionals, review award winning promotional material, and participate in a variety of informative learning opportunities. 

As with the conference in Chicago last year I was proud to have Tec represented from start to finish at this year’s conference. Perhaps not quite as in your face as Chicago, but visible none the less. Beginning Tuesday evening with the excellent dinner Adam arranged at One Market Restaurant across form the Hotel. With all that was going on Tuesday evening 18 of his friends and colleagues met for dinner.

I had been asked to participate in a videotaping session presenting my perspective on why more than just marketing or BD people should participate in SMPS, and the value to business owners/principals…I hope I was able to get my point across; there are tremendous networking and learning opportunities. The keynote speakers are phenomenal and I promise you will take away something you did not know from each class. While I was busy starring in the promotional piece (don’t look for my name in lights anytime soon) Adam and Mike attended the Chapter Leadership Forum for a bit, and later in the day Mike participated in the Act Now Roundtables while Adam was escaping from Alcatraz.

A day full of excellent classes Thursday preceded by a fun thought provoking keynote address Take Action Become the Change! presented by Greg Bennick.  Thursdays evening’s Gala presented my most memorable moment. As a father I could not have been prouder of Adam as he was brought up on stage with 17 of his classmates and recognized as the very first graduating class of SMPS University. 

We woke up Friday to Water the Bamboo, another superb keynote address presented by Greg Bell. It brings new meaning to patience is a virtue. What a thoroughly enjoyable way to start the day. Of course Friday presented more learning opportunities and the SMPS National Business Meeting. Congratulations to all whose terms on the Board have ended, and those that are just beginning their journey.  We wrapped up with the block party hosted by the San.Francisco Chapter Friday evening. 

I will continue to encourage business owners to set aside time to attend Build Business. It absolutely is time well spent. I view it as an investment in my company, certainly on par with any technical training I may undertake.  I believe it is also an investment in my marketing and business development staff  as this gives me the opportunity observe, support and gain a greater appreciation for all the hard work they do for Tec. I’m looking forward to Build Business 2013 in sunny Orlando, Florida next July. (What were they thinking?)