This page displays links to a number of energy engineering technical resources I have attempted to collect and describe. It is a work in progress. Please feel free to make suggestions using the “Contact Us” page.
Caveat
In this website I have attempted to list a number of technical references and helpful resources. However, I want to emphasize that there is no substitute for experience. Book learning, tools like checklists and references, trainings, educational videos and so forth are helpful and sometimes a good place to start. However, by far the best way to understand and know how to do this is to engage in the processes of:
- getting out into the field and seeing the building and its associated systems, talking with the facility management, working with the controls, installing loggers and taking measurements
- reading and understanding drawings, balancing reports and other documents related to the facility (including other energy audits)
- analyzing data such as controls trends and energy use
- calculating energy savings
- specifying the retrofit, getting contractor pricing, procuring relevant incentive approvals and financing, and pulling together a proposal for the customer
Although some non-engineers take on the process of doing energy audits or certain types, engineering skills are essential for accurate and honest savings calculations, and for correctly specifying the project. The following skills are some of those relevant to the process:
- Basic calculations of energy use and savings such as (example: temperature setback and setforward using building mass)
- Calculation and understanding of moist air properties, and understanding of how to use and read a psychrometric chart
- Understanding of physical principles behind energy use, such as relationships between flow and pressure, flow and power use
- Knowing the different between static and total pressure
- Ability to read and understand fan and pump curves
- Understanding the thermodynamic principles behind mechanical cooling systems, and related energy savings measures like floating head pressure control
- Ability to think through different scenarios to understand the real cause of a problem and what might be done to solve it (example: low delta-T in a chilled water system)
Other parts of this website are intended to describe these things more thoroughly, and of course some of the resources listed below also should explain these types of things.
General Intro to Resources
There are some associations and government agencies that are big players in the provision of technical and other resources for building energy efficiency. Some of these provide
- training and certification
- technical and engineering information and resources
- standards and procedures
- simulation and other types of software
- other things useful for achieving energy efficiency
In this website I have tried to provide what I think is a brief and honest description of some of the more relevant tools and resources made available by some of these big players including
- ASHRAE (American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers)
- AEE (Association of Energy Engineers)
- FEMP (Federal Energy Management Program)
- EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
- DOE (U.S. Department of Energy)
As I have explained in other parts of this website, I am listing some information about what is available from these organizations and their websites in an attempt to provide useful technical information on building energy efficiency to the public. I have done the best I can to be honest and brief. Any organization that or resource that I name way well have a great deal more than what I list in this website, so I encourage people to explore and get to know these themselves, especially the above “big players”. Anyone that has comments or feels something should be added or modified can send a message through the “Contact Us” page on this site. It is not my intention to leave important things out or say anything that is incorrect.
Unless otherwise notes the material in this page was last updated May 2022.
ASHRAE
ASHRAE has published many technical standards and resources related to the world of HVAC. ASHRAE offers membership to students and professionals involved with the engineering of HVAC. ASHRAE publishes a monthly journal and associated material, sells books on HVAC and related topics, offers technical trainings and hosts conferences and trade shows. Most of the things they offer are not free but do not cost a lot. In general a great deal of what they offer (such as their handbooks) is related to the design and engineering of HVAC systems, which of course is relevant to energy engineering, but ASHRAE has produced standards for energy audits as well.
ASHRAE standards are written a little like codes in that they are intended to be used for that purpose, not necessarily only as a technical resource. They are useful, but some of these might not necessarily be the quickest and easiest resource to use or “how-to” guide for doing energy audits. There are specific resources within the ASHRAE handbooks that are helpful for energy engineering, R-value and thermal properties of building materials, methods of calculating heat gain and loss, for example.
Standard 100-2018
Standard 100-2018 describes a general process for compliance and really not how to do an energy audit in terms of recognizing problems and energy conservation measures, but it does include an “Informative Annex E” which is a general list of some ECMs with a brief description for each. And it includes the caveat “This annex is not part of this standard.”
Procedures for Commercial Building Energy Audits
This is really more of a “how-to” for these three levels of energy audits. I consider this to be more of a helpful technical resource, although the exact definition of certain things, like what is level 3 vs. level 2, might have since changed (and is as we mentioned, defined in Standard 211-2018). The description with the 2011 “Procedures” says “The precise definitions of ASHRAE Energy Audit Levels 1, 2 and 3 in Procedures for Commercial Building Energy Audits, Second Edition, have been superseded by ANSI/ASHRAE/ACCA Standard 211-2018, Standard for Commercial Building Energy Audits”, available at:
https://www.techstreet.com/searches/34324561
However, at 165 pages and as a document that reads a little more like a book than the other associated standards that I have reviewed, the PCBEA has certain things that look useful, like a table with a summary of information to collect on site. This document, in my opinion,
- could be a helpful set of guidelines for doing energy audits
- is comprehensive but not necessarily perfect or 100% complete, but I am not sure anything is
- does not explain everything you need to know about how to do energy audits, since it does not cover all types of HVAC systems that you might normally run across, for example
- as a result, like the other documents related to these ASHRAE energy audit standards, this is a valuable resource but is not the only thing you need, in my opinion.
Page 100 of this standard shows a section called “Additional Resources”. These include other lists of ECMs – also potentially helpful in my opinion. This and explains that “Other forms, templates, checklists, and lists are available for download from www.ashrae.org/PCBEA”
Standard 211-2018
This features a description of the audit process and other descriptions and support forms. The longest section in it is also called “procedures”, but is more of a process description than a set of detailed technical guidelines and resources. Energy savings calculations, for example, briefly describes how inputs and outputs of calculations need to be documented and presented, and backup files to be included like spreadsheets, or input files for modeling software, for example. The section on savings calculations is only a few paragraphs long, however, and essentially says mostly what, not how. Forms and supplemental materials are at:
On that page audit forms and templates are downloadable for free at:
https://xp20.ashrae.org/PCBEA/PCBEA_Supplemental_Files.html
I downloaded audit forms and templates, and in my opinion these could be useful but they do not necessarily feature all the information you might want to collect and organize. Also, as they are mostly forms, it may be possible to collect and record the information needed for an energy audit more easily and completely in a different way, such as highlighting and making notes on key plans and drawings as a way of documenting the various climate zones in the building. This could not only be faster and easier than filling out a form, but could help to explain some things not included on the form, such as the details of zone exposure to the outdoors and to other zones. In general the procedures are the essential part of this standard and other material includes normative forms and descriptions of how things will be done, along with some non-enforced informative annexes that are there to provide help.
These standards are useful but not the end-all and be-all of energy audits: they are not a substitute for good engineering knowledge and skills or being thorough. None of this standard explains everything you need to know and do to do these energy audits. Much of them refer to a “qualified energy auditor”, and these standards do not describe all that such an individual must know or be capable of. It may be possible that different states or codes (“the Authority Having Jurisdiction”) can decide for themselves what credentials, training and experience is required for a qualified energy auditor, since more than one accreditation program exists for this type of thing. In general, this standard describes requirements, not a how-to for every EEM out there. The procedures section is very much like this, with general lists of types of EEMs to be included, and general reporting requirements, for example.
Standard 91.1-2019
Standard 90-1-2019 is a set of requirements for building design. Naturally, codes may refer to this standard (or older versions of 90.1) so as to require energy efficiency in buildings. A standard like this is not a guideline for identifying energy savings, and some people may feel this is like other codes and standards in that it is challenging reading. In addition, because the Building Energy Technical website is generally more oriented towards energy audits on existing buildings, and so although what is in 90.1 may be useful for those looking at existing buildings, many existing buildings and the equipment they contain will not necessarily meet this standard. 90.1 is a little more relevant for those in the new construction / addition / gut retrofit and codes and standards compliance part of the building energy efficiency field.
Standard 90-1-2019 is a solid 450+ pages long and has a lot of compliance-type language in it, but some parts may be useful as a technical reference for energy engineering, such as the list of terminology in section 3. Some of what is required by 90.1 could be recommended as an improvement to an existing building, although these might be costly and challenging retrofits, such as replacement of HVAC equipment or parts of the building envelope. Some details of operational compliance listed in 6.1.1.3 and especially at section 6.4.3 (Controls and Diagnostics) describe what could be more cost-effective improvements to existing buildings in the form of control sequences that could save energy.
ASHRAE Controls Guideline 36-2018
While 90.1-2019 does include requirements for HVAC, controls Guideline 36-2018 is “High-Performance Sequences of Operation for HVAC Systems” is a more detailed and stringent set of requirements, intended to provide greater energy efficiency and in some cases to include requirements for a broader set of HVAC systems. For example, a search for “dual duct” in 90.1-2019 comes up with only one mention, and that is an exception to one of the controls requirements, whereas Guideline 36-2018 has several sections describing optimal operation of different types of dual-duct systems.
Naturally Guideline 36-2018 can be used as a resource for optimizing controls and achieving energy efficiency in new and existing buildings. Even while it is comprehensive, this guideline still does not cover virtually all systems out there, and is still not a substitute for being able to understand the HVAC systems, buildings they serve, and how to optimize energy efficiency, solve problems and meet associated climate control requirements.
ASHRAE Standard 62.1
ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2019, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, is another standard that is often used by energy engineers. Naturally, the energy savings associated with reduced ventilation, along with ventilation requirements impacts the sizing and controls of HVAC systems make this important.
A number of addenda for standard 62.1 have been published since the 2019 version of 62.1 was released. This of course is not surprising due to the Covid pandemic’s effect on the need for ventilation, as determined by research that may still be ongoing. These addenda are available free of charge.
AEE
The Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) offers membership to students and professionals involved with energy engineering. AEE publishes several journals, sells books on HVAC and related topics, offers technical trainings and hosts conferences and trade shows. AEE offers an extensive line of trainings and certifications. AEE is focussed on energy efficiency in buildings and related topics, and so this includes some things outside of HVAC like lighting, along with economic and policy topics related to funding and property management such as demand-side management and performance contracting. Most of the things they offer are not free but do not cost a lot. AEE trainings and certifications include related topics such as indoor environmental quality and so forth.
Membership provides on-line access to the journals published and conference proceedings. Outside of the members only area, the AEE website includes certification, events, training seminars and “resources”:
- Resume and job postings – free for members and for a fee otherwise
- AEE Videos which are mostly testimonials and thank-yous, but a few are technical training videos (see the on-line video section in this website)
- Reports which are just jobs and markets reports from 2019 and earlier, but are free downloads
- Other items
FEMP
Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) is part of the federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Both of these organizations offer a great deal of technical information and resources, and what follows is only the results of my attempt to find energy engineering training and reference material on the FEMP website. This was not a comprehensive effort.
https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/federal-energy-management-information-resources
The above link provides access to publications and videos related to energy engineering and energy management, but these are not the only ones available from web pages linked up with FEMP. FEMP has training programs but they see to be management-oriented:
https://www7.eere.energy.gov/femp/training/
From the above link it was possible to sign up and enroll in free trainings. Many of these were related to energy savings performance contracting (ESPC), but there appeared to be others of various topics. I tried a course:
https://www.wbdg.org/continuing-education/femp-courses/fempfts26
This was called “Energy Efficiency Expert Evaluations”, and consisted of what I consider a video discussion and display of the rudimentary process of leading an “expert” team on an energy audit. This was not very technical but did cover many aspects of the basics of an energy audit. Other trainings (like one for labs) also appeared to me to take a more administrative angle, although I did not actually sign up and view the video.
The FEMP site has a link to the building technologies office:
https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/building-technologies-office
and this in turn features many more resources. These include Commercial Buildings Integration:
https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/commercial-buildings-integration
From this page there is a “workforce training” link that leads to links to a number of other organizations, such as AEE and the Association for Facilities Engineering. This features links to webinars, and links to trainings provided by a number of organizations, along with many other resources.
https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/webinars-on-demand
For example, a lot of basics are explained by this video:
https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/webinars/lighting-hvac-and-building-envelope
The following page:
https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/workforce/training
featured links to new other resources, such as Slipstream education:
https://slipstreaminc.org/education
This featured a number of free trainings, including some from the Department of Defense, which included at least one describing a case study of a controls retrofit of old air handlers, including technical details:
https://slipstreaminc.org/estcp
EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a number of resources and programs related to energy efficiency. Details of its “National Action Plan” are at:
https://www.epa.gov/energy/national-action-plan-energy-efficiency
Like the other federal agencies listed as resources in this site, the EPA is a huge organization, and its website is complex, with many sections that are related to energy engineering, but may be relatively non-technical, or may be more directly related to the EPA’s own buildings that they operate or manage. The EPA website also has governmental resources such as guidelines for state policymaking. Guidelines for TRM deemed savings (again, potentially for states’ use) can be found at:
https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-07/technical-reference-manuals.pdf
EPA has its EnergyStar program which provides a number of resources related to building energy efficiency. These include a rating based largely on the energy use intensity (use per sqft or unit of floor area) of a building as benchmarked against typical buildings of that type:
The EnergyStar program is one of several ratings systems available to provide an energy efficient designation to a qualifying building. EnergyStar ratings are also provided for qualifying appliances. The EnergyStar program aims to directly motivate energy consumers, and therefore provides some rudimentary information on energy efficiency intended for a non-engineer audience. For example, the ‘Save Energy’ link in:
https://www.energystar.gov/buildings
Provides basic things to look out for in an energy audit (which they call an “energy treasure hunt”). A nice little checklist is at:
https://www.energystar.gov/buildings/save_energy_commercial_buildings/ways_save/checklists
along with down-to-earth suggestions for improved O&M, appliances and products, savings competitions and of course benchmarking, all written for a non-technical audience.
USGBC
The United States Green Building Association (USGBC) is known for administering a green building certification program called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), which provides a rating to a building based on a point scoring system. Because this is green building, many factors outside of energy (and water) efficiency are factored in, such as sustainable materials and indoor environmental quality. The USGBC website:
As far as I can tell, much of the information on the USGBC website is not oriented towards engineering, and instead centered more around policymaking and the certification process. However there may be more technical content that I did not see. The USGBC offers trainings for a subscription fee. The following link is labeled “Free Courses” but my attempt to sign up for a couple of them indicated there was a charge unless I had a subscription:
https://www.usgbc.org/education-listing?Course-Playlist=%5B%22Free+Courses%22%5
Note some of these may also be accessible via links provided by other websites also listed on this page.
Other Resources
There are a great many technical resources out there for energy engineering and related topics. I cannot create a comprehensive list. The following are some resources that can be useful to the energy engineer but are actually oriented a little more towards design engineering and the specification and contractor work that is essentially a much bigger line of business than energy audits:
SMACNA
Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA) has produced a number of standards related to ducting, air distribution and related topics. The following site features technical material available for a fee from SMACNA:
including the Energy Systems Analysis and Management Manual at:
ITI
The International Training Institute offers many training programs for sheet metal and air conditioning contractors, as well as other specialists:
https://resources.sheetmetal-iti.org/content/for-jatcs/tab/curricula.html
General List of useful Printed Material
There are many useful books out there, and I have only included a small number of them here:
- The Energy Management handbook – available from AEE
- ASHRAE Handbooks – as described in this site
- The ITI Environmental Technician Module Series
- Environmental Systems Technology – available from NEBB
- HVAC Design Criteria, Options, Selection, by Rowe, from RS Means
The above listed materials are just a few of many available for the field of Energy Engineering and Mainstream HVAC. There are a great many others, including material on specialized topics like steam and compressed air.
Energy efficiency incentives available from energy providers
“Demand-side Management” is what some people consider an old-fashioned term which means paying for energy conservation instead of increased energy production capacity. Naturally, programs to provide incentives for energy efficiency can also be a source of technical information. Many websites and other sources of information created and operated to this end can provide basic information on building energy efficiency improvements. This can include information on operations and selection of high-efficiency equipment, not all of which has to be tied back to an incentive payment.
Evaluation and TRM Savings
Demand-side management type energy efficiency programs are normally funded through a small surcharge on an energy bill, and therefore as a cost to a base of “captive ratepayers” these programs are normally evaluated for cost-effectiveness. The evaluation of these types of programs is a specialty within the world of building energy efficiency.
Information on energy savings realization for many building efficiency improvements is normally deduced as a result of the evaluation of energy savings programs. This information may be used to create sets of assumed (or “deemed”) savings, typical of some specific efficiency measure, which could be numbers looked up in tables and/or calculated through relatively simple formulas. A technical resource manual (or “TRM”) might be published by the organization that delivered energy efficiency incentives, based on these program evaluations and the associated savings realization rates and/or other information. These TRMs tend to allow for a fast and easy estimation of energy savings for a building retrofit, improved building design or high-efficiency piece of equipment, since they use empirical numbers and formulas, instead of more complicated deductive energy savings calculations based on the specific facility and situation involved.
Technical Resource Manuals (TRMs), like the following from Lawrence Berkeley Labs:
https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/technical-reference-manuals-trms
which has a link to guidelines “for estimating the energy and demand savings of end-use energy efficiency measures”. New York State offers a technical resources manual available at:
https://www3.dps.ny.gov/W/PSCWeb.nsf/All/72C23DECFF52920A85257F1100671BDD
TRMs are available from other providers of energy incentives, such as Mass-Save which delivers comprehensive energy efficiency programs to Massachusetts and may be involved with a few in other states as well.
Educational video resources
AEE has some great videos covering some fundamental topics in its “CEM Basics” series of videos at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U_hFvuXbqw&list=PLkJJrXF_HpGWMk55HGTJ7zyOxmFI0unQ4
these include financials, basics for an energy audit, psych chart, steam table, lighting, motors, and HVAC. These are related to the CEM certification (see the certification and trainings section of this web site), but are fairly rudimentary and in my opinion do not include all the knowledge needed to be a CEM. This site also features a number of non-technical videos related to conferences and awards ceremonies.
AEE is an organization centered on building energy efficiency, so it is not surprising to see these videos concentrating on that. A great of the other videos I found on the internet are focussed a little more on how things work, and a little less on how to achieve energy savings, do an energy audit or other aspects of achieving improvement in building energy efficiency.
The Engineering Mindset has videos on HVAC including several on chillers, heat pumps, types of air handlers and such. However, you may need to scroll down past videos for many engineering topics not directly related to energy engineering (such as electronics and many other topics) to reach these:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk0fGHsCEzGig-rSzkfCjMw
Content includes videos that can aid in understanding the basics of HVAC. This includes a 58 minute video on HVAC and shorter videos on constant and variable volume systems, plus refrigeration and HVAC heat exchangers.
Trane features a 90 minute training video on chiller plant efficiency:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQtoAFtii6U =
This video is from 2013 and is a little long, with some history of VFDs and codes and standards. However it features some topics that can influence realized energy savings and other important information. Some control optimization practices like critical valve reset are explained. There is a good discussion of whether some VFDs are worth it and how much you can get away with. This may include a downloadable training archive of Powerpoint slides.
TACO is a manufacturer of pumps and hydronic equipment, and has a set of training videos at:
https://www.tacocomfort.com/training/online-training/video-training/
as well as other training programs. These center around pumping and hydronics, and TACO’s effort on this front is a good one but similar in my opinion to what many other manufacturers might do: to support their industry and product line with technical training and resources. TACO has a series of videos that discuss the basics of water-side systems, with hour-long videos that show the physical details of things like pumps and such, etc. This is good for install contractors and design engineers, and good background knowledge for energy engineers.
Again, feel free to use the ‘Contact us’ form to make any suggestions, including alerting me to anything worth adding, problems with these links or material that needs to be updated. Please be specific, and remember the purpose of this website is to provide useful non-commercial technical information on building energy efficiency.