ASHRAE educational programs help raise awareness    

To help students gain a better understanding of how being plugged in impacts building energy use, ASHRAE is funding a teaching project for students at the University of Oregon called Plugged In!

ASHRAE continues to fund projects to help raise awareness and promotoe teaching of HVAC&R-related topics. As part of Plugged In, students will shop for electrical appliances, determine the plug loads of each appliance, and calculate their short-term and long-term energy implications. They also will develop a real-time monitoring and feedback loop of a dormitory, as part of their goal of modifying occupant behavior. The students will develop a Web interface using energy use animations to reflect the amount of actual energy use of the dorm.

The program will challenge students to develop an understanding of personal and broad-scale energy consumption; and how appliance selection and behavior modification impacts energy use through a hands-on experience. The Plugged In project was one of 13 grants funded by ASHRAE through its senior undergraduate project grant program.

Totaling more than $65,000, the grants are awarded by ASHRAE to colleges and universities to promote the study and teaching of HVAC&R. The grants are used to design and construct projects. Visit the Student Zone on the ASHRAE website for more information.

1. Other ASHRAE grant recipients are:

2. University of Colorado at Boulder

   1. Developing a low-cost modular building integrated PV-thermal collector for electricity, hot Water, and pre-heated ventilation air

3. Purdue University (team 1)

   1. Heat recovery demonstrators

4. University of Central Florida

   1. Design optimization of a solar thermal system with integrated storage

5. Lawrence Technological University

   1. Monitor and simulate two existing, high-performance buildings to achieve and maintain sustainable operation

6. Boise State University

   1. Solar collector panel test stand senior design team

7. The University of Kansas

   1. Working model of a tall building’s HVAC&R systems

8. Florida International University

   1. GSHP-solar

9. University of Alabama at Birmingham

   1. Variable speed pumping system

10. Cairo University

    1. Solar hydrogen fuel cell water heater educational stand — design and fabrication

11. University of Washington — Seattle

    1. Assessing the natural ventilation in classrooms and laboratories—implementing class projects

12. San Francisco State University (SFSU)

    1. Air conditioning laboratory unit for undergraduate engineering education

13. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    1. Design and construction of a solar PV demonstration system for laboratory use and public education