ASHRAE Journal - July 2023 - 22

FEATURE
Speaking personally, even the knowledge I have gained
owning an electric car and how it impacts the electrical
of my house has really helped me think through challenges
as an engineer. I learned a lot putting in my own
heat pumps in my house, which was designed and built
to be energy efficient.11 There are definitely life experiences
that come with a project like that. Ask yourself,
what am I doing personally and what have I learned.
How Can ASHRAE Strengthen Its Support for
Decarbonization in Developing Countries?
There are ASHRAE members all over the world making
decisions on their decarbonized pathway. If the
members don't know how to approach decarbonization,
ASHRAE can support their education and expand their
knowledge base with technical resources. Whether that's
through journal articles, continuing education, sessions
at meetings, directly addressing it-some parts of the
globe may leapfrog over technologies that would bog us
down in the US.
These developing countries may have buildings without
heating or cooling systems, and heating and cooling
systems can be applied that are decarbonized solutions.
We can develop and expand electrical infrastructures
around renewables and batteries probably cheaper than
we can by fixing large fossil fuel-based systems, which is
how the US formed in a lot of ways. It's the same discussion
that been going on for years in the US. In a parallel
example, there is huge infrastructure in the US around
what are called POTS lines, " plain old telephone service, "
and millions if not billions of dollars of invested infrastructure
was put on telephone poles.12 How many people
really use it today? You go to a lot of countries that
didn't have that developed, and they jumped directly
to the cell technology. You don't have to take the same
pathway that the US took, right? That is becoming part
of the cost problem-some costs in these infrastructures
that we don't want to throw away. We call it 'expended
carbon.' The telephone industry is a good example
where there was a lot of infrastructure. And a lot of it's
being abandoned today because of new technologies.
You can jump over what we did in those investments.
But it really comes down to people and making those
decisions and making them in a way that that fits the
cultural needs of where they are and helping people lifestyle-wise,
if that's your objective. We say the same thing
for disadvantaged communities. How do you make these
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investments smart? A lot of it is local training.
How do you get local people to know how to install heat
pump systems? How do you get them to know how to
install PV and operate in their buildings? How to insulate
their buildings? At the end of the day, it's still people
doing something. It's design decisions, it's tradespeople.
How do you invest in these communities? You do so by
investing in the people of those communities and supporting
them.
I don't think it matters whether it's disadvantaged
communities or developing countries. Better equip
people locally with knowledge and training. Those
are all things that ASHRAE members can directly do.
Support chapters globally in terms of what engineering
knowledge they need, what kind of building knowledge
they need-especially in the context of whatever limitations
they have.
References
1. U.S. Energy Information Administration. 2023. " Energy
Consumption, Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Sectors. "
U.S. EIA. https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/
sec2_4.pdf
2. ASHRAE. " Advanced Energy Design Guides. " ASHRAE. https://
www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/aedgs
3. U.S. Department of Energy. 2023. " A Guide for Creating
a Building-Level Action Plan to Improve Energy Efficiency
and Reduce Carbon Emissions. " National Renewable Energy
Laboratory. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/85708.pdf
4. ASHRAE. 2021. " ASHRAE Global Headquarters Reaches 'Fully'
Net-Zero Energy Milestone. " ASHRAE. https://www.ashrae.org/
about/news/2021/ashrae-global-headquarters-reaches-fully-netzero-energy-milestone
5.
U.S. Department of Energy. Better Climate Challenge. https://
betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/climate-challenge
6. ASHRAE. Undated. " ASHRAE Task Force for Building
Decarbonization. " ASHRAE. https://www.ashrae.org/about/
ashrae-task-force-for-building-decarbonization
7. WasteDive. 2019. " Connecticut's first anaerobic digester adding
depacking facility. " https://www.wastedive.com/news/QuantumBiopower-connecticut-first-anaerobic-digester-depackagingfacility/549578/
8.
Quantum Biopower. https://www.quantumbiopower.com/
9. M. Ellis. 2022. " Largest wastewater heat recovery system in the
United States launches in Denver. " Valve Magazine. https://www.
valvemagazine.com/news/largest-wastewater-heat-recoverysystem-in-the-united-states-launches-in-denver
10.
P. Shanti, Polly B., Houssainy S., et al. 2020. " A Guide to
Energy Master Planning of High-Performance Districts and
Communities. " National Renewable Energy Lab. Page 134. https://
www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/78495.pdf
11. P. Torcellini. 2018. " Torcellini Residence, Eastford, Conn. "
High Performing Buildings. https://www.hpbmagazine.org/
torcellini-residence-eastford-conn/
12. Wikipedia. " Plain old telephone service. " https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_telephone_service

https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec2_4.pdf https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec2_4.pdf http://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/aedgs http://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/aedgs https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/85708.pdf https://www.ashrae.org/about/news/2021/ashrae-global-headquarters-reaches-fully-net-zero-energy-milestone https://www.ashrae.org/about/news/2021/ashrae-global-headquarters-reaches-fully-net-zero-energy-milestone https://www.ashrae.org/about/news/2021/ashrae-global-headquarters-reaches-fully-net-zero-energy-milestone http://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/climate-challenge http://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/climate-challenge https://www.ashrae.org/about/ https://www.wastedive.com/news/Quantum-Biopower-connecticut-first-anaerobic-digester-depackaging-facility/549578/ https://www.wastedive.com/news/Quantum-Biopower-connecticut-first-anaerobic-digester-depackaging-facility/549578/ https://www.wastedive.com/news/Quantum-Biopower-connecticut-first-anaerobic-digester-depackaging-facility/549578/ https://www.quantumbiopower.com/ https://www.valvemagazine.com/news/largest-wastewater-heat-recovery-system-in-the-united-states-launches-in-denver https://www.valvemagazine.com/news/largest-wastewater-heat-recovery-system-in-the-united-states-launches-in-denver https://www.valvemagazine.com/news/largest-wastewater-heat-recovery-system-in-the-united-states-launches-in-denver http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/78495.pdf http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/78495.pdf https://www.hpbmagazine.org/torcellini-residence-eastford-conn/ https://www.hpbmagazine.org/torcellini-residence-eastford-conn/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_telephone_service http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_old_telephone_service http://ashrae.org

ASHRAE Journal - July 2023

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