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ASHRAE Standard 62.1 is the basis for most commercial ventilation system designs in the United States. Comparisons between the actual performance of these buildings and their designs are often difficult to find in the open literature. This paper reports carbon dioxide tracer gas measurements of ventilation rates in bars and restaurants in Minnesota prior to implementation of a statewide smoking ban. Seventy-five percent of the estimated ventilation rates were less than those required for the default occupancies of the 65 bars and restaurants sampled. On the other hand, 80% of these venues had acceptable ventilation rates based on the actual occupancies observed during the measurements. This suggests that high pollutant concentrations in the bars and restaurants were driven by large pollutant sources, not by low ventilation rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), academia, and private sector subject matter experts, recently completed an energy study to evaluate potential site and source energy-use reduction in new Army buildings. The study was completed in response to the mandates for energy savings in federal buildings enacted by the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (U.S. Congress 2007). The building types studied included an Unaccompanied Enlisted Personnel Housing (UEPH or barracks), a brigade headquarters (administrative building), a company operation facility, a maintenance facility, and a dining facility (DFAC). The study was conducted for representative locations in all 15 DOE identified climate zones in the United States with building designs adapted to these climatic conditions. This paper presents the results of the energy analysis for a typical Army dining facility. It discusses energy efficiency measures and combinations used to reduce both internal and external loads on the building and overall energy use. The largest load in a DFAC is the cooking, and the currently available best-in-class kitchen equipment is included in the final design. The potential site energy savings compared to the energy code range from 21% to 38%. The potential source energy savings compared to Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey ranges from 37% to 42%. Additional savings may be obtained if an efficient cogeneration system is used and the building is considered as a part of the building cluster or community to fully utilize the energy from the cogeneration system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the results ofa comparative analysis of four models (the Kasten, Muneer, Zhang and Huang, and neural network-based models) used to predict hourly solar radiation for six tropical sites. All four models require cloud cover and nonsolar weather data to predict global, diffuse, and direct solar radiation. Predictions from the models are compared against measured solar data obtained for meteorological stations in the six tropical sites. Nonsolar weather data for the same sites were obtained from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Results of the validation analysis indicate that the Zhang and Huang model is suitable for predicting hourly solar radiation in tropical climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]