While valve sizing is not rocket science, it is critical — nothing ruins your day like having to replace a bad valve located in a maze of piping while an angry customer is breathing down your neck.

Initial action when sizing a control valve is how it will be controlled. More specifically, is it a two-position (open/closed) application, or is it a proportional application? For a two-position application, all you need to know is the line size. The valve size should be the same. That’s it!

For proportional applications, sizing the control valve is more complicated.  An improperly sized control valve can cause an array of system problems. Undersized valves result in insufficient capacity. Oversized valves can become unstable, leading to hunting and premature failure. Unless you look at data captured using a data logger, you might not even know the valve is hunting until you have to replace it six months after installing it. Improperly sized valves can also cause cavitation!

And because systems are designed for the hottest, coldest, and busiest conditions that bring on the full loads or most frequent load swings, valve sizing and selection is critical to its safe operation. Also, since system components such as boilers, chillers, pumps, and coils, may be limited to off-the-shelf sizes, when presented with a valve being slightly oversized or undersized, you should choose undersized.

Here are a few questions to answer when sizing and selecting valves:

• What medium will the valve control (water, water/glycol, air, steam, etc.), and what materials are compatible with it?
• What effects will specific gravity and viscosity have on the valve size?
• What will the inlet pressure be under maximum load demand?
• What is the inlet temperature?
• What pressure drop (differential) will exist across the valve under maximum load demand?
• What maximum capacity should the valve handle?
• What is the maximum pressure differential the valve actuator must close against?
• What type of pipe materials and connection are being used for the piping (the valve has to be compatible)?

When these factors are known, a pressure dependent control valve can be selected by formula (Cv method) for the medium. In any case, the valve size should not exceed the line size and it should preferably be one or two sizes smaller to achieve the proper valve authority.  If it is a pressure independent control valve, you will select the valve based upon the desired flow rate, and the Cv method is not required over the flow loop.

There you have it, a quick refresher on sizing valves so you have water in and water out. One last tidbit: as times have changed, the Internet and smartphone apps have become a valuable resource for finding information on valve-specifying and a variety of other topics.

Rising energy costs and the need to conserve natural resources have made all HVACR professionals much more focused on how they can achieve significant savings through better energy efficiency. So whether it is the environmental type of ‘green’ that helps the planet or the monetary ‘green’ that helps the pocketbook, when combined its extraordinary.

We were reminded of this recently while reviewing ASHRAE’s “Energy Efficiency Guide for Existing Commercial Buildings: The Business Case for Building Owners and Managers”. It is an excellent resource that HVACR professionals can use to improve performance strategies such as:

• Evaluating building energy performance, and setting goals that are in line with company strategies and assets
• Implementing no cost and low cost operational adjustments to improve operational efficiency.
• Measuring carbon emissions.
• Conducting an internal energy study/audit (using ASHRAE’s “Procedures for Commercial Building Energy Audits” as a basis) or having the facility retrocommissioned by a certified retrocommissioning firm. This activity may result in a modification to the original estimated budget amount.
• Developing a plan for, and implementing energy efficiency measures identified in the audits or retrocommissioning.
• Taking an integrated, forward thinking approach to planned replacements—staging replacements and evaluating new energy efficient technologies, on-site power generation, and available tax credits.
• Incorporating energy management into standard policies and procedures—procurement, operations and maintenance, and preventive maintenance—and ensuring ongoing energy performance tracking.

So if you are looking for ways to enhance a building’s energy efficiency, ASHRAE’s guide is a great resource.

Regardless of how we define the word, energy savings is all about being ‘green’.

In addition to achieving very impressive energy savings, they have the ability to reduce water consumption by thousands of gallons a year.  This technology has saved European building owners a significant amount of money over the last few years, but is just now gaining a foothold in North America.

What makes this technology so effective is that it eliminates the need for a conventional shaft, seal and bearing assembly. The rotor/impeller is the only moving part in the entire pump and it is magnetically balanced on a stationery ceramic bearing inside the pump housing to provide silent, long-lasting operation.

This feature provides a number of benefits:

• Reduces electricity use. Electricity savings of over 60% can be realized using as little as 10 watts of power—that’s less than a standard electric light bulb

• Optimizes water flow through radiators. A constant-speed pump sized to circulate the proper amount of hot water when all the zones are fully open will pump a lot more water than necessary (or pump water too fast) when some zone valves are closed. This not only uses more pumping energy than necessary but also reduces heat-transfer performance.

• Increases pump life. Operating a pump by operating it at a slower speed can extend the operating life.

• Less maintenance. Since there is no bearing assembly, no lubricate or traditional seal or shaft, these motors also require very little maintenance.

• Eliminates need for multiple pumps. By using thermostatically controlled, electric zone valves to shunt hot water to separate zones, rather than installing a lot of individual circulators—one for each zone—as is typical practice today, the number of pumps can be significantly reduced.

• Improves boiler efficiency. By carefully regulating the hot water flow in a hydronic heating system—and reducing that flow when less heat is being extracted by radiators—return water temperature will be lower and boiler performance will improve. This is especially important with condensing boilers, which require a delta-T (difference in temperature between outgoing and return water) of about 30°F (17°C) to operate in a condensing mode.

• Reduces pump noise. ECM technology involves no bearings or traditional shaft grinding, which means the only buzz you’ll hear with ECM technology circulator pumps is from the happy building owners.

There is little doubt that ECM technology is a game changer in reducing energy and water costs, while adding comfort for owners.

The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. About the same time, a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970.

While the later Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations.

It gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995) — the highest honor given to civilians in the United States — for his role as Earth Day founder.

Created to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment, the first Earth Day also led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.

Today, Earth Day is observed every April 22^nd by more than 1 billion people in more than 192 countries participating in numerous events around the world. In fact, it’s become the largest civic observance in the world making it a global holiday.

The Earth’s seven billion people make a large impact on the planet. Each year, 50,000 acres of forest are eliminated, with 200 million tons of topsoil lost through erosion. The world now consumes more than three billion gallons of oil, which contributes to releasing more than 70 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

At Xylem RCW, we are especially concerned about water conservation and how we can all save energy and valuable resources through better water management. Our commitment to sustainability extends beyond our innovative solutions to global environmental challenges. At RCW, we are focused on minimizing our carbon footprint and reducing our use of natural resources.

We track our environmental performance on an annual basis. From 2007 to 2011, we achieved new levels of energy efficiency at our facilities worldwide. During this five-year period we saved 21,464,397-kilowatt hours of energy, which is equivalent to saving 80,491 trees or removing 2,500 passenger vehicles from the road.

So in honor of Earth Day 2012, here are some tips and reminders of what we can all do to help minimize our water and carbon footprint.

• Perform a Water Audit
• Adjust central heating thermostat down by 1 degree C or 2 degrees F in winter and up in summer
• Filter your own water, rather than buying bottled water
• Set up a rain barrel under a rain gutter outside your house. You can catch hundreds of gallons to use for watering the lawn, washing the car, etc.
• Switch off lights when leaving the room
• Replace high-flow faucets, urinals, and water closets with water-conserving products
• Get your boiler serviced regularly to ensure it is working properly and not wasting money
• Insulate your water heater or water tank with an insulation blanket to save on heat loss
• When replacing household appliances, choose energy efficient appliances with high Energy Star ratings
• Take a short shower instead of a bath. A 5-10 minute shower uses less water than a full bathtub

What ideas do you have to add to minimize our water and carbon footprint?

With tax season upon us, we wanted to share some critical information for commercial building owners thinking about investing in the purchase of a new or improved HVAC system.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes a tax deduction for investments in “energy efficient commercial building property” designed to significantly reduce the heating, cooling, and water heating cost of new or existing commercial buildings placed into service between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2013.

Building owners or tenants who have paid for qualifying energy efficient construction or improvement projects may be eligible for a tax deduction of up to $1.80 per square foot if energy costs are reduced by 50% or more. A partial deduction of $.60 per square foot is available for investments in heating and cooling, or building envelope that result in a 16 2/3% reduction in energy costs (one third of the 50% requirement). Under IRS Notice 2006-52, these percentages are effective for property placed into service between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2008.

IRS Notice 2008-04, the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, changed the energy savings percentages for the three subsystems as follows:

• HVAC increased from 16 2/3% to 20%
• Building envelope decreased from 16 2/3% to 10% – The reduction of the building envelope percentage to 10% is clearly beneficial to building owners taking on whole-facility construction or improvement projects, or those looking for alternative ways to receive a partial deduction.

Most recently, IRS Notice 2012-22 provides adjusted guidelines for energy savings percentages required to receive the 179D deduction. The HVAC percentage has been reduced to 15% and building envelope remains at 10%. These percentages are effective for property placed into service between the effective date of Notice 2012-22 and December 31, 2013. IRS guidelines further state that if 179D is extended beyond December 31, 2013, these percentages will be effective (except as otherwise provided in an amendment of 179D or the guidance thereunder) during the period of extension.

Source:  IRS Document 2012-22

To qualify for the 179D deduction it’s important to note that IRS mandated software must be used and a third-party certificate is required for proposed or newly installed: upgrades in HVAC, hot water and building envelope.  The third-party would conduct a physical inspection by a qualified Engineer who performs an Energy Efficiency Study (EES) to calculate, determine and certify the allowable deductions for part or all of the cost of the Energy Efficient HVAC, hot water, and building envelope – or any one of these Sub-Systems that have been placed in service after December 31, 2005 and before January 1, 2014.

Statements of Certification and allowable deductions are then issued for properties/systems meeting the minimum requirements of ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2001 for heating, cooling, and ventilation and hot water systems, which reflect the appropriate energy reduction.

For more information please contact:

Cindy Woudenberg
CAPITAL REVIEW GROUP
1430 East Missouri Ave, Suite B-165
Phoenix, AZ 85014
T: 602-363-5054
www.capitalreviewgroup.com

To help meet this need, Xylem Austria, the manufacturer of Vogel pumps, worked with the Government of Montenegro on a major water supply project that required transporting water from a pumping station under a lake and over very rugged terrain up to a mountain reservoir.

The major construction project began in the 1980s, yet was halted in 1991 due the war in the former Yugoslavia. The project commenced again in 2008.

Local level expertise and proven Xylem technology
Binemikom, Xylem’s representative in Serbia with a subsidiary in Montenegro, worked closely with several suppliers to access the needs of this two-year project. Based on their relationship with local decision-makers, along with the product and engineering expertise of the Xylem employees, it was clear that Vogel pumps were the proven choice to meet the challenging requirements.

P 254/3 (Reljici)

LT 300-400 (Bolje Sestre)

P 254/2 (Budva)

The water source for the project is a pumping station at Bolje Sestre, located on the waterfront of Skadar Lake, which features very clean water. Each of four Vogel vertical long shaft pumps LT 300-400 SL 31504 deliver 410 l/s water at 61.2 m head to the water treatment plant. The water is then transported by gravity to the Reljici pumping station via a 30 km (18 miles) pipeline, of which 18 km (11 miles) runs beneath Skadar Lake. At Reljici, six Vogel horizontal multistage pumps P 254/3 SC 211-71004 further transport water through hydro-technical tunnel Sozina with 6 km (3.5 mile) steel pipeline up to the Djurmani reservoir.

From this reservoir the coastal water supply system is divided to the northern branch – 73 km (45 miles) towards the Croatian border; and the southern branch 35 km (22 miles) towards the Albanian border. Xylem Austria was also involved in the installation of three horizontal multistage pumps P 254/2 SB 211, each delivering 250 l/s at 130 m head to the Budva pumping station in the North.

Following this very successful installation, another upgrade phase of this regional water supply system is in the design and evaluation phase. The pipeline route, which totals around 130 km (78 miles) runs through highly inaccessible inland and coastal terrain, through populated areas, and alongside highways and beaches.

Since the pipeline has numerous connection points for local water supply systems, companies Xylem Austria and Binemikon are already being considered as partners on this major project using Vogel Pumps.

This is of special interest to Xylem because in addition to the RCW headquarters being located in the Chicago area Xylem’s Chief Technology Officer Johan Grön was recently part of a panel discussion on “Creating the Sustainable City of the Future.”  Much of the content of the meeting focused on the financial, environmental and health benefits efficient water systems offer cities.

The unique event was sponsored by The Atlantic magazine as part of its annual Green Intelligence Forum. Many of the world’s leading organizations were represented on the panel that explored what needs to be done to rebuild the world’s cities to make them more livable, energy efficient, clean and cost-effective and asked, “How do we get there?”

A focus on water infrastructure
The panel enlightened the audience about the state of water infrastructure and systems in today’s cities.  Those thoughts included:

• About 20 percent of the energy costs of a city go into moving, treating and dealing with water and when you look at the buildings themselves, it can add up to 50-60 percent of the costs.
• Cities are losing between 30 and 50 percent of their treated water through inefficient and old infrastructure systems. And, buildings are spending 15 percent of their operating costs to heat water – costs that are never recovered.
• Water reuse and recovery – especially energy used – are areas that definitely need to be considered much more for the cities of the future Grön offered ideas on how to encourage city officials to invest in more energy-efficient water solutions.

“Ask them to think in terms of friendly, point-of-use systems,” he said. He went on to elaborate that instead of treating all water to the same high standards, cities develop possibilities to look at “point-of-use” specific water quality, which differs a lot between drinking and industrial use.

This could be advantageous from the water cycle point of view. The energy consumption and water use are interconnected, which raises the water as a resource with a prominent cost contributor level for cities. Challenging the water-energy thinking could be very beneficial financially!

When moderator and senior editor for The Atlantic Clive Crook asked why cities need to be sold on these systems, the panel agreed that financially the systems make sense. However, they said, there’s not enough existing, reliable data to prove that making energy-saving investments today will make financial sense in the long run. The solution makes sense at a high, theoretical level, but the actual impact – and cost return – of these systems for a city building or an entire city block isn’t fully understood yet.

Change will come, says Grön, when “cities begin accessing data about the cost of providing water and increase their awareness of the improvement opportunities available to them.”

Another challenge raised at the Forum is cities’ natural risk aversion when dealing with new technologies.

“There are water technologies that could increase energy efficiency by 35 percent,” said Grön.  “To convince users that an integrated approach is a worthwhile investment, we need to raise awareness beyond a single unit and show what they can do as part of a larger system.  We also need verification and testing of systems in a suitable environment, such as existing buildings with tight operational conditions.”

By bringing these issues to light, stirring up dialogue and offering solutions, Grön and his fellow thought leaders on the Green Intelligence Forum panel are paving the way to a day when smart cities and buildings are the norm, not the exception.

For more information on the value of water investments, read this article on water infrastructure as a huge challenge – and a huge opportunity. www.onforb.es/I2kIn8