Atlanta, Georgia, USA,  24 July 2018: A new publication is now available to offer buildings professionals a practical look at the future of the energy sector and the role of buildings, ASHRAE announced in a Press communiqué.

The resource, Building Our New Energy Future, is a primer tailored to prepare buildings professionals for the challenges and opportunities of designing efficient and grid-responsive buildings within the changing energy sector, the communiqué said. The primer was developed for ASHRAE, in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the communiqué further said.

Sheila J Hayter, President, ASHRAE, announced the publication at the 2018 ASHRAE Annual Conference in Houston, Texas, United States, where she shared her 2018–19 Society theme of the same title.

Hayter said: “This primer was developed by a team of buildings experts across industries to provide a common language understanding of key topics that will affect our energy future. This document provides guidance to help buildings professionals not only become more aware of the steps needed to move our energy future forward, but also shows them how they can become involved to ensure our new energy future serves all humanity and promotes a sustainable world.”

According to ASHRAE, the primer explores resources on topics such as distributed energy resources (DERs), electric vehicles and buildings, the Internet of Things (IoT), smart grids and buildings, the future of utilities and high-performance building design. Strategies to communicate about prioritising loads, storing versus using energy, and advances in renewable energy are provided throughout the primer, the communiqué said. It also shares how new practice areas and business opportunities for building professionals will emerge in this drive toward a more sustainable built-environment, the communiqué further said.

Commenting on the publication, Henry L Green, President, NIBS, said: “It is vital that decision makers understand how the nation’s electrical grid works when they are taking steps to reduce energy usage – whether it’s at the building or community level – or they could unknowingly cause the reverse result. Building Our New Energy Future clearly explains this complicated topic, so people recognise the impacts their energy choices have on the power grid, occupant comfort level and their bottom line.”

According to ASHRAE, Building Our New Energy Future offers a variety of resources and practical advice to help building professionals dissect the intricacies of the evolving energy future, including:

• Facts behind the changes in grid infrastructure, utility business models and building load management
• Practical advice for owners, designers and construction professionals on smart-grid integration
• A look at how to control loads and manage them in a way that will impact the electrical system infrastructure’s performance
• Information on how the technology sector is already engaged in building automation and controls as well as renewable generation and energy storage
• Project examples of renewable electricity generation of renewable energy sources with customer-sited energy storage, rooftop solar PV, Solar Integration Systems (SIS) and off-grid solar plus storage microgrid systems

The communiqué said, electronic versions of Building Our New Energy Future can be downloaded from: https://www.ashrae.org/about/leadership/ashrae-president.