How Cool is that?
3 min read Many of us grew up surrounded by family members who recommend not wearing dark-colored clothes outside in the sweltering sun. Instead, they advised us to wear light-colored clothes. Why? The answer was always that the darker the clothing, the greater the absorption of heat, making you feel hotter. While light-colored clothing reflects most of the…
Cole’s Baumann Consulting Marketing Internship Experience
4 min read Baumann Consulting offers a rich internship experience no matter the position or location. As a Marketing Intern, I was able to collaborate with aspiring experts within the A/E/C industry. As someone who was not well versed in the industry, the Baumann team made an amazing effort to help ease the initial onboarding and helped teach…
Blocking and Tackling Geothermal Installations
3 min read I was in the field recently witnessing flow and pressure drop testing of an installed ground-coupled heat exchanger (aka a geothermal ground loop or GHX). As the contractor was preparing for the work at hand, he commented to me that he had not done any of these tests before. Although this contractor has done a…
Reading the Tea Leaves – BEPS Greenhouse Gas Study
2 min read Last week Washington DC’s Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) released the “BEPS Greenhouse Gas Study” that was mandated by Title III of the CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018 (CEDC Act and D.C. Official Code § 8–1772.21). This is the same legislation that created DC’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) Program. “The purpose…
Budget-friendly Bubbles: Refrigerant Leak
< 1 min read An air conditioning unit that has lost a part of its refrigerant charge will struggle to perform. A small refrigerant leak will rob your system of its capacity. The time required to reach the desired setpoint will be longer and discharge air temperatures will be off, all these leading to higher utility bills. Locating a…
Kelly Adighije’s 10-Year Baumann Anniversary
3 min read Kelly Adighije joined Baumann Consulting 10 years ago as a Senior Mechanical Engineer for the Washington, D.C. office. Today, Kelly heads the Chicago office where he leads a team of engineers, energy analysts, and sustainability consultants. Prior to joining Baumann, Kelly trained as a chartered mechanical engineer and built his career as a building mechanical…
Introduction to EU-Taxonomy and Its Significance for the Real Estate Industry
5 min read The EU-Taxonomy is part of the “European Green Deal” which aims to achieve climate neutrality in the European Union (EU) by 2050. This would eliminate all net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU by 2050. The Green Deal brings together numerous measures in a wide range of areas. In the area of sustainable financing,…
Open Surface Parking and Energy Star Score
< 1 min read The engineered model developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to calculate the Energy Star score adjusts to include parking energy usage since this is one of the most common end-uses in commercial buildings. To obtain an accurate estimation of the building’s energy usage, the model estimates parking energy use and subtracts this from the…
Little Things Can Be Overlooked: Indoor Air Quality
< 1 min read Appropriate ventilation is essential to maintain good Indoor Air Quality and keep the air fresh in residential homes. Windows and mechanical systems go hand in hand to provide that and keep the living space free from pollutants. There are ways to control the amount of fresh air that is coming into the unit. One of…
What is Missing: Design Phase Commissioning
< 1 min read Reviewing building design drawings is an integral part of a Design Phase Commissioning scope and with good reason: with the minute level of detail and the sheer volume of information, there’s a good chance that some piece of equipment is mislabeled, differing systems aren’t coordinated, or that typos are present that may cause confusion at…
Rooftop Unit Installation Issue: Unfriendly Neighbors
< 1 min read One fun aspect of performing a building walk-through is getting to go out on the roof. There is almost always technical equipment up there to be inspected and the vantage point often offers great views. System designers and installers favor placing equipment on the roof because there tends to be a lot more space for…
Follow the Energy
< 1 min read While reviewing trend data from an air handling unit, we noticed that the supply air temperature was significantly above the setpoint. Whereas the supply air should have been kept at around 20°C, it got up to 26°C. When we see a problem we often assume that the cause is at the same spot, in this…
