May 2008

BFRL Monthly Highlights

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Additional Meteorological Measurements Available from Building 226 Weather Station

The Heat Transfer and Alternative Energy Systems Group in BFRL has added new measurement capabilities to its weather station located on Building 226. The weather station, designed as part of the Building Integrated Photovoltaic program, has provided temperature, wind, and solar insolation data in five minute intervals since 2000. In September 2007, instruments were added to measure relative humidity, air pressure (without elevation correction), and rainfall. The data are available to researchers at www.bfrl.nist.gov/863/bipv/weather2.htm. Users can see current weather conditions and can obtain archived data over a time range of interest from the Web site.

CONTACT:
William Healy
301-975-4922

Standards Training Program on Risk Mitigation of Natural and Man-Made Hazards to Constructed Facilities

BFRL, in collaboration with ASTM International and the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), presented a training seminar “Risk Mitigation of Natural and Man-Made Hazards to Constructed Facilities” at the Shady Grove campus of the University of Maryland April 3-4, 2008. Robert Chapman lead a team of instructors including Harold Marshall, David Butry, and Douglas Thomas in presenting a three-step protocol for evaluating hazard vulnerabilities, identifying potential mitigation strategies, and selecting the most cost-effective combination of strategies to protect facilities. The attendees were members of the Interagency Security Committee, government personnel who have the responsibility in their organizations for identifying and addressing hazard risks to their facilities.

The workshop provided students with the recently published Compilation of ASTM Standards on Building Economics, 6th Edition; the software program Cost- Effectiveness Tool (CET) for Capital Asset Protection; printed and electronic copies of the Risk Mitigation Toolkit, a guide to literature, methods, and software pertaining to protection against hazards; and a compendium of class notes. BFRL’s Office of Applied Economics developed the course outline and content, produced the CET software and Risk Mitigation Toolkit, and presented the lectures and exercises that illustrated how to use the standards and software together in selecting costeffective strategies for reducing the combined costs of disaster protection and expected damages. The Department of Homeland Security partially funded BFRL’s activities in planning and preparing materials for the course, and ASTM International handled the administration and facilities arrangements.

CONTACT:
Robert Chapman
301-975-2723

ASHRAE Leadership Visits BFRL

The senior officers of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) visited BFRL to learn about current research activities and to discuss potential areas for cooperation. The ASHRAE delegation included the current president Kent Peterson, along with the president-elect, treasurer and staff from their Washington, D.C., office. Based on ASHRAE’s being the key engineering society for building heating, cooling and refrigerating industries and its 50,000 membership base, it constitutes a key stakeholder group for BFRL. In addition to tours of key BFRL facilities, several areas of mutual interest and potential further interactions were discussions. Key areas of discussion included BFRL research and ASHRAE activities in the areas of building energy efficiency metrics and standards, building automation and fault detection diagnostics, indoor air quality and building information modeling.

CONTACT:
Andrew Persily
301-975-6418

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