The revisions are designed to help engineers respond to environmental challenges, ASHRAE says.
The organization is conducting a review of the sustainability content of all handbook chapters and is looking at writing a new chapter on sustainability with a view toward integrated building design in its Fundamentals volume.
"While the word sustainability only recently entered the vocabulary of ASHRAE, the Society was involved with sustainable building and HVAC equipment design long before the term was coined," says Norm Maxwell, chair of the Handbook Committee.
In addition to designing systems that will save energy and therefore operating costs, sustainability requires design professionals to take into account the length of service of the equipment that is proposed, Maxwell says. The end result must be a total building concept that will not have to be replaced quickly and have a long service life.
The ASHRAE Handbook is the most widely used reference book in the HVAC&R industry for system design, application and equipment operation and maintenance.
To give feedback on incorporating sustainable design guidance in the ASHRAE Handbook, visit the "comment on the Handbook section" on the ASHRAE Web site
