{"id":67622,"date":"2015-08-13T12:05:07","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T16:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=67622"},"modified":"2020-09-23T13:48:29","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T17:48:29","slug":"nations-coolest-ucf-club-consistently-ranks-high-in-green-engineering-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/nations-coolest-ucf-club-consistently-ranks-high-in-green-engineering-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Nation’s Coolest: Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ Club Consistently Ranks High in ‘Green’ Engineering Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ mechanical engineering<\/a> senior Kevin Bauer wants people to know that the national award-winning student club he leads \u2013 the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers \u2013 is devoted\u00a0to reducing global energy consumption, and\u00a0not to repairing appliances.<\/p>\n The student engineers design and build heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems for buildings and for seven of the past nine years, Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s designs have placed in the top three in ASHRAE national contests.<\/p>\n Last week ASHRAE announced Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s second-place rank in its “Design Calculations” category for an environmentally friendly, cost-effective system for a building in Doha, Qatar. In 2014, Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ earned a first-place title in the same category for a system designed for a New York City building.<\/p>\n The systems they design incorporate the latest technology as buildings become “smart.” Smart buildings use information technology, sensors and more to gather and share data (such as humidity readings and occupancy levels) to optimize building performance.<\/p>\n Innovative methods to cool a building \u2013 such as the Qatar building’s system that freezes water in a storage tank overnight when energy costs are lower \u2013 are often incorporated into new building designs.<\/p>\n “I got involved in ASHRAE to be at the forefront of an energy-sustainable world, optimizing one building at a time,” Bauer said. “I’d like to see more of my fellow engineering students get involved in Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s new building projects.”<\/p>\n He plans to get students involved by collaborating with Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives and reaching out to campus groups like IDEAS for Us, a Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½-born national nonprofit devoted to implementing green and sustainable solutions.<\/p>\n “How the HVAC system is designed plays a major role in determining a building’s environmental impact,” said David Norvell, Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ assistant vice president for sustainability initiatives and a mechanical engineering alumnus. “This is where students can get involved on campus \u2013 they can help design Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s new buildings at the pre-construction stage, be involved during construction, benefit their alma mater and leave a legacy.”<\/p>\n At Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½, all new buildings must be LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a rating by the U.S. Green Building Council) and the HVAC system design is critical in earning the certification. LEED certification is based on a point system that covers a range of categories for the building.<\/p>\n HVAC Education at Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ = Jobs<\/strong><\/p>\n The consistent success at the national level has made Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s engineers with HVAC design coursework in demand with employers.<\/p>\n “It seems like every engineering firm I talk to is hiring and asking me about Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ students in the ASHRAE chapter \u2013 which ones are graduating and which have already accepted offers,” said Kyle Inge, a 2012 graduate in mechanical engineering. He is an engineer at Peninsula Engineering in Orlando who says that Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s success comes from the university’s relationship with local companies and a highly concentrated\u00a0curriculum.<\/p>\n Those close industry ties transform “book theory into real-life application,” said Inge, who came to Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ interested in aeronautics and realized he enjoyed HVAC design after an internship at Walt Disney World.<\/p>\n Immediate employment is the intent. Combined with Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s mechanical engineering curriculum,\u00a0HVAC\u00a0design education\u00a0enables students to hit the ground running, said Muthasamy V. Swami, program director for simulation software development<\/a> at Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½’s Florida Solar Energy Center and an adjunct in the College of Engineering & Computer Science.<\/p>\n