Mold is a common problem in buildings that affects human health and can also damage or destroy building materials. Because mold requires water to grow, controlling mold requires a thorough understanding of how water enters and travels (or doesn’t) through buildings. Because mold also requires a food source, controlling it also requires an understanding of which building materials are susceptible to mold and how best to use and protect them.
The following documents address these key issues of water movement and mold-susceptibility. They also discuss important topics such as health effects, mold testing, and what to do when mold is found.
An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Buildings today are hollow and multi-layered with numerous air gaps or void spaces. Chases, shafts, soffits and drops abound. Everything is connected to everything else, typically unintentionally.
An edited version of this article was first published in the ASHRAE Journal.
I have loved bourbon for a long time. I like the history. And I like the independent spirit of the folks who make it, their sense of tradition, and their willingness to continue to experiment. Even now after two hundred years of history, they experiment mostly by trial and error rather than by computer simulations. I have often thought that if engineers were in the liquor business, bourbon would be the liquor they would make.
An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Hospitals are not fun places to work in, and they are not fun places to build and design or to fix and repair. The stakes are often high. Nothing is more sobering than when someone dies because of a mistake, especially when the mistake does not seem to be a big deal.
An edited version of this Insight first appeared in the ASHRAE Journal. Energy security is pretty easy to get a handle on—don’t buy oil from the Middle East, Russia, Nigeria and Venezuela. The problem is that it is not cheap energy and it is not clean energy. We can make it clean, and we will, but it will be even more expensive. And actually that is good because we won’t waste it when it is expensive.
