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Today our region of the county will experience a partial solar eclipse.  Not far to our north, they will experience a full solar eclipse.  You’ve probably seen or heard others discussing what is going on astronomically, but I want to address whether or not you’ll see any energy savings during the eclipse.  The short answer is “yes” with a slightly longer answer being “but not much.”

The biggest energy savings from the eclipse could come from a reduction in solar load on a building.  If it is a sunny day and your roof is suddenly in shade, your air conditioner will no longer have to work as hard to reject the heat that builds up from the sun’s rays hitting your building.  If your building is already shaded by trees, you won’t see much change.  Consider how hot an attic is during a sunny afternoon afternoon versus the early morning.  A lot of that heat is due to the sun hitting your roof rather than the outside temperature.

Ambient temperatures can also drop between 5 to 15 degrees during a solar eclipse which would reduce the amount of heat transferred between the outside and inside of your building.  Heat transfers more quickly when the difference in temperature between two surfaces is higher.  If the inside of your building is 75 °F and the outside is 100 °F, energy transfer into the house will be much higher than if the outside temperature is only 85 °F.

Unfortunately for your energy bill, the benefits of an hour or so of nighttime during the day will most likely be insignificant.  Either way, know that while you are outside viewing the eclipse, your building is enjoying a nice short break in the shade.

Our big news this month is that we have moved.  Our office is now located in historic downtown Rogers in the Vinson Building at 1st and Elm.  The dust is still settling and parts of the office are still filled with cardboard boxes but through it all the work continues.  You can read our full announcement on our web page.  Please feel free to stop by and see us if you are in the area.

We announced last month our sponsorship of the 23rd Annual Green Valley Bible Camp Golf Tournament.  The tournament was held on August 5th and raised over $5000 for scholarships to the camp.  We were proud to be a repeat sponsor this year and to field a team for the first time.  You can see a few pictures of the event on our web page.  Thank you to all who participated in this great event.

Here’s a few other topics we were talking about this month:

1. Why Hire an Engineer – Don’t hire an engineer just because it’s required by the city.  It can also save a project time and money.
2. HVAC Load Calculations – How does an engineer predict HVAC equipment sizes? See what goes on behind the curtain
3. Penguin MEP Design – Penguins have the coolest enclosures at the zoo. See what it takes to keep them cold.

Be sure to check our website regularly for updates or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. We wish you the best this month and if you ever have need of any of our services, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Have a great day!

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In building design, the MEP engineering team designs the HVAC, electrical and plumbing systems.  It may seem obvious that a client would need an engineer for a complicated project like a hospital or skyscraper, but why should you hire an engineer for a small or straight forward project like a new store or office?  The short answer is that in most cities engineered plans are required by the city to get a building permit but there are many other benefits such as coordination and equipment sizing.

When starting a building project, it is important to know what the city will require to see before they grant a building permit.  The design team (usually starting with an architect) will often coordinate these requirements with the city for the client.  Typically, a city will need a few copies of the plans stamped by a professional engineer that will be reviewed for code compliance.  When review is complete, they will grant the building permit.  Because this process can take time, it is important to hire the design team well in advance of the day you want to break ground.  Engineered documents provide a design that is code compliant which can reduce construction delays due to non-compliant installations.

Beyond the city review requirements, the engineer is able to coordinate all of the building systems to make sure that they will work together.  For example, an HVAC system may have specific power requirements.  The mechanical engineer coordinates this with the electrical engineer to make sure that the voltage is correct and that the right amount of power is available.  The plumbing engineer will work with the civil engineer to make sure that the water line is large enough to allow the toilets to flush (which is very important!).  When designing projects, engineers also watch for collisions between equipment such as piping and duct work to make sure that they will all fit in a wall or ceiling so that there are no surprises during construction which could delay a project.

We have written before about right sizing equipment and this is another big benefit of hiring an engineer.  Engineers use calculations and models to know what equipment is needed.  These methods factor in all the equipment, people, how and when the space is used and how the building is built to make sure that plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, HVAC equipment and power distribution equipment will all work correctly.  This also makes sure that the equipment is big enough to handle the task but not so big that the client has wasted their money.  Equipment also runs more efficiently when properly sized which can save money on operating costs.

Engineering a project does use up a part of the project budget, but we believe that a well engineered set of construction documents will save money and time on any project by reducing delays and avoiding having to purchase additional equipment or retrofits once the building is in operation.  If you have an upcoming building project, we would be honored to work with you to complete the engineering design to make sure your project is well coordinated, code compliant and does what you want it to do. Please contact us if you would like to work with an engineering firm that is client-centered and strives to provide services that are on time, on budget and exceed expectations. We would love to work with you on your next project!