Most visited articles at www.csemag.com during December 2010 included the world’s largest wind project, what keeps engineers up at night, tailoring HVAC systems, arc hazard protection, and preparing for Smart Grid among other articles.

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Most visited articles at www.csemag.com during December 2010 included the world’s largest wind project, what keeps engineers up at night, tailoring HVAC systems, arc hazard protection, and preparing for Smart Grid among other articles.

December 2010’s leading Consulting-Specifying Engineer online stories included:

Dept. of Energy finalizes loan guarantee to support world’s largest wind project – The U.S. Department of Energy has granted a partial loan guarantee for the Caithness Shepherds Flat project, an 845-megawatt wind generation facility that will create hundreds of jobs and avoid over 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. The wind project will use grid integration and 338 GE 2.5xl wind turbines to provide high efficiency and increased reliability.

Mechanical and electrical engineering: Things that keep me up at night – Several emerging mechanical and electrical engineering technical trends that are worrisome include the pressure of quickly adopting and validating new technology and design methods in order to meet the client’s demands. The pressure of designing cost-effectively and producing three-dimensional presentation to clients are also what may keep us up at night.

Right-sizing HVAC – This roundtable discussion addresses improperly designed HVAC systems and how they can lead to huge bills, both at the outset and over the years of operation, or inadequate heating and cooling for the facility. Advice is offered here from three knowledgeable engineers on tailoring HVAC systems just right.

DOE rules impact transformer efficiencies – New rules were put into place that changed the efficiency, size and price of distribution transformers commonly found in today’s nonresidential buildings and industrial centers. Improved efficiency standards, changed transformer design formulas and an effected transformer selection are among the changes discussed within this article.

Three stages for implementing arc hazard protection: Part 3 – The third installment of CSE’s series on arc hazard protection focuses on choosing management systems that are both effective and sustainable in the long term. An important addition to the 2009 edition of the NFPA 70E is discussed, including a hierarchy of hazard control measures applicable to any work place.

Mechanical engineering: What are we in for? – Current technologies are vastly different than the technologies in place when most mechanical engineers first started their careers. Knowing how the data is developed with basic tools, such as computer programs and equipment calculation and selection programs, has become a necessity in order to be sure that the output is correct.

New Data Center Sustainability Metrics – The Green Grid has announced the creation of two new data center sustainability metrics designed to help improve carbon and water-use effectiveness tied specifically to the IT energy infrastructure they contain. Both metrics are joining the Green Grid’s Power Usage Effectiveness metric and are designed to help organizations optimize their data centers.

Prepare for the Smart Grid surge – Part of the difficulty in comprehending the Smart Grid is that not many people know much about the current grid; hence they aren’t aware of the differences between the new and the old grids. There are three foundational documents that can clue us in and allow us to really understand that is coming with the Smart Grid.

Why choose medium-voltage drives? – Energy savings and other benefits of more common, low-voltage AC drives are becoming well-known; yet medium-voltage drives, which operate from a higher electric supply, bring a ‘heavy lifting’ capability and further economies of scale to rugged applications.

Most visited articles on the website during November

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