Variable air volume systems can be very efficient at full load, but large buildings often spend a large portion of their time operating at part load, where they often operate far less efficiently than they could.That’s because system components are typically not selected and controlled to work together in an integrated fashion. A new comprehensive design guide is now available from the California Energy Commission’s PIER program.The program is aimed at decreasing building energy use through research that develops or improves energy-efficient technologies, strategies, tools, and building performance evaluation methods.

The brief can be accessed from the web at http://esource.com/public/products/cec_form.asp .