Software And The Data

noel on April 7th, 2009

Noel Susskind has been designing and managing the construction of mechanical systems for 30 years. His knowledge of building energy usage and efficiency is wide and deep, as he has analyzed and reported on the HVAC and lighting energy of over a hundred buildings during his career. Additionally, he has had significant or complete engineering [...]

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“What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet Its not so easy to say overlook this anymore. In an information rich business environment, names are powerful. Naming is important because it enables easy retrieval, as well as recognition by us [...]

Continue reading about For you BIM and CAD jocks out there: Naming IS Important

Misinformation again. Its enough to make you want to take up arms. Some real estate and energy efficiency professionals have called into question the credibility of a study paid for by NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, on the economics of high energy performance in commercial offices. The study focussed on the average 4 [...]

Continue reading about So-called commercial building energy experts confuse the issue

noel on March 17th, 2009

I like BIM software. I admit it, I think it is very cool to be able to design directly in a virtual 3 dimensional environment. I also care deeply about high building performance. I hate poor performance. I have worked all my career to make good designs as energy efficient as possible. Recapturing heat and [...]

Continue reading about Saving Time to Design Green Building Systems

“In a perfect world, energy simulations and design tools would be so well integrated that each time an architect moved a wall, added a window, or changed a lighting specification; the building’s predicted energy performance would be updated and displayed instantly. With that sort of real-time feedback, designers would quickly become skilled at optimizing the [...]

Continue reading about Someday this will come true – sooner than you may think!

noel on March 5th, 2009

The past several months have shaken some of our assumptions about business and enterprise. Events in the financial industry have been irrationally negative. Its hard to make near term plans, such as buying a house. Never mind long range plans like retirement. My plans to build on the goodwill and trust at my client architects’ [...]

Continue reading about The Times and timing

noel on March 2nd, 2009

Learning about new software can be exciting and daunting all at once. I am talking about the new and improved version of Autodesk Revit MEP that came out in April last year and was updated massively in the fall. I am learning a lot from a variety of sources, among them, the Revit groups at [...]

Continue reading about Drinking From a Fire Hose

noel on February 28th, 2009

Having been laid off from my job earlier this month, and subsequently injuring my back, I have had time to re-evaluate this situation. I had an excellent position at TOLK engineers, but the construction business is falling down like it is 1932. So its tough, and time to get moving.

Continue reading about Laid off and re-evaluating industry direction

noel on January 29th, 2009

is showing. The US is one of the oldest and original industrial nations. We have inherited a lot of industrial infrastructure from the past. Now that the financial sector is in trouble, we are facing a lot of questions about how we got here and where we are going. We never asked these questions loudly [...]

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noel on January 26th, 2009

- the latest comment on Revit MEP. Strange, but not a big surprise. Autodesk has consistently favored the architects over the engineers, so conduit has been relegated to the bottom priority. The disciplines are starting to fall out of synch. Autodesk, as far as I am concerned, has dropped the ball!!

Continue reading about “Wow, no electrical conduit?”

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