The Mind of Kenney Young

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Hospitals and Medical Centers have many opportunities to significantly reduce and manage their energy costs while maintaining or even improving patient care and comfort.

Healthcare facilities are significant energy consumers, typically using an average of 28 kWh and 110 cubic feet of gas per square foot. HVAC (including cooling and space heating) represents about 62% of hospital energy use with lighting comprising 13% more. Focusing on these two areas with their combined 75% of total energy usage is very useful for developing an energy efficiency plan.

However, knowing where to focus does not mean it is always clear exactly where to start. By taking a carefully planned “whole facility” approach, it is easier to feel confident that you are making the best, most financially and operationally prudent energy efficiency choices for your unique facility. In today’s industry there are proven and recommended engineering approaches and technologies available that can guarantee results. And by working with an experienced, energy services company or engineering firm, choosing the right options does not need to be complicated.

The best first step is always to focus on quick, low cost or no cost solutions. This can include training staff to turn lights off when they leave unoccupied rooms, using sleep mode settings for computers when not in use, shutting off AHUs that serve unoccupied areas at night such as cafeterias, offices, conference rooms, etc, using programmable thermostats in rooms and areas not occupied 24 Hrs / day to turn up or down temperatures in different seasons, and having the HVAC systems serviced and cleaned on a regular basis. After you’ve addressed the “low hanging fruit”, next steps can involve choosing from a variety of longer term options that are designed to deliver much greater energy savings. Options should be considered based on their proven track record of success, whether they are “Approved” or “recommended” by organizations such as Energy Star, US DOE, USGBC, IEEE, etc., their cost effectiveness and return on investment as well as consistency with your hospital’s goals and culture Experience has shown that some of the better programs for hospitals include lighting upgrades to high efficiency fluorescent, CFL and/ or LED, use of occupancy sensors and day-lighting opportunities , sine wave modification for lighting circuits, liquid pressure amplification for central chiller plants, energy management based on occupancy, anti-compressor short cycling for roof top units, demand controlled ventilation, use of variable frequency drives and possibly equipment replacement for older systems that are approaching the end of their useful life. As you move forward with this, it helps to know that you don’t have to do it alone. There are experienced firms who can help make recommendations and provide turnkey services for you. In choosing a partner to guide this type of “whole facility” approach for you, it is important to look at a number of factors. You may want to ask the following: What is their level of experience using these various technologies, do they use proven and recommended approaches, what are the credentials of their staff, are they members of key industry organizations, what is their level of knowledge of your industry, do they offer a free initial evaluation and do they offer guarantees at each step of their process.

And remember that the sooner you begin, the sooner you start saving your hospital’s valuable and limited resources.

LEED Certified and Green Technology, Energy Edge Technologies can help save your Industrial, Hospital, Grocery Store or any other high energy commercial buildings massive amounts of money! We Take A Full Facility Approach or call 888-729-5722 Ext. 100.

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Kenney

Ford vehicles have invariably been synonymous with American pride and custom. One of the most important vehicle manufacturers today, the Ford brand is known all over the world and has been attached with a tag of sturdiness and quality. These are the same qualities it has saved thru the years and more than a century after the brand had been unveiled, a number of its autos from its early and mid productions still ply American streets, if not, vintage auto shows.

This doesn’t mean though that Ford just pumped out one vehicle after another leaving quality behind. To the contrary, because they were able to produce automobiles at a fast rate, they managed to concentrate entirely on their research and development which permitted them to come up with high standard vehicles.

This prime quality has permitted a number of their automobiles from the post 2nd world war era to still be street deserving today. Vintage Ford autos have numerous commotion from Ford loyalists and though a full working and new-like condition is pretty much impossible to find, many still invest their time, cash and efforts in restoring them.

Some of the more well-liked vintage autos by Ford produced in the fifties and the sixties where the Fairlane, Thunderbird, Falcon, Galaxie, Torino, LTD and of course, the Mustang. Many of these make and models were reminiscent of the muscle autos that ruled the American auto industry and market in that age. Big forceful engines and loud roaring were characteristic of these muscle cars and they were distinctively American.

Owning and maintaining vintage Ford autos, like the Mustang, today will entail some cost. This is because vintage Ford parts could be tough to come by. For some vehicles, the parts may be simpler to find due to the vast number of their production. Due to this, parts might be lifted from the other autos with the same make and model and they can be used to restore other cars.

This though takes time as you still have to go to junk yards. For a simpler time, you will just scour the web for these parts. Just make sure that you get the right ones.

You can never mess up with vintage Ford cars. They are an American practice and they can provide you with that certain distinction that makes folks turn their heads to have a look at the autos. As an owner of a fully restored vintage Ford car, this will surely make you proud.

Next, discover some pieces you will really want to find out about motorized wheelchair which you can access via the main website here at Motorized WheelChair Store resource.

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Kenney

Are you avid on photography? If it sounds like an entrancing past-time or a likely source of money in the future, continue reading. Many people new to the pursuit are scared about their methods for achieving quality photographs.

It isn’t financially feasible to hire an expert to give some suggestions, and taking a photography class needs an investment of more time than many people can afford. The most efficient way to go into the area of amateur photographers is to get a top quality camera and hope the publicized wonderful enchanting features really work as claimed, helping to reach top quality photos without having any formal training or awareness of particular photographic secrets.

The truth is that these features truly do work, but they’re not enough to promise pro quality stills.

We have all taken pictures of loved ones on vacations, on vacation, and at special events. We’ve recorded footage for posterity, for the only point of having a record of a selected person or place at a particular time to fire fond recollections at some particular point in the future.

But many of us enjoy looking thru the lens and need to use the camera on a more frequent basis.

One frequent mistake of beginner photographers is the omission to ensure most are in the picture frame. When taking a group image, it’s urgent that everyone appears in the final print.

You don’t want to find out after the picture is developed that somebody on the end is cut in half! A little extra care before snapping the shutter is all it takes to prevent this humiliation.

Another bugaboo of amateur photographers is gauging the angle of daylight in an out of doors image. This may actually affect the standard of the final picture. Shooting straight into the sun may cause dark shading on the picture, while having the sun behind you’ll have it shining directly into your subjects’ eyes, leading them to squint.

These are only 2 pointers to get you moving on your new past-time. The memories you are conserving will literally last a lifetime!

Next, you can find what more you can discover about Polaroid’s 600 series of instant film for you to review.

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Kenney

Now that you have moved to the country, you find yourself with new challenges. Not only that, but the job of taking care of it’s all yours.

When you currently have three, 4 or perhaps five acres, the walk-behind mower that used to do a fine job on your smaller suburban lot just isn’t going to slash it. In searching for a reply to this challenge, an increasing quantity of rustic householders have turned to a tool that lawn upkeep operatives have used for years : the highly maneuverable, highly productive zero-turn-radius mower. That’s why they are the single fastest growing gear segment in the outside power appliances industry. Many house owners see the zero-turn as a fast and good way to mow big grasslands. While massive commercial models offer masses of stability on hillsides, smaller home mowers are far more subject to drifting downhill when on an incline. In addition, the purchase of a zero-turn mower is an investment in a pure cutting machine.

If you’d like one machine that offers you the ability to blow snow, do blade work, pull a use cart, or perform a spread of other jobs, then a lawn tractor or garden tractor is going to be a far better option. Thanks to resourceful design and engineering from John Deere, you do not have to sacrifice the agility and maneuverability of a zero-turn mower for the suppleness and multiple purpose functionality of a lawn tractor. You’ll be able to find four-wheel steer on 2 models of Select Series Tractors.

These machines have been designed and built to perform a range of light- and professional quality roles for consumers who have bigger properties of at least seven acres with more landscape features and challenging terrain.

These tractors come in a variety of 17 to twenty-seven hp, both air- and liquid-cooled engines, depending on the model. Other features include a peerless mix of engine features and an exclusive hood design to deliver bigger dragging capacity and longer engine life. Wide-gauge wheels provide improved functionality on coarse ground and a four-point mount is more resistant to abuse and troublesome terrain.

Next, Weldon Duffy reveals some pieces you will really want to find out about Selling John Deere Tractors which you can access via the John Deere Tractors site.

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Kenney

Buyer Beware – Using Power Factor Correction and Transient Voltage Surge Suppression to Reduce Energy Costs.

Today’s energy conscious climate has motivated many to do what they can to become more efficient and conserve energy and money. Unfortunately this same climate has prompted others to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers’ wishes to save energy and reduce expenses.

Companies that tout power factor improvement (kVAR correction) and transient voltage suppression are a good example of this bad trend. Lately we are seeing more and more of these companies cropping up and feel it is time to set the record straight.

First, transient voltage surge suppression (TVSS) plays a valuable role in improving power quality to protect sensitive equipment inside a facility. However, TVSS does not save energy. TVSS’s are only active a tiny fraction of a second to protect against voltage surges which only last for less than a millisecond. To actually reduce energy consumption the TVSS would need to actually cut power consumption for an extended period of time which is not what they are designed to do. Again, TVSS is important to protect sensitive electrical equipment but buyers should avoid vendors promising, or even guaranteeing, that they will reduce energy consumption.

Now what about vendors who claim that improving power factor will save 15% or 20% or 30% of energy consumption and corresponding cost? This one is a little trickier.

For residential applications, power factor does nothing to save energy because the typical home already has an average power factor of about 0.97 which is almost the perfect power factor of 1 or unity. In addition, the device (called a capacitor) is placed at the main circuit breaker. According to IEEE 5.5.3.3 capacitors must be situated at or near the respective inductive loads to reduce power system losses by reducing heat and distribution losses known as I2R losses.

So what about commercial and industrial facilities using power factor correction to reduce energy costs? It is perfectly appropriate for a company that is incurring penalties or a kVA billing structure from the utility company to improve the facility’s overall power factor by employing a capacitor bank at the main service entrance or individual capacitors at or near the respective motor loads. Doing so will eliminate the power factor penalties and/or reduce the kVA demand charges on the utility bill which can save significant money and provide a significant ROI on the investment.

But what about power factor correction reducing kWh consumption? IEEE also tells us that I2R losses only account for 2 to 5% of the total load in a facility. Simple math tells us that it would be against the laws of physics to get the 15% to 30% energy reduction claimed by some vendors. Think about it. Even if your facility had 5% distribution losses and you could correct 100% of the problem via power factor correction at every load (which can’t be done) you would still only save 5% at the most. No where near the claims of some capacitor vendors and manufacturers.

All that said, power factor correction when done properly will eliminate utility penalties and kVA demand charges, improve facility power quality, increase electrical system capacity, and save a little energy when applied to the appropriate motor loads.

So make an investment in transient voltage surge suppression and power factor correction when appropriate and necessary. But caveat emptor!

LEED Certified and Green Technology, Energy Edge Technologies can help save your Industrial, Hospital, Grocery Store or any other high energy commercial buildings massive amounts of money! We Take A Full Facility Approach or call 888-729-5722 Ext. 100.

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Kenney