Brown Bag Lunch & Learn: Mechanical systems for Health & Comfort in Hot Humid Climates

The Residential Committee is hosting a BYOL Brown Bag Lunch and Learn with EcoScience LLC, Wednesday July 12, 2017.  12:00 - 1:30 pm.  

"Design around people, a good building follows" - is more than just a slogan. It's a vision of the future of conditioned space.

We spend roughly 90% of our lives indoors, mostly in our homes. Indoor spaces are highly immersive, tactile environments that impact our health, comfort and experience of well-being. Houston’s climate poses specific performance challenges relating to heat, humidity, and design teams need to respond.

Specifics topics will include VRF mechanical systems, dehumidification and ERVs (energy recovery ventilation).

Learning Objectives: 
1) Participants will understand why climate zone appropriate mechanical design is crucial to delivering client health and comfort
2) Participants will be informed of the range of available mechanical technologies to accommodate modern architecture, specifically VRF equipment
3) Participants will gain appreciation of the intimate relationship between the enclosure and mechanical systems
4) Participants recognize that integrating stakeholders in the design phases is just as important as integrating project teams actions during project delivery

About the Presenter: 

Kristof Irwin, P.E., M Eng., is the Lead Engineer and Principal of Positive Energy, a company in Austin, Texas focused on residential mechanical design with a building science approach. Positive Energy’s mission is to transform the way our industry conceptualizes and delivers high quality indoor climates.  Successful outcomes for human comfort and health, energy efficiency, and durability requires a multilayered approach that sees buildings-climate-occupants as systems of systems and sees all parts of the project team (architect/engineer, builder, installer) as stakeholders. The company is a strong advocate for best practices in enclosure design, residential mechanical design, residential plumbing design, construction administration, and commissioning - bringing the human factor to designing and delivering buildings.

Kristof’s background includes 12 years of experience as a custom builder (including deep energy retrofits and zero-net energy projects) and 9 years as a building science consultant. He worked for 14 years as an engineer, research scientist, and physicist for government and university research labs. He is active in the local and national high-performance building community including:
Chair of AIA Austin’s Building Enclosure Committee, member of several ASHRAE committees—ASHRAE TC-2.1 (Physiology & Human Environment), ASHRAE SSPC-55 (Thermal comfort), ASHRAE SSPC-62.2 (Ventilation/IAQ), and member of the RESNET ANSI Standards Development Committee (SDC).

Kristof hosts The Building Science Podcast to promote education and understanding of a how to improve outcomes for humans in the built environment.