Energy Efficiency Manual: for everyone who uses energy, pays for utilities, designs and builds, is interested in energy conservation and the environment [Hardcover]

Donald R. Wulfinghoff (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0965792676 | ISBN-13: 978-0965792677 | Publication Date: March 2000

This is the primary reference, how-to guide, and sourcebook for energy conservation. It lets you improve efficiency and save money in all types of buildings and plants, ranging from individual houses to commercial buildings to large institutions and industrial plants. It is organized around 400 logically grouped energy conservation actions, presented in language that everyone understands.

It's for everyone who uses energy, pays for utilities, manages property, operates energy systems, designs, builds, and values conservation and the environment. It's loaded with features that help you quickly find the right information for each application. "Ratings" and "Selection Scorecards" identify your best conservation opportunities. "Traps & Tricks" ensure success. "Economics" estimate savings and costs. It has been acclaimed by professional and non-technical users. Publishers Weekly says it "answers just about any question [from] homeowner, plant manager, energy policy guru ... as practically useful as it is informative." 830 photographs and drawings illustrate the methods. Hundreds of examples give you a feel for real applications. A complete index makes it easy to find every topic and term.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Energy Conservation/Environment

Cut Energy Costs and Protect the Environment while Improving Comfort, Safety, And Reliability. The Energy Efficiency Manual helps you to:

Find the Right Improvements for Your Building or Plant. The Energy Efficiency Manual is the most complete resource for finding efficiency improvements. Use the handy Ratings and Selection Scorecards to quickly find the best measures for your facility, rank them in order of priority, and develop an optimum program.

Become an Expert in Each Subject. Each Measure supplies the specialized information you need. Reference Notes broaden your knowledge of utility rates, high-efficiency motors, variable-speed drives, environmentally safe refrigerants, lighting technology, energy management computers, people sensors, and many other vital subjects.

Avoid Expensive Mistakes. Each Measure includes Traps & Tricks to guide you around pitfalls that can spoil your work. You get tips gained from practical experience that minimize effort, save cost, and protect your savings in the long term.

At last! Twenty years in preparation, this manual organizes the entire field of energy efficiency using 400 logically grouped Measures, with hundreds of examples and illustrations. Experts find the detail they want. Beginners appreciate the clear, non-mathematical presentation.

"A phenomenal achievement. This is the best organized, most complete guide presently available for making buildings and plants efficient and reliable. It breaks new ground in showing management how to reduce utility costs." -- Henry A. Borger, former Secretary, Federal Construction Council of the National Academy of Sciences

"Provides professional, practical, detailed guidance for today's real world. Helps you obtain the optimum combination of efficiency and investment potential, whether in design, installation, operation, maintenance, or management." -- Clinton W. Phillips, PE, engineering consultant, past President, ASHRAE

"Industry has been waiting for this book. It covers everything from the simplest activities and equipment modifications to sophisticated design improvements. Plant operators and designers will use it continually." -- Charles A. Wood, paper industry engineer

"An invaluable resource. You need this book to do thorough energy audits and to make efficiency improvements with confidence." -- Sean J. Gallagher, school system energy specialist

About the Author

Donald Wulfinghoff is a professional engineer, licensed stationary engineer, certified automotive mechanic, and licensed broadcast engineer. Thousands have attended his courses on energy conservation at George Washington University, his presentations at industry conferences, and his seminars about conservation and energy management. He is a founder of the ASHRAE Energy Awards design competition. He has developed efficiency programs for hundreds of facilities. He served on panels of the National Academy of Sciences devoted to improving engineering practice. He serves as a construction industry arbitrator-mediator. He is president of Wulfinghoff Energy Services, Inc., which he established to advance the standards of performance in energy conservation. He devoted twenty years to writing the Energy Efficiency Manual.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1536 pages
• Publisher: Energy Inst Pr (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965792676
• ISBN-13: 978-0965792677
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 2.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #900,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Home Design > Energy Efficient Design

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you always wanted to know, in plain English, April 24, 2001

By 

John Morrill (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Energy Efficiency Manual: for everyone who uses energy, pays for utilities, designs and builds, is interested in energy conservation and the environment (Hardcover)

I nodded my head in agreement while reading Wulfinghoff's philosophy about energy savings in commercial and light industrial facilities. He distills 20+ years of experience in this field with practical, no-nonsense how-tos to gain energy and dollar savings in a wide variety of facilities and end-uses: lighting, water use, steam systems, space heating, water heating, air conditioning, scheduling, pumps, energy management controls: its all here in a well-written, well-illustrated book.

Perhaps best of all, the author goes beyond theoretical considerations of high-tech efficiency products, with precautions of what works and what might fall short. He also reminds facility managers to be mindful of the human factors that can foil our best efforts. He offers suggestions on how to plan and manage efficiency upgrades complete with information for building operators and occupants, so that the savings persist.

Highly recommended for anyone managing energy use in facilities, ranging from individual buildings to college campuses to government facilities. [I am a local government energy manager myself.]

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful and interesting - STRONGLY RECOMMENDED, February 7, 2005

By 

Joshua M. Levine (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Energy Efficiency Manual: for everyone who uses energy, pays for utilities, designs and builds, is interested in energy conservation and the environment (Hardcover)

Despite the intimidating name and size of this tome, I found it fascinating to read. It covers everything from light bulb selection to rooftop chiller maintenance. The depth and breath of coverage is amazing.

This is not a hippie guide to backwoods eco-conservation. It is a practical manual, firmly grounded in science and economics that explains different strategies for maximizing comfort while minimizing energy use. In every case, the author examines both the pros and cons of the measure, and calculates the expected payback term. It is so helpful to have a book that is realistic in its treatment of energy conservation. Lots of books outline promising energy saving techniques, none I've read before talk so frankly about the problems you will encounter when you implement them.

Quite technical in many places, the text excels at explaining important concepts that are often ignored in other texts. I have a background in physics, but not until reading this book did I have a good grasp of the operation of absorption coolers or how the spectrum of a light bulb affects the visual comfort of the scene it illuminates. The concise overview of heat transfer mechanisms is more thorough than any thermodynamics textbook I've ever read.

Most important of all is the practical advice that is clearly based on a huge body of real experience. As the book so frequently points out, energy saving measures are useless if they break or are defeated by building occupants. Hundreds of (non-obvious) examples of these failures are given, with pictures.

This book would be great for anyone with responsibility for designing or maintaining buildings of any size. If you are hesitant to pay the high price, find it at a local library. I don't write many Amazon reviews, but after reading this book I felt compelled to strongly recommend it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provides practical advice for avoiding pitfalls, February 4, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Energy Efficiency Manual: for everyone who uses energy, pays for utilities, designs and builds, is interested in energy conservation and the environment (Hardcover)

Donald Wulfinghoff's Energy Efficiency Manual is a massive, 1,536-page reference work that is organized to guide the reader quickly to the right information for their particular energy project, problem, or inquiry. The first part of this "user friend" manual has 400 logically grouped activities for improving energy efficiency. each activity begins with Ratings and a Selection Scorecard to help the reader judge the merits and difficulties of that particular activity. "Economics" sidebars estimates the savings, cost, and payback period. The "Traps & Tricks" sidebars provides practical advice for avoiding pitfalls plaguing energy conservation efforts. Energy Efficiency Manual will earn back its cover price over and over again and is an essential, core reference for personal, professional, and community library energy conservation and energy efficiency reference book collections.