Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Transpired Solar Wall – what’s that?

It’s a heat absorbing panel placed on the south facing elevations of buildings which creates a warm air pocket.

Great….so what?

The warm air is then ventilated around the building to reduce heating costs. It can be bypassed all together if required during warmer months.

Cool…who’s idea was that?

Obama’s – he freed up a whole bunch of cash to make the world a more energy efficient place and win the hearts of the people.

Nice – but it sounds expensive.

Yes it is…..$3.5M expensive for a trial run at the largest warehouse on the Defence Distribution Centre here in Harrisburg. Initially there were going to be 6 walls covered, which has now dropped to a couple of walls plus a number of ‘options’ if sufficient cash becomes available.

But it will save a whole bunch of cash in the long run right?

Well…..I’m not sure. My first set of questions included:

• What’s the current cost of heating that place?
• What’s the life expectancy of the building itself?
• How long do these panels last and how easy/expensive are they to maintain?
• Do the number of effective years available from the system multiplied by the annual energy savings add up to more than the cost of installation?

And you know what?

What?

Nobody could tell me.

So DO the savings outweigh the expenditure?

That’s what we’re trying to establish. Part of this project is to analyse the energy usage of the building as it is now and compare it to the usage post installation. I suppose if it’s a raving success we’ll be throwing this stuff up everywhere we can…..provided the funding is there ofcourse.

Hmmm – this sounds very Electrical and Mechanic-y.

You’re right – it is, but there’s some structural stuff in there, like making sure the walls are capable of holding the panels and the additional furniture, such as lights and CCTV etc. A large section of the structural integrity of the building itself is provided by the storage racking itself. There is a need to retro-analyse the racking to ensure that additional roof loads do not exceed design limits….but mainly it’s very E&M flavoured.

So what’s McFry doing on it?

Well so far I’m using this as an opportunity to get my head around the project management systems and the ways in which business sis conducted. As the project Engineer I will be doing a lot of contract administration and answering submittals. Those that are out of my area of knowledge I will allocate to someone who can deal with tn and I will ensure all info is turned around in good time. I act as the Clients’ engineer and make sure the contractors are hitting the correct quality standards etc. I will have a CONREP (contractor representative) who has lots of experience from the construction side of life to keep an eye on things too. I will need to get my head into the RMS software package for contract administration and will also have to use DR Checks which are for ensuring that professional types have approved documents where necessary (i.e. that design calcs are checked by an approved individual).

So what’s next?

After a ‘kick off’ meeting today I need the contractor to review his schedule so I can work out any critical time line issues and see how they may affect the contract. It’s complicated by the fact that the ‘body of excellence’ within USACE is in Alabama…….so they have the real technical know-how but we’re the local eyes and ears, so the submittal review process was described in a very vague way. I have been clear that I need to know delineations of responsibility – otherwise things will go Pete Tong. (After a brief discussion about Pete Tong it was agreed that the responsibility will lie here with the local office and that technical advice is called upon as needed.) Either way – before I get my soul dirtied by contract administration, I still need access to computer systems and complete the induction packages……yes the system is still not as it should be! In the meantime – it’s ‘broadening and deepening’ of my knowledge on how things work around here.

Any other news?

I have found that teenagers that normally sit in front of a screen all day and do very little will do exactly the same thing when transported across the sea to America. Also – my colleagues have been getting brave and have tried to emulate the British accent…..now they sound Australian.