Product Description

Energy-Efficient Building Systems is a complete resource for understanding,
operating, and maintaining essential building systems such as heating, air
conditioning, electrical, and lighting. Packed with successful, real-world
examples and 100-plus illustrations, this is the most practical manual
available for reducing energy consumption and complying with green building
guidelines in commercial buildings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #672833 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 640 pages

From the Author
If you've dreamed of offshore voyaging...
When other boats scurry back to to their berths just ahead of the setting sun, you want to keep sailing. You want your tracks to be the only ones on a perfect sand beach of a deserted tropical island. You want to see the green flash, taste coconut milk from the husk, watch the fish dance at dusk, and share a feast with new friends from other cultures. This book can help you get there.

In five sections, this book covers everything I wish I'd known before my partner and I embarked on our 36,000 nautical mile circumnavigation:

1. The Essential Ingredients - an enthusiastic crew, an offshore-capable boat and enough money.

2. Equipping the Yacht for Bluewater Voyaging - all the equipment you'll need to add before you leave from anchors to frying pans.

3. Liveaboard Skills - From maintenance to keeping your boat watertight.

4. Shorthanded Passagemaking Skills - From weather to watchkeeping.

5. Foreign Savvy - Bureaucracy, mail, money, markets and enjoying foreign cultures while keeping the home fires burning.

From the Back Cover
Proven Strategies and Solutions for Reducing Energy Consumption in
Commercial Structures
Property and facility managers can turn to Energy-Efficient Building
Systems as a one-stop guide to operating and maintaining commercial
building systems at peak efficiency. Designed to help reduce energy costs
and meet environmental standards, this state-of-the-art productivity tool
contains fully illustrated, real-world examples of successful green
building projects that have achieved significant, energy-saving results.

This expert resource takes you step-by-step through procedures for getting
optimal performance from every building system. For each system, the book
presents the latest methods for improving efficiency... identifying
promising new solutions... evaluating their feasibility... and estimating
actual savings.

Comprehensive and authoritative, Energy-Efficient Building Systems enables
you to:

Get an in-depth understanding of the principles of each building system
Select the most efficient systems for any nonresidential building
Maximize energy efficiency with practical strategies and solutions
Review real-world examples of successful green building projects
Inside This Cost-Saving Energy Guide:
* Energy Management and Energy Auditing * Air-Conditioning and Central
Chiller Systems * Boilers and Heating Systems * Pumping Systems * Cooling
Towers * Air Handling and Distribution Systems * Lighting Systems *
Building Electrical Systems * Building Automation Systems * Building
Envelope

About the Author
Lal Jayamahais a mechanical engineer and the director of the PREMAS Energy
Centre, in Singapore. He has more than 15 years of industrial and academic
experience in energy efficiency. He has been the team leader for energy
audits and energy retrofit projects involving office buildings, retail
malls, institution buildings, hotels, hospitals and industrial plant. He is
a Professional Engineer (PE) and a Chartered Engineer (UK). He is also a
member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK and the American
Society for Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
Dr. Jayamaha has published a number of research papers and has been a key
speaker at energy efficiency seminars held throughout the world. He has
been a guest lecturer at the National University of Singapore for the last
seven years.

Customer Reviews

The Best Book on this Subject
I have an extensive library of books about cruising and the voyaging lifestyle and this is by FAR the best and the most useful. Beth Leonard covers the whole topic in great depth and what's more instead of just spouting personal opinion like so many other books, she actually backs it up with research and published evidence. You can tell she has a background in management consultancy. No, she hasn't got a lifetime aboard like some other writers but in my opinion that's what makes her book more valuable to the average person. Not many of us abandon the established world in our teens and are then content to live a spartan and frugal existence thereafter, happy because its all we've ever known. Many more people come to liveaboard cruising in their 40s, 50s or 60s and want to retain some sort of comfort in their new life whilst watching their budget. This book outlines far more realistic and workable ideas for this type of cruiser than the more purist approach of living on dried beans without a proper head or hot water!!!
Really, if you are considering taking a sabbatical to go cruising, this is a definite must have.

a good writer, but does she have enough experience?
When I first saw this book and read the reviews I felt that no publisher would spend this much and produce a book that looked this good unless it was either written by someone who knew what she was writing about, or made it clear that her ideas were only opinions, not based firmly on real hard earned experience. A three year sailing experience limited to one boat does not seem to make this woman an expert - especially on the matter of real seamanship, heavy weather, and such. I'd say this is a good look at a really easy voyage using the trade winds, not too much happened to test the people or boat. But it definitely is not a handbook and people looking for real serious seamanship advise should look elsewere. I did agree with many of the ideas presented here, just wish the author had stuck to what she really knew, not tried to write the complete handbook. voyage.

Absolutely THE BEST
I've read a lot of books about voyaging and how to prepare yourself for it and this is undoubtedly the best. Beth Leonard takes a very clear, pragmatic and structured approach to the whole business which is a welcome difference to some of the more "romantic" approaches. I really like the fact that she gives options at every step of the way depending on budget and your wish for technology. So, the book is useful to both the budget/purist, the mid range voyager, the large purse/technologist and every shade in between. I learnt so much from reading it.

Whatever other books you buy on this subject - do buy this one.