Guidance to help designers improve the performance and efficiency of design as it relates to load calculations is contained in a book from ASHRAE.

Load Calculation Applications Manual focuses on two methods for calculating cooling loads in non-residential buildings - the heat balance method and the radiant time series method (RTSM).

Author Jeffrey Spitler noted that understanding these methods is crucial when answering three primary design questions - what is the required equipment size; how do the heating/cooling requirements vary spatially within the building; and what are the relative sizes of the various contributors to the heating/cooling load?

''Cooling load calculations are performed primarily to answer the first and second questions, providing a basis for specifying the required airflow to individual spaces within the building,'' Spitler said. ''Answers to the third question help designers make choices to improve the performance or efficiency of the design.''

The new manual features in-depth examples, as well as bringing together the latest data for building materials, windows, weather and internal heat gains, according to Spitler. The accompanying CD contains spreadsheets that compute the factors needed by the RSTM and compute cooling loads with the RSTM.

The manual is the fourth in a series of load calculation manuals published by ASHRAE, including the first and second editions of Cooling and Heating Load Calculation Manual as well as Cooling and Heating Load Calculation Principles.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing, and continuing education.

The ASHRAE Handbooks are the design standard for control of built environments with volumes on Systems and Equipment, HVAC Applications, Refrigeration and Fundamentals. Each is updated every four years. In addition to publishing design guidance for engineers, architects, and facility managers, we also publish a series of texts for classroom use.

Some of the areas we publish in include:
-Energy Modeling and Auditing
-High Performance Building Design
-Psychrometrics
-Indoor Air Quality and Environmental Quality
-Data Center Energy Efficiency
-Noise & Vibration Control
-Humidity Control
-HVAC for Healthcare Facilities