New York Energy Efficiency and Ethics 18 PDH Discount Package 1

This online engineering PDH course provides basic information on wireless occupancy for lighting controls.

Lighting use constitutes about 20% of the total energy consumption in commercial buildings. Adding lighting controls is a simple retrofit option than can save on energy costs while helping to meet agency and federal energy savings mandates. Some energy codes and federal standards require the use of lighting controls.

Studies have shown that adding lighting controls can reduce lighting energy use 10% to 90% or more depending on the use of the space in which the sensors are installed. One study conducted on a university campus found that installing wired occupancy sensors to control lighting in more than 200 rooms in 10 buildings provided an annual cost savings of about $14,000 with a simple payback of 4.2 years.

This online engineering PDH course provides a brief overview of wind turbine technology and its associated components, discusses the financial considerations and the technological improvements that would be required to increase the reliance on wind energy in the future.   

Current turbine technology has enabled wind energy to become a viable power source in today’s energy market. Advancements in turbine technology that have the potential to increase wind energy’s presence are currently being explored through areas of study including reducing capital costs, increasing capacity factors, and mitigating risk through enhanced system reliability.

This online engineering PDH course presents guidelines on how to reduce mechanical system water use in residential buildings. Mechanical systems are frequently utilized to provide heating and cooling for residential properties. They typically fall into two categories: centralized and decentralized systems.

Centralized mechanical systems provide heating and cooling from a central location, such as a mechanical room or utility penthouse. These systems are more common in mid- and high-rise multifamily properties and can include cooling towers, boilers, and steam systems, each of which uses water as the heat transfer medium. As a result, the use of water for building heating and cooling can be significant and using sound management practices is a good opportunity for water savings.

Decentralized mechanical systems treat each unit of a multifamily property as its own space, as if each unit were a stand-alone single-family residence. These systems do not typically use process water, so they are not the focus of this water efficiency management guide.

This online engineering PDH course presents a performance analysis of 75 solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installed at federal sites, conducted by the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) with support from National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

System data is analyzed for key performance indicators including availability, performance ratio, and energy ratio by comparing the measured production data to modeled production data. The analysis utilizes the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s System Advisor Model (SAM), which combines a description of the system (such as inverter capacity, temperature derating, and balance-of-system efficiency) with environmental parameters (coincident solar and temperature data) to calculate predicted performance.

The measured performance metrics are useful in that they provide realistic expectations of performance, and owners of existing systems may compare their own measured performance values to the average and focus on corrective actions.

This online engineering PDH course identifies the opportunities for improving the performance of the heating and cooling system based on the type of system that is in place.

Heating and cooling systems are the largest single consumers of energy in buildings. These systems condition the air within a building so that occupants are comfortable. Heating and cooling systems consist mainly of chillers, boilers, cooling towers, and pumps. There are central heating and cooling systems, and unitary systems that combine heating and cooling. Opportunities exist for improvement to both central and unitary systems.

This 3 PDH online course is applicable to engineers, contractors, designers and other technical professionals who are involved in the retrofit of existing heating and cooling systems.

This online engineering PDH course provides insight on how to estimate the positive environmental effects of green roof installations in cities. This is accomplished by providing a brief introduction to the basic concepts and definitions relating to urban environmental pollution, followed by a case study of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

A green roof—also called a vegetated roof or eco-roof—is a roof with soil and plants placed on top of a conventional roof. Green roofs are growing in popularity, as they have proven to be a cost-effective strategy for creating more livable and sustainable cities. Integrating nature-based solutions like green roofs into the urban landscape has several benefits to the environment, public health, and society.

This online engineering PDH course provides information on advancements made in systems and technologies related to oil and natural gas development to produce cleaner fuels. It pays special attention to advancements aimed at reducing the environmental impact associated with the production of oil and natural gas. It also discusses the safety conditions for those involved in the development process.

Fossil fuel resources account for 82% of total U.S. primary energy use because they are abundant, have a relatively low cost of production, and have a high energy density—enabling easy transport and storage. The infrastructure built over decades to supply fossil fuels is the world’s largest enterprise with the largest market capitalization. Of fossil fuels, oil and natural gas make up 63% of energy usage. Across the energy economy, the source and mix of fuels used across these sectors is changing, particularly the rapid increase in natural gas production from unconventional resources for electricity generation and the rapid increase in domestic production of shale oil. The United States will, for the foreseeable future, continue to rely heavily upon oil and natural gas to support its economy, national security, and energy security.

This online engineering PDH course presents the laws and rules of ethics and professional responsibility governing the practice of engineering in the State of New York. Excerpts from Parts 17 and 29 of the Rules of Board of Regents, which relate to the laws and rules of profession conduct are presented in this course.

Engineering ethics is (1) the study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals and organizations involved in engineering and (2) the study of related questions about moral conduct, character, ideals and relationships of peoples and organizations involved in technological development (Martin and Schinzinger, Ethics in Engineering).

Since engineers are faced with frequent moral and ethical dilemmas while practicing their engineering profession, this course will provide you with moral and ethical guidance in your decision making process. Most importantly, it will provide you with insight on how to conduct, respect and protect your engineering practice with the utmost professionalism.

This 1 PDH online course is applicable to Professional Engineers licensed in the State of New York and who are required to demonstrate continuing professional competency in engineering ethics as a condition of their license renewal. For each renewal period, every licensee must complete thirty six (36) professional development hours, at least one (1) of which must be relative to the principals of professional responsibility, conduct and ethics.