Charles H. Culp, associate director of the Energy Systems Laboratory at the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) recently joined the Texas A&M Department of Architecture faculty as an associate professor.
An expert in energy efficiency for high-performance buildings, Culp comes to the College of Architecture from a visiting professor post in mechanical engineering at A&M’s Dwight Look College of Engineering. He was hired for his expertise in the field of sustainability, as part of the College of Architecture’s ongoing “signature faculty” recruitment initiative.
A licensed engineer and holder of 11 U.S. patents, Culp has over 25 years of academic and professional experience in engineering, research, teaching, and management. His work at the Energy Systems Lab (ESL) focuses on energy efficiency codes simulation, building energy efficiency measures, and the development of measurement and verification (M&V) for energy efficiency solutions.
As one of the principal investigators on the ESL team, Culp assists the state of Texas with a variety of initiatives related to Senate Bill 5, a sweeping legislation that in 2001 established new energy-efficiency measures for buildings aimed at reducing energy consumption and improving air quality. For its services on SB5 initiatives, the ESL receives $960,000 annually from the Texas Legislature. Additional funding has been provided through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
As part of its SB5 contract, the ESL helps Texas communities measure the emissions reductions potentials for various energy efficiency measures. Additionally, as part of this multifaceted project, the team has developed a methodology and a Web-based system for calculating reductions of energy demand, peak loads, and associated air contaminant emissions.
The professor has also served as principal and co-principal investigator on energy-related research projects for the U.S. Air Force, the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy.
As a Honeywell Fellow, Culp designed the Delta 2500L6, an energy management control system for large facilities, and the Delta 21, which incorporated advanced energy management functions with a simple, color graphic interface. He also played a key role in designing for Honeywell a real-time pricing system for optimizing energy use and minimizing costs.
Culp has contributed significantly to the field of building diagnostics and the development of control algorithms for mechanical equipment. In addition to completing a variety of measurement and verification research and development projects for the federal government, he helps the ESL oversee measurement and verification for a Texas state agency that is working with an energy service company on a multi-campus building energy efficiency program; a contract valued at over $25 million.
From 1994 to 1999, at Emerson Electric, Inc., Culp served as director of the Advanced Materials Center, the Advanced Development Center, Alco Controls Engineering and Fisher Research.
A member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Culp was on the committee that developed “Guideline 14,” which describes how to reliably measure energy savings of commercial equipment, using measured pre- and post-retrofit data. He also co-wrote the measurement and verification chapter of the Energy Management Handbook.
Culp earned a doctorate in solid state physics from Iowa State University in 1975, with a minor in Electrical Engineering. He also holds a bachelor of science in physics, earned with highest honors at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, N.M.
His areas of interests include high performance buildings; heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; measurement and verification; expert systems; system design; energy efficiency; and utility power distribution.
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