1996 & 1994 Summer Study Proceedings: Proceedings from the 1996 & 1994 ACEEE Summer Studies on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

CD-ROM by ACEEE Publications, 2140 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 202, Berkeley, CA 94704; 510/549-9914, 510/549-9984 (fax), aceee@ix.netcom.com (e-mail), www.aceee.org. $150.

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s biannual Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings is a unique institution. Every other year, several hundred researchers, administrators, and designers gather for five days to exchange technical papers and information in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere. The

Proceedings of these gatherings are a valuable reference on programs and technologies for energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings, both for participants and for those who couldn’t make the pilgrimage. But the 10-volume sets used lots of paper, took up a lot of shelf space, and were expensive to transport.

Now ACEEE has solved those problems by offering the

Proceedings of the two most recent Summer Studies, containing over 500 peer-reviewed papers, on a single CD-ROM. Using Adobe’s Acrobat software (provided with the CD for both Mac and PC platforms), the documents also have the advantage of text search capabilities. And due to the lower production costs of a CD, ACEEE is able to offer all this for a lower price than the print versions.

The Acrobat pages are legible on a large screen, but users with smaller monitors will probably want to print out relevant pages to avoid excessive scrolling. The software is slow on older computers and won’t run at all on dinosaurs, so if your computer isn’t current, you should check the system requirements before you buy.

This new format makes the

Summer Study Proceedings a great value for anyone who follows research on energy efficiency in buildings. Even if you already have the

Proceedings, this CD-ROM may be a worthwhile investment just for its portability and text-search features.