E Source Technology Atlas Series

E Source Technology

Atlas Series

from E Source, Inc., 1033 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO 80302; 303/440-8500, 303/440-8502 (fax), esource@esource.com (e-mail), www.esource.com/atlas. Five-volume paper-back set or CD-ROM for Windows or Macintosh. 1,700 pages, $750 for either format, or $950 for both.

It’s not often that we’ll label an information package costing $750 a “bargain,” but if your business involves energy-efficiency technologies for buildings, this is a deal you should not miss. E Source, known previously as Competitek, is the for-profit offshoot of the Rocky Mountain Institute. Since 1986 the company has offered information and consulting services on energy efficiency in buildings, primarily to utilities and energy service companies. Access to E Source’s expertise has not been cheap, however, with membership costing up to $40,000 per year.

Among the main resources E Source provides to its members are the Energy Technology Atlases, which are comprehensive reference volumes on a particular topic. This series includes Lighting, Cooling, Heating, Drivepower, and Appliances. Each Atlas provides a context for the information with an overview of how energy use for each application figures in the big picture. Their main function, however, is to describe and explain the various energy-efficiency technologies, with lots of direct advice about how best to apply the information in building design. Drawings, tables, and charts are used throughout to good effect.

Choosing between the CD-ROM and the printed atlases, if you must choose, is not easy. The CD takes up less shelf space, and no trees were sacrificed to make it. It also makes good use of the digital technology, with cross-references and footnotes accessible with a single mouse-click, and full-text search capabilities that make it easy to find relevant information. Many of us still prefer to read text on a printed page, however, and the perfect-bound volumes are well organized and easy to use.

We suggest the CD-ROM if you already do a lot of research and reference work on a computer. The free Acrobat Reader software, which is required to access the digital files, comes on the disc. The software’s search component is missing, however (at least from the Macintosh version), so you may need to obtain a current version (free on the Internet).

As some of these Atlases were last updated in 1995, not all the information is as current as we would like. E Source is now updating the two oldest volumes, Lighting and Cooling, and will provide the updated versions at no charge to purchasers of the set. The company plans to continue updating two volumes each year and to sell these updates for $195, or $250 for both printed and disc formats.