Improve energy efficiency of your organisations heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), hot water and boilers with our energy-saving guides. Heating Heating and hot water can account for 60% of your total energy use. By ensuring that efficient heating systems are specified, operated and maintained the potential savings can be substantial. There are three key ways of cutting your heating costs: 1. Turn it down Lowering set points by just 1°C can potentially reduce your annual heating bill by up to 8%, so reduce the temperature on the thermostat down to the minimum comfortable level. 2. Replace inefficient boilers Be aware when replacing inefficient boilers that the latest Building Regulations set minimum efficiency standards for new and replacement boiler installations. In many cases even higher efficiency boilers can be specified and you can gain better savings from a more energy efficient heating system. 3. Install de-stratification fans In commercial or industrial buildings with warm air heaters and high ceilings, de-stratification fans can reduce energy use by 20% by blowing warm air down to ground level where its needed. Ventilation Good ventilation is essential - it gives you fresh air and also helps protect a building against damp and condensation. Unnecessary ventilation can waste energy and cost you a lot of money. For example, ventilation accounts for around 30% of heat loss in most commercial buildings (an estimated 25% in industrial buildings). 1. Motors When buying new motors, always specify higher efficiency motors as they will save you up to 5% on energy costs, for little or no extra capital cost. 2. Fans Variable speed fans can slow down when ventilation demands decrease. This will save money on electricity as well as reducing heating/cooling costs. See Motors and Drives for more 3. Time settings Make sure fans arent running when theyre not required. This not only wastes energy, but also removes heat from the building. Air conditioning Air conditioning can use a huge amount of energy. In fact, air conditioning can increase a buildings energy consumption and associated carbon emissions by up to 100%. Even though air conditioning can use lots of energy, lots of organisations choose to use it - not least because of the extra heat generated by increasing use of IT equipment. Luckily, there are some simple, low-cost ways to save energy and make your air conditioning system more efficient. 1. Temperature control Make sure your air conditioning doesnt operate below 24°C. Also, make sure that you dont have the heating and cooling systems competing with each other - its a waste of money. The best way to do this is to keep a temperature gap (known as a deadband) between your heating and air conditioning control temperatures. 2. Variable speed drives Dont produce more cooling than you need - this wastes money and energy. Variable speed drives can vary the output of your air conditioning system to meet your needs throughout the day. This will help you save money on energy costs. 3. Free cooling coils Free cooling coils use the outside air as a source of cooling for air conditioning systems (when its cool enough). This saves money because you wont need to use as much energy to produce cooling for the air conditioning system.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 06:14:38 +0000
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