Page 32 - Climate Control News Magazine March 2021

Energy saving tips on a budget
MECHANICAL ENGINEER STEVEN MANTINE PROVIDES A FEW QUICK AND EASY STEPS TO IMMEDIATE ENERGY SAVINGS WITHOUT THE HEFTY PRICE TAG.
NOWADAYS WE ALWAYS try to reduce and optimise the energy consumption of HVAC systems. It is an easy win for everyone be- cause HVAC systems consume the most energy of all the equipment at your facility. By upgrading to a newer, smarter system we could reduce consumption significantly but in the age of COVID-19 budgets are tight. A shiny, new HVAC system may not be a priority but savings always are so let’s take the cheap and easy eco route.
The first step is getting an understanding of current energy use throughout the day. Here is a energy consumption graph (pictured) for a typi- cal commercial office building.
HVAC SYSTEM POWER CONSUMPTION
Obviously, your graph will be specific to your building. Analysing the graph will highlight the load point during the day. In this graph most of the consumption is due to the need to overcome the night load in a short period of time. Then af- ter lunch there is a load increase.
By understanding the graph, we can identify a few simple methods to save energy.
USE TIMERS
One of the most commonly effective and simple ways to save energy is the use of off-timers. An off- timer at the end of the working day prevents units being left on to operate overnight when they are not required. We can do it even smarter. In some of the projects I have dealt with in some of the of-
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