Energy savings through retrofits in a large medical center
A 600,000-square-foot medical center in the southeastern United States is presently undergoing major renovations which will result in savings of energy use and costs. The current project, funded for FY96 includes a number of modifications to the Heating and Cooling Plant and the hospital itself. These upgrades include: (1) High efficiency chillers, (2) Cooling tower replacement, (3) High efficiency condenser and chilled water pump motors, (4) New chilled water and condenser pumps and piping, (5) Condenser water reset controls, (6) Electricity demand reduction using gas-fired absorption chiller, (7) Secondary chilled water variable speed flow, (8) Boiler controls improvements, (9) Feedwater pump replacements, (10) Repair of air-side economizer HVAC system, (11) New 2x4 parabolic troffers with T-8 lamps and electronic ballasts, and (12) DDC controls. The current hospital energy use was modeled using Trane`s TRACE 600{reg_sign} computer simulation program to agree with recent historical energy use data. A second model was created implementing the energy conservation improvements listed above to quantify the associated energy and cost savings. Additional energy saving ideas were evaluated for cost effectiveness. These are: (1) New unattended boilers, (2) Boiler pressure reduction, (3) Boiler economizer, (4) Additional boiler controls, (5) Exhaust air heat recovery, (6) Domestic hot water decentralization, (7) Desiccant cooling, (8) Supply air reduction scheduling, (9) Compact fluorescents, (10) Variable air volume HVAC systems, and (11) Occupancy sensors. Another interesting aspect of this project was an evaluation of harmonic distortion due to electronic ballasts. Direct field measurements were made on similar lighting circuits to compare the harmonic currents generated by electronic and magnetic ballasts. A graphical as well as quantitative analysis is presented.
- OSTI ID:
- 478204
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961173-; TRN: 97:002008-0027
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 19. world energy engineering congress, Atlanta, GA (United States), 6-8 Nov 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of Energy business and technology sourcebook: Proceedings of the 19th world energy engineering congress; PB: 708 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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