Reducing building energy costs using improved operation strategies for constant-volume air-handling systems
- Texas A and M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Energy Systems Lab.
- Univ. of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX (United States). Energy Conservation and Operation Dept.
Building energy consumption can be substantially reduced after implementing improved operation strategies that are a scientific refinement of traditional operation and maintenance (O and M) measures. Specifically, they involve resetting the cooling deck or heating deck temperature according to the ambient temperature such that maximum energy efficiency can be achieved without compromising indoor air quality and comfort. The improved operation strategies optimize system performance as a whole rather than focusing on the malfunction of individual components. This study, involving five medical and institutional buildings in Galveston, Texas, shows that improved operation strategies can reduce chilled-water and condensate costs by $517,800 per year, or 19% of the total building energy costs ($2.7 million). This potential percentage savings is comparable to the measured thermal energy savings in 10 buildings at other Texas campuses where constant-air-volume systems have been converted to variable-volume systems, though in the latter case fan electricity consumption is also reduced but with substantial investment cost. On the other hand, improved operation strategies do not require any retrofit or investment cost. The improved operation strategies have been implemented in one of the five buildings, and the measured savings are consistent with predicted savings. It seems that the improved operation strategies are an excellent alternative to converting constant-volume systems to variable-volume systems, especially if there are no retrofit funds available.
- OSTI ID:
- 211834
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950624--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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