5 ways to keep cooling costs down
June 17, 2016
The first heat wave has come and gone and as a commercial building owner, you're likely getting prepared for another expensive cooling season. But air-conditioning doesn't have to be an expensive amenity. By taking precautions, a building can kept cool affordably all summer long.
Here are a few ways to keep your building cool without having to pay an arm and a leg for it:
1. Check your settings
The first tip is the easiest - don't waste money by turning the building into a freezer. CNet recommends setting the thermostat as warm as possible. If you start hearing complaints, then consider turning it down a few notches. Try to find the sweet spot between frigid and sweltering.
2. Perform an energy audit
An energy audit is less nerve-wracking than a tax audit and can provide some keen insight into where and how your building is losing cool air. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) offers a relatively inexpensive guide listing procedures that can be taken to determine how energy efficient your building is.
By using the ASHRAE handbook, or an energy audit professional, you'll be able to narrow down which appliances are saving you money and which are losing it. The problem could even lie directly in your air-conditioning infrastructure - which brings us to the next point.
3. Close the blinds
Something as simple as drawing the shades can moderately reduce cooling costs. According to Whole Building Design Guide, doing so can decrease energy consumption associated with air-conditioning anywhere from 5 to 15 percent.
By controlling the amount of shade in a building, you can effectively keep cool air in, and warm temperatures out. It's a rudimentary, but an effective way to stay cool and comfortable without breaking the bank.
4. Control upgrade
Keeping cooling costs low is all about control. Now, with wireless technology, you can set cooling schedules and change the temperature at the push of a button, no matter where you're at. This is a boon for building operators who are constantly on the run but still have to maintain the building's cooling system. By using technology that lets management switch settings from anywhere, you're less likely to miss opportunities to tweak settings and maximize savings
5. Think about replacing your old chiller with a hybrid cooling system using ice storage
It doesn't make sense to replace an old oversized air-conditioning system with an efficient oversized air-conditioning system for the one or two days out of the year you may need extra load capacity. Rightsizing your equipment with ice storage for optimum efficiency gives a building numerous benefits:
- Maximum efficiency: The system will operate at full load more often, saving money.
- Operational flexibility: Rightsizing with thermal energy storage allots more maneuverability than conventional systems per ton in case of a system failure.
- Reduce costs: By investing in a smaller chiller you're keeping your installed costs lower.
Keep this example in mind: Let's say you have a building with a 1,000-ton peak load. In a conventional setting, it may have three 400-ton chillers. By rightsizing, a building can install two 400-ton chillers and 3,500 ton-hours of thermal energy storage. By doing so the building successfully downsizes its capacity without reducing its safety factor, as the ice can kick in if there's a system failure. Also, the building is now saving by switching to thermal energy storage.
"Ice storage allows you to store energy at night at a more affordable price."
Thermal energy storage remains the most affordable solution when it comes to trimming utility costs. Think of it this way - during the summer the grid is overloaded with requests from every commercial building in the region, as they all need cooling during what's called peak hours, or the usual 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Running an air-conditioning system during this time period will result in staggering rate hikes, as more expensive power plants are brought online to deal with the rise in demand.
Outside of those hours, like at night when everyone is home, cooling costs drop dramatically. It's imperative to take advantage of this difference in pricing by leveraging your thermal energy storage system.
Essentially, a building can make ice at night for off-peak pricing and store it until the next day. Instead of drawing energy from expensive peak hours, your system will use the ice as a means of providing cooling. This way, your utility bill is remains lower all summer long.
