For some people, it’s no mystery that higher energy efficiency is out there waiting for them. Many facility managers or COO and CFO have plans for the future to make their equipment and systems more energy efficient. We don’t have to explain the value of better energy management to these leaders. One might think these people have a leg up on everyone else and don’t need help from energy efficiency consultants.
In truth, facilities can still benefit from partnering with energy management experts like us. A crucial element of any energy efficiency improvement project is the predicted payback of your investment in the project.
How Does Simple Payback Work?
Simply put, your payback period is calculated by dividing the initial cost of your energy-saving project by the project annual energy cost savings. For example, if your new, more efficient piece of equipment costs $5,000 and the projected annual savings is $1,250, then your payback period is going to equal four years.
At this point the project or improvement has paid for itself, and after that you’ll be effectively saving money with each passing year. So, the shorter you can make that payback period, the more valuable your energy efficiency improvement will be. Your next question might be, how can I shrink that payback period?
How Working With Air Power USA Shrinks Your Payback Period
Over the past 35+ years, we’ve created and nurtured relationships with an extensive network of trade allies. We know companies and vendors throughout the country who specialize in different areas. We’ve worked with these partners on thousands of projects. This network of trade allies can help facilities implement and execute their projects at a faster rate.
Working with experienced experts like this translates to spending less time and shrinking your projected project payback period even shorter. We can verify and stand behind the performance of these partners because we’ve worked with them before and seen their quality of work.
Industrial Process Cooling Systems
One area where we find many opportunities for energy efficiency improvements are process cooling systems. These systems often rely on industrial chillers or cooling towers to produce cool or chilled water. Industrial process cooling systems are also used for a range of production processes including cooling materials like plastics and metals. The same or similar process cooling is present in sectors like chemicals, fabricated metal products, glass, data centers, and electronics.
There are many ways to make most process cooling or chillers more efficient. Typically the most effective approach is one that accounts for the interaction of the individual components along with how they interact within the larger system. This often has the greatest impact.
Common Energy Efficiency Opportunities for Process Cooling Systems
- Convert chilled water systems from constant to variable flow by replacing 3-way with 2-way control valves and installing VFDs on distribution pumps.
- Convert condensing water systems from constant to variable flow by installing VFDs on condensing water pumps.
- Convert cooling tower fans from 1-speed or 2-speed to variable speed by installing VFDs.
- Reset chilled water supply temperature setpoints based on the process load.
- Reset condensing water entering temperature setpoints based on the ambient wet bulb temperature. (Source)
There was one facility in particular that we helped implement through our trade-ally network. They had budgeted in the future to implement efficiency improvement to their process cooling. Thanks to Air Power and our trade partner, they were able to implement it much sooner, putting them on a faster path to the payback of their project.
Air Power: Leading Energy Efficiency Consultants
Air Power USA sets itself apart as energy efficiency consultants by being independent and brand neutral when it comes to our product selection and recommendations. We can often offer no cost project implementation to our clients as we receive reimbursement from federal programs. And we come equipped with a wide knowledge of incentives and rebates that could be available to your facility.
