With energy efficiency the new holy grail of high performance buildings, smart operators are looking at HVAC to deliver big cost savings.
It is a well known fact that HVAC is the biggest user of electricity in most buildings, accounting for as much as 65 per cent of the total energy bill.
This figure is exacerbated by Australia’s power prices which have increased by more than 60 per cent in the last 10 years, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The ACCC found that while retail prices for electricity were reasonably stable between 1990–91 and 2007–08, there has been a dramatic spike in the past decade.
ACCC chair, Rod Sims, said prices went up by 63 per cent in real terms — that is, after adjustments for inflation.
With such a massive price hike it’s not surprising that energy savings have become the new gold standard for successful HVAC operations.
And it’s not just about operational efficiency either it’s also about compliance.
The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) is calling for tougher energy standards under the National Construction Code (NCC).
ASBEC want to ensure Australia meets its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement by making the transition to a net zero emissions economy by 2050.
In its latest report, Built to Perform, ASBEC says tougher standards could reduce energy bills by up to $27 billion and deliver at least 78 million tonnes of cumulative emissions savings by 2050. And it all begins with the energy performance of buildings.
For anyone working inside a HVAC plant it’s easy to identify the single largest user of electricity – it’s chillers.
These are a big ticket item so ensuring that chillers are performing at their best is a nobrainer and it usually begins by investing in energy efficiency solutions.
For anyone seeking to run plant rooms at optimumefficiency it begins with a solution to manage the startup, sequencing and staging of chillers to optimise chiller capacity and load to operational demand.
One solution that has the smarts to do it all for you is Daikin’s iPlant Manager which was released earlier this year.
The best attribute of this product is its ‘design once, apply many’ feature, according to the National Business Development Manager for Applied Solutions at Daikin Australia, Ziad Sylla.
“The smarts are built-in so the different layers of software are already programmed,” he said. “We set it up and it is ready to go, no added programming is required.”
This is great news because so often its the programming that can determine the success of the product.
“This isn’t the case with this solution, the results won’t vary, they are good every time,” Sylla said.
Daikin Australia’s Applied Channel Manager, Troy Burgess, said there is also smart reporting,
“It features advanced algorithms to manage all components of the plant and its designed to be completely transparent to the building management system, with an easy to use interface.user-friendly diagnostics and on-demand instant reports to support decision-making in real time.
By comparing real values against design data and monitoring trends, the solution identifies faults and poor performance early reducing maintenance costs as well.
“This solution can harness the energy saving potential offered by HVAC plant room equipment driving real energy saving routines and effectively reducing your total power bill,” Troy said.