As an initiative within the Energy Agreements Programme, SEI have launched Special Working Groups which are formed by groups of member companies in conjunction with SEI. This report details the initial outcomes of one such working group set up to consider Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC).
In Ireland, and globally, HVAC is a significant contributor to energy consumption in the commercial and industrial sectors. HVAC can be as high as 80% of a sites total energy budget. There is an opportunity to demonstrate best practice for energy efficient HVAC, at the design, operation and maintenance stages of a building/facility¿s lifecycle. Identification, implementation and verification of these opportunities would result in a significant reduction in the energy usage of the commercial and industrial sectors in Ireland. This is the longer term aspiration of this HVAC special working group.
Fourteen companies participated in the first phase of the HVAC special working group. The working group¿s initial implementation phase ran from August 2007 to February 2008, it is this initial phase of work that this report is based upon.
The fourteen participating companies have an energy spend totalling 1,000 GWh electrical energy and 726 GWh of thermal energy. Of this energy, 356 GWh of electrical energy and 322 GWh of thermal energy are estimated to be associated with HVAC energy usage.
Participating companies had HVAC audits carried out on a representative sample of their HVAC systems. Based on the results of these surveys it can be deduced that savings in the region of 112 GWh electrical energy and 173 GWh thermal energy exist in the sites assessed. Implementation of these savings would result in ¿ 15.8million worth of energy savings and a reduction of 110,000 tonnes of CO2 due to reduced emissions. This study of 14 companies suggests on average, energy savings of 16% of a sites total energy usage are achievable based on HVAC energy saving projects alone. This further validates HVAC as an area worthy of the attention of a focused working group. It should also be stated that the companies that participated in this workgroup are energy conscious and have already implemented numerous energy saving strategies in the past. Additionally, as these companies are on the upper end of energy efficiencies, the potential savings industry wide could be far greater than estimated.