SHUTTERSTOCK
MONITORING HVAC SYSTEMS
Research has shown that metering and monitoring HVAC systems can lead to substantial savings in energy use at little capital cost. Now a new project is inviting hundreds of organisations to participate for free in a major pan- European study to demonstrate the benefi ts of automatic monitoring when used to complement statutory HVAC inspections. Alex Smith reports
WARNING SYSTEM
EARLY
It’s a no-brainer. To achieve the energy savings you usually just need a regular update of the systems’ performance to prevent them drifting out of control Ian Knight
A
Cardiff University administrative building has slashed the energy used by HVAC systems through the use of metering and
monitoring. By analysing the performance of its HVAC system, the energy managers at McKenzie House were able to identify HVAC energy saving measures that amounted to a 25% saving in the building’s total annual electricity bill. McKenzie house was part of an EU-
funded project called HARMONAC, which monitored and assessed the performance of 42 HVAC systems across Europe to assess their performance and identify energy conservation opportunities (ECOs). Now the research team is inviting building
owners and managers to participate in a new EU-funded project called iSERVcmb that could help see reductions in HVAC energy bills by up to 60%. iSERVcmb, in which CIBSE is a full partner, aims to collect sub-metering data from 1,600 HVAC systems in the EU. It will analyse and compare this information to enable the benchmarking of individual
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HVAC systems within buildings. From these benchmarks building managers can identify the measures required to save energy in the specifi c HVAC system confi gurations that are servicing the activities in their buildings. iSERVcmb will show whether automatic monitoring would offer a better alternative to the inspection of air conditioning systems across the EU, or whether it could be used to complement current statutory inspections. Regular inspection of air conditioning systems with rated output of more than 12KW was required under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, but following the fi ndings from HARMONAC automatic monitoring and feedback systems can now be used to reduce the frequency of testing under the recast EPBD. HVAC systems account for 11% of all electricity consumption in Europe according to the EC’s Joint Research Centre. For the EU to meet its target of reducing energy use by 20% by 2020, it must do something to ensure these systems are energy effi cient. There is little information in the public
January 2013 CIBSE Journal 59
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