AIR CONDITIONING
s tandards such as the WELL Building Standard, that provides a holistic formula promoting better health and well-being in workplaces. According to a study conducted on the impact of heat on o ffice productivity, employees experience a 2% d ecrease in productivity for every 1 °C above 25°C. T hermal comfort – a condition of the mind that e xpresses satisfaction with the environment, i.e. when someone is not feeling either too hot or too cold – becomes vital when you consider the productivity and well-being benefits of employees in commercial buildings across the globe. 90% of business operating costs are staff- related, so by improving the overall health of this ‘ asset’, you can improve your business. When you take into account we spend just 5-10% of our day outside, you start to understand how important it is for businesses to provide employees with an environment in which they feel comfortable and can therefore produce t heir best work. Part of this is providing the right levels of cooling into a building.
In some instances, cooling within the building is so vital, it can be considered life critical. For example, in the healthcare industry, hospitals and medical centres have to rely on efficient cooling systems to ensure a constant temperature
is maintained for its patients and medical e quipment. It is important that we maintain a balanced perspective between the impact and benefits of cooling environments and recognise t hat often, there is a fundamentally critical need for it.
Responsibility to innovate
W e have established that air conditioning plays a key role in commercial buildings, and those involved in the decisions of which systems to install have a responsibility to ensure that their choice represents the most energy efficient one possible. However, manufacturers also have a duty to ensure that the solutions on offer are as s ustainable and efficiently produced as possible. This could be represented by a hybrid system where traditional refrigeration-based systems work with water as a delivery medium, to lower the overall environmental impact of the system, or selecting R32 as a refrigerant which has a lowe r g lobal warming potential (GWP) than many of its a lternatives.
Once installed, understanding the wide range of controls available with your system can also help reduce wasted energy. Many controls give c ompanies the opportunity to monitor and contro l
t heir air conditioning across a room, building or an entire network from a single PC or device. Many are simply using these controls as a timer, which is fine for some, particularly in smaller buildings with a constant number of employees. However, the range of functions goes far beyond t his. For example, if a meeting room is empty, the device has the ability to automatically recognise this and lower/switch off the air conditioning to conserve energy. They can also be used to monitor energy usage, spotting trends and
a nomalies to make changes to help further reduce e nergy costs. We can’t control the weather, but t hese are all factors we can control, and we need to recognise this opportunity to do so.
The topic of energy efficiency is not going away and, if anything, it will move closer to the top o f the agenda as pressure, quite rightly, mounts t o find ways to mitigate the effects of climate c hange.
Great strides have already been made in the industry. However, there is always the opportunity for new innovations to help us make smarter decisions and find that balance between creating the perfect conditions for a productive workforce and reducing energy requirements and environmental impact.
Free CPD Seminars Proven global installations FREE site surveys
Munters IceDry® is a specially designed dehumidifier that targets mois ture fr om inside the cold store to create the optimal climate conditions. Suit able for use in manufacturing facilities, cold rooms, cold stores and process freezers to:
Munters “The cold store is the best it
The cold store is the best it’s ever been for excessive ice & snow” - Kitchen Range Foods
er been for e - Kitchen R 01480 432243 inf
o@munters.co.uk munters.com/icedry series 39
• Reduce & prevent ice, fros t and fog build up on floors, w alls and ceilings
• Reduce defrosts b y up to ⅓ - case s tudies available
• Low er maintenance costs
• Improve safety for staff & forklifts • Increase productivity
• Improve evaporarator efficienc y
Improv e Safety & Climate Conditions in Cold Stor es Ice, frost and fog in cold stores can create slippery, danger ous conditions for
y,
staff. While many accept that ice is simply part of the cold store, it doesn ’t need to be so.
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