FM newsroom – maintenance, renewable, HVAC. Integrating renewable energy into HVAC systems can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. With careful planning and preparation, managers can ensure successful implementation and long-term benefits.
Institutional and commercial facilities are at the forefront of integrating renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaics, heat pumps, and wind turbines, into HVAC systems. This shift could lower carbon footprints and enhance energy performance, offering substantial cost savings and improved air quality.
Planning and Preparation: Key to Success
Clean energy-powered systems experience less wear and tear compared to traditional power sources due to the more stable energy supply they provide. This stability enhances energy efficiency and prolongs the lifespan of HVAC equipment, FacilitiesNet claims.
One significant challenge in retrofitting HVAC systems with renewable energy sources is compatibility with existing infrastructure. Additionally, upfront costs for implementing renewable technologies can be prohibitive for many organizations.
Successful integration of renewable energy requires a strategic approach from facility managers. Planning begins with assessing existing infrastructure to determine its compatibility with new technologies.
“It’s pretty straightforward to implement this in a new building when you have a blank sheet of paper, and you’re trying to design a building around this. But when you have an existing facility, and you have a lot of existing infrastructure, you really need to be conscious about what you have and the age of the infrastructure you have.” – Jeffrey Rios, P.E., senior vice president at WSP, told FacilitiesNet.
Selecting the Right Technology
Managers are advised to start with an assessment of the facility’s energy use to understand their current pain points so professionals can truly understand what the end opportunity may look like – whether it’s solar PV, geothermal or solar storage.
In addition to an internal review, understanding the site’s power availability is vital. Rios highlights the importance of planning infrastructure changes with utility providers to avoid overloading the electrical system.
“It’s critical to understand the power availability at the site. It’s one thing to replace an electric chiller with a heat recovery chiller. That’s probably not going to blow your electric service. But full-scale renewable HVAC systems might blow your electric infrastructure. It may be a pretty big impact on what you have on-site, so think that through with your utility on planned infrastructure changes.” – Rios points out.
Innovative Solutions Within Reach
The rapid advancement of renewable HVAC technologies has made solutions more versatile and effective. Modern systems can now perform well in colder climates and produce higher temperatures for heating.
“Our understanding is that folks have a level of familiarity with a broad number of systems, potentially not all of them and potentially a depth of understanding of a few of them. Rather than getting too target-focused on just the few that we know about, we really want to keep them all in mind when we’re performing that assessment or having those early discussions.” – says Travis Short, vice president of commissioning with Henderson Building Solutions.
