The commercial electricity for HVAC systems accounts for about 50 percent of a building’s total energy consumption. Being one of the major energy costs in a manufacturing facility, it dominates the building’s peak electricity demand. As such, improving the system’s efficiency, in order to cut energy costs, should be every facility manager’s priority.

The energy consumption depends on the climate, comfort preferences, building design, insulation, the timing of use, the size of the HVAC system, heat generated by electrical equipment, and other site-specific factors.

Building owners and businesses can reduce their energy costs by combining several measures that increase an HVAC system’s efficiency while reducing the demand for heating and cooling.

When selecting HVAC systems, pay attention to its design and controls. Components such as motors can impact heavily on the running costs of equipment because some are usually oversized to meet peak demands. An ideal system should have more variable speed control, inverter controls, economizers, demand controlled ventilation, advanced sensors and monitoring, as well as superior diagnostics. In addition, the system should be the appropriate size; not too small or oversized.

By controlling and running the HVAC motors at speeds based on the heating or cooling needs, consumers are able to realize energy savings of between 30 and 50 percent compared to the conventional constant speed operations. Most manufacturers prefer newer algorithm-driven smart microprocessors.

These provide a refined speed control that responds to the changing load in the building. Instead of using on and off cycling, these controls adjust the system according to the actual cooling or heating needs of the facility. More functions can be added through software add-ons as opposed to costly hardware upgrades.

Some of the ways to optimize HVAC systems include the use of thermostats and control systems, locating the HVAC unit in the best place possible, and modifying the ventilation and distribution. These are discussed more fully below:

A HVAC energy audit helps in identifying the operational deficiencies, hence allowing the building manager to take the necessary measures to enhance performance. The audit is often necessary because it helps in determining the amount of energy use, maintenance and upgrade requirements.

Consumers can then reduce their energy costs by optimizing, replacing or retrofitting the HVAC system to become more energy efficient. This not only increases efficiency and reduces the amount of commercial electricity for the HVAC system, but also improves the air quality.