AB-10-005 -- Screening of Energy Efficient Technologies for Industrial Buildings’ Retrofits PDF

During the past few years, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has led energy and process optimization initiatives to help Department of Defense installations to meet energy efficiency and environmental compliance requirements and to create an improved work environment. This effort was also a part of the IEA- ECBCS “International Energy Agency – Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems” Annex 46, “Holistic Assessment Tool-kit on Energy Efficient Retrofit Measures for Government Buildings—EnERGo.”

One of the important tasks of both programs was to analyze a series of international experiences of retrofitted industrial buildings and based on these best practice examples to develop a database of promising energy saving technologies and measures (current, proven, well known or underused). The database includes technologies/measures that relate to building envelope, internal load reduction, lighting, HVAC systems, energy consuming processes in the building, supplemental energy systems (e.g., compressed air, steam system), etc. The listed technologies and measures cover a wide spectrum, from proven operations and maintenance procedures to installation of technologies that have recently entered the market and are not yet well understood by end users, engineers, and decision makers. They also span a wide range of capital investment costs, from no cost/low cost measures to installations that may require several hundred thousand dollars of investment. Applicability and savings from using some energy conservation technologies and measures are not affected by outdoor climate conditions, while others are climate dependent.

Careful evaluation of candidate energy conservation measures for applicability and cost efficiency is critical to building energy managers, engineers, contractors, and decision makers in crafting and implementing successful energy conservation building retrofits. This paper presents a simulation based methodology for screening energy conservation technologies and measures for representative conditions (building type, climatic conditions, energy costs, etc.) The study demonstrates the feasibility of applying the methodology using an example of heated and ventilated (not air-conditioned) industrial buildings for six selected energy conservation measures. A simple payback is calculated using electricity and gas savings throughout a year-round operation cycle. Also, a cost/saving analysis shows that application of internal load reducing technologies in non-air-conditioned facilities affect their thermal environment and has a significant impact on worker’s productivity. Consideration of worker’s productivity improvement as a component of operating cost reduction has a significant impact on the overall pay-back calculation results.