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HVAC efficiency:
Can filter selection
reduce HVAC
energy costs?
I
n a society becoming more aware of the effects of energy
consumption, Zoe Grainge takes a look at whether filter
efficiency can go some way to ease the energy burden of
HVAC systems.
The Heating Ventilation and Air
Conditioning (HVAC) system of a building
plays a huge part in the buildings overall
energy consumption and the health and
welfare of its occupants. According to the US
Department of Energy, HVAC accounts for 40
to 60% of the energy used in US commercial
and residential buildings.
As prices soar and environmental pressures
increase, it is wise to look to HVAC systems as
a way of cutting down on energy consumption.
Kent Peterson, President-Elect of the
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating
and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
says: There are ample opportunities for
building managers to save 30% of the energy
consumed in most buildings today. ASHRAE,
the [US] Department of Energy and the
Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] are
all working to help educate building owners
and operators on methods to reduce building
energy consumption.
Peterson adds: The first step is for a building
manager to assess the performance of their
building. In the US, the EPA Energy Star
program provides one method to determine
building performance with their online
Portfolio Manager benchmarking tool.
ASHRAE supplies technical information
to engineers and other professionals. It
also writes standards and guidelines in its
field of expertise to guide industry in the
delivery of goods and services to the public.
Their Energy Standard for Buildings Except
Low-Rise Residential Buildings, sets the
minimum energy efficiency required by most
building codes. To take the standard even
further, ASHRAE, in conjunction with the
American Institute of Architects (AIA)
and other organizations, has developed
Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small
Office Buildings, which provides a sensible
approach and all the tools needed to create
energy-efficient office buildings of up to
20,000 square feet.
The EPA, in conjunction with stakeholders,
developed the energy rating as a screening
tool; it does not by itself explain why a
building performs a certain way, or how to
change the buildings performance. It does,
however, help organizations assess performance
and identify those buildings that offer the
best opportunities for improvement and
recognition.
No rules, no standards, just maths?
A HVAC system refers to the equipment,
distribution network, and terminals that
provide either collectively or individually
the heating, ventilating, or air-conditioning
processes to a building. In assessing the energy
efficiency of a building, it is necessary to
evaluate the efficiency of a HVAC system, and
identify areas for improvement.
Filtration equipment manufacturer SPX Air
Filtration says there are no hard and fast rules
for evaluating the efficiency of a system; its a
matter of simple mathematics. Paul Sennett,
senior vice president, business development
and marketing, elaborates: There is a direct
correlation between pressure drop (resistance
to air flow through a filter) and the energy
that is consumed. In simple terms the fan
moving the air has to work harder to get it
through the filter if its resistance (pressure
drop) is higher. The simplest way to improve
energy efficiency in a HVAC system is to
reduce the pressure drop over the filters.
Sennett says that it is easy to change a filter to
a lower pressure drop, the difficulty is selecting
a filter with lower pressure drop, but the
same efficiency (ability to capture particles).
This is the job of the filter manufacturer; to
design media and filters, which maintain the
efficiency whilst improving the pressure drop.
No standards are in place for this because it
is simple maths, he continues. The broader
question is that of 'life cycle cost' [LCC]. It
would be easy to select a filter which reduces
the energy consumption, but if the cost of the
filter is very high, the filter does not last as
long and the disposal costs are also high, then
the entire cost of the filter throughout its life,
becomes unsustainable.
Assessing the calculation of LCC is the job
of trade bodies such as Eurovent (in Europe)
as well as companies. Sennett says energy is
typically 80% of the cost of running an air
conditioning system and filter costs represent
less than 20%, so it is clear that improvements
in energy consumption even if the filter
cost is higher will almost certainly be
economically sensible given this ratio.
Calculating LCC for the full picture
Although the maths involved in assessing
the efficiency of a filter in a HVAC system
is fairly simple, the calculation of LCC
can take some time, as it should include
a full picture of the buildings costs. SPX
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Air Filtration has developed a piece of
software to help customers calculate the
systems energy consumption given different
scenarios of filter choice. The software takes
specific information from the customer, some
assumptions from standard Western European
commercial buildings and then models the
options and selects the optimum solution for
LCC.
In the US, Dave Matela, CAFS, Kimberly-
Clark Filtration Products, says: To look at
HVAC filters as energy conservation tools, its
first important to understand that the cost of
energy used by filters far outweighs the price
of the filter itself. In fact, energy costs can be
ten times the initial filter price for a standard
pleated filter and four to five times the initial
filter price for a higher efficiency final filter.
Kimberly-Clark provides an interactive online
energy calculator for professionals interested
in seeing how the energy consumption of their
HVAC filters compares with other filters.
Matela says switching to a filter with a
lower airflow resistance is one of the easiest
changes to make to reduce HVAC system
energy costs. But he adds: Alternatively,
a building owner may look to improve
indoor air quality by selecting a filter which
provides higher filtration efficiency at the
same airflow resistance as the original filter.
Recent technology developments enable this
opportunity.
The Department of Energy (DOE) in the US
recommends a number of software options for
predicting LCC and the efficiency of a HVAC
system. These options are mainly to be used in
the design phase of a building, although some
have a use for retrofitting HVAC upgrades.
The DOE sponsors a Building Energy Software
Tools Directory that lists a number of software
tools for building design and simulation
that are available from the government and
industry. These include the DOE-2, an energy
analysis software program that calculates
the hour-by-hour energy use of a building,
given detailed information on the buildings
location, construction, operation, and HVAC
systems. A number of Windows-based versions
of DOE-2 are commercially available.
Sustainability in the lab
The US Green Building Council promotes
the work of projects around the country to
improve energy efficiency. The organisation
points towards a recent award winning project
at a university in California, where the HVAC
system was central to the upgrade. The project
won a sustainability award in California for
the energy efficient features in the building.
This project was a 95,000 gross square feet
science building at California State University,
which housed a number of laboratories. The
laboratories included over 150 fume hoods
(devices designed to keep hazardous fumes
out of the room air by exhausting them out
of the building before anyone can potentially
breathe them), Class II Type B3 biological
safety cabinets, hazardous chemicals and cold
storage rooms.
The EPA has indicated that laboratories
are consuming 5 to 10 times more energy
per square foot than typical office buildings.
The campus set an early fundamental goal
to design a highly energy efficient laboratory
building while providing a high standard of
safety, health and comfort for the building
occupants. The project set out to reduce
cooling and heating loads through the use of
energy efficiency glazing, efficient lighting,
and the effective use of daylight. Also, enough
space and shaft locations were to be provided
to design efficient supply and exhaust ducting
with minimal fittings.
The project included numerous energy
efficiency features used for the HVAC
systems. The feature of manifolded variable
air volume made use of the four variable
air volume air handling units supplying air
conditioned air to the building. Each unit
had two separate cooling coils to provide two
separate cold decks from each unit. One cold
duct from each unit supplies the chemistry
labs. The configuration allowed the supply
ducts serving the Chemistry labs to operate
at a higher supply air temperature since they
required more ventilation airflow due to the
relative high quantity of fume hoods in these
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labs. This resulted in reduced cooling loads
and reheat requirements. A whole-building
approach was adopted to reduce cooling
loads further by designing a highly efficient
building envelope (doors, windows and
walls) and lighting system. Heat from high
wattage laboratory equipment was grouped
when appropriate and exhausted to minimize
impact on space cooling loads. Occupancy
sensors were used in the office spaces to reduce
cooling requirements when unoccupied.
Fume hood zone presence sensors were used
to lower fume hood face velocity to 60 fpm
(feet per minute) when nothing was in front
of fume hood. And airflow was cascaded from
the offices as make-up air to the laboratories
to reduce airflow, cooling and reheat
requirements.
Other features included Low-Pressure Drop
Design, Right-Sizing Equipment, whereby
the additional cost of energy monitoring and
state-of-the-art laboratory controls systems
was offset with the capital cost savings of
right-sizing the HVAC equipment and
corresponding electrical systems. A 70%
airflow diversity factor was used for sizing the
variable volume exhaust fans and supply air
systems. System monitoring since occupancy
has shown that the building now operates with
an airflow diversity of 50-60%.
Direct digital control and utility metering was
also a feature recommended by most HVAC
equipment manufacturers as a vital addition to
the process.
Building green
The Green Building Council says the campus
has been recording operating data and energy
usage in the building since initial occupancy.
It says: The laboratory building is using less
energy (161 British Thermal Units (BTU)/sf-
yr) than some of the other non-laboratory
buildings on campus. We still believe there
is flexibility in the design to optimize control
strategies now that the building is fully
occupied. The campus has begun a retro-
commissioning project to retro-commission
the mechanical systems utilizing the historical
trend data collected. We believe this provides
the opportunity for the control strategies to
be further optimized to minimize cooling and
reheat loads in the building.
Most organisations recommend a series of
generic tips for the operation of a HVAC
system, that encourage best practice and good
maintenance before significant funds are
spent on upgrades. UK business Efficient Air
says something as basic as assessing existing
air change rates against minimum fresh air
supply rates may provide an opportunity to
significantly reduce supply and extract fan
motor input power, and potentially heating
and cooling load costs when installed in an
Air Handling Unit. Payback would be within
6 to 24 months, the company says.
It also recommends good practice benchmarks:
Measuring your existing systems performance
and comparing with published best practice
guides to identify worst offending systems for
improvement as a monitoring and targeting
exercise, the company says.
UK-based utility company National
Grid has advice for its US customers on
general monitoring of a buildings energy
consumption: Install paddle fans, stratotherm
fans, or other re-circulating systems to create
air movement, the company says. Ceiling
temperatures can often be 30 to 40C higher
than floor temperatures, and air movement
from fans can enhance the cooling ability of
air conditioning systems.
Install time clocks, set-back thermostats, and
microprocessor thermostats to monitor HVAC
systems when buildings are unoccupied.
ASHRAE lists fifteen tips for operating a
HVAC system efficiently:
Adjust workplace schedules to reduce
energy use during the hours when there is
most demand for electricity. If employees
start work earlier or have lunch during the
hottest hour of the day, a company can
save on air conditioning, lighting and other
electricity use during the hours of peak
electricity demand.
Prevent solar entry and air-conditioning
loss during the summer. Use shades and
blinds to keep the sun out. Close doors
to the outside to keep in cooler air.
Perform regular maintenance to keep
HVAC systems running more efficiently.
Maintenance activities can save up to
30% of fan energy and up to 10% of space
conditioning energy use.
Occupancy sensors can be used to turn
off lighting and change zone temperature
setpoints when spaces are unoccupied.
Reduce air conditioning and heating hours
by installing a time clock to turn off the
system when the building is unoccupied.
Perform regular maintenance on cooling
equipment. Regularly clean condenser
coils, change belts and filters and fix duct
leaks. Also check for proper economizer
operation and adequate refrigerant levels.
Maintenance activities can save up to
30% of fan energy and up to 10% of space
conditioning energy use.
Add controls to the exhaust fan. Ask an
air conditioning contractor to install timers
and switches to shut them off when they
are not needed, such as when the building
is unoccupied.
Perform regular maintenance on heating
equipment. Inspect and patch leaky
heating ducts. Fix steam leaks. Clean
blower coils and heat exchanger surfaces.
Adjust belt drives, dampers, valves and
linkages.
For US businesses, install an Energy Star
programmable thermostat to automate
the HVAC system. An old-fashioned
thermostat turns the HVAC on and off
based on temperature, not whether the
building is occupied, or whether users
benefit from the cooling/heating. A
programmable thermostat can optimize
HVAC operation 24/7. For example,
instead of heating or cooling all night, so
users can enter a comfortable building in
the morning, this smart thermostat can
turn on the HVAC one hour before users
arrive, based on their daily/hourly needs.
Install a high efficiency HVAC system.
Install an energy management system
(EMS), and save 30 40% on annual
investment. An EMS is especially useful
when the air conditioning system is too
complex to control with time clocks or
programmable thermostats. An EMS lets
users choose different cooling temperatures
for different zones, optimum equipment
start and stop times and control strategies
that keep building occupants comfortable
while minimizing energy use.
Consider installing variable frequency
drives (VFDs), and save 30 40% on
annual investment. Air conditioning
system has fans that move air throughout
the building. It is possible to reduce the
cost of operating these fans by installing
VFDs, which can change the speed of the
fan motors to match the amount of air that
is needed.
When fan and pump motors need repair,
consider replacing them with premium
efficiency models, and save 35 to 45% on
annual investment.
Pressurize and test all ducts for leakage.
Install utility meters to track HVAC energy
consumption
Be holistic
Although it is important to assess the
equipment efficiency within the HVAC
system itself, it is clear that the system cannot
be viewed in isolation from other perhaps
design-oriented elements of a buildings
energy efficiency and consumption rate. It
is not always possible to address the issue of
energy efficiency at the schematic design stage
in a buildings life, but as can be seen from the
award winning example at California State
University, taking a holistic approach to a
system in need of an upgrade can work. As
the US DOE puts it: The best HVAC design
considers all the interrelated building systems
while addressing indoor air quality, energy
consumption, and environmental benefit.

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