February 2008 – HVAC
QWESTNet aims to bring together sustainable technology users and retailers in an informal environment.
Heating, Ventilation and Cooling Solutions for a Market Seeking Sustainable Technologies
Agenda (PDF, 201K)*
Feedback from the first QWESTnet forum was noted as an overall success with 100 attendees participating in the event. The audience consisted of a diverse range of both business and government representatives demonstrating the want for a better knowledge and understanding of what sustainable technologies are available for Queensland businesses and how they might help to improve profitability, public image and gain a market edge. It was clear from the attendees that the networking opportunities and presentations were valuable and that the forum enabled ideas and concerns to be shared.
Disclaimer: The presentation of a product or technology does not constitute endorsement of any kind by the department or Queensland Government.
Keynote Presentation
Alex Mudryk
Sustainable Technology Options in Today's Building Environment
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Alex Mudryk, Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH)
The Chamber of Commerce actively supports its members through sustainability initatives. Geoff provided an overview of the changes implemented by the local printing and farming industries to reduce their carbon footprint.
Alex discussed the overall goals of AIRAH namely to promote professional development within the industry, provide communication channels between the various industry sectors, the public and government, and to provide leadership to the industry.
In 2006, the HVAC & R industry consumed up to 45,000 GW of electricity, amounting to 22% of the country's production. The industry was also responsible for 7% of the national total of carbon emissions. Alex emphasised that in order to improve the energy efficiency of the industry, the design, installation and maintenance should be correct in order to optimise the running of systems. All buildings and their needs should be addressed individually.
Alex also described the most recent developments and advancements in the industry including chilled beams, under floor air conditioning, advanced building management systems and magnetic bearing compressors.
Alex concluded by stressing the need to educate customers, share knowledge and embrace networking opportunities in order to learn more, and to start working together with other commercial and industry sectors (such as architects, facility managers, engineers etc) in order to achieve more efficient systems.
Technology Presentations
Mark Langdon
Earth to Air Systems - advanced geothermal heating and cooling
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Mark Langdon, Earth to Air
ETA is a Deep Well Direct Exchange geothermal air conditioning application distributing refrigeration gas through ground loops. Mark explained that the biggest advantages of this system over other geothermal systems is the removal of one of the heat exchange processes resulting in greater heat transfer. This means that only half the area is required for the loop field thereby decreasing costs. Having a certified COP of 5.8, ETA's technology offers efficiencies of up to 80% on traditional air conditioning.
COP: For every 1KW of power used by the air conditioning compressor, 5.8 KW of heat is removed from the air conditioned space and dissipated into the ground mass.
Bob Hannam
Task Air Workstations - a personalised work environment
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Bob Hannam, UCI Queensland - Task Air
Task Air is an office workstation product, developed at the request of mechanical engineers to allow delivery of conditioned air at the individual workstation, instead of, or along side, conventional ceiling delivery. The concept is similar to the dash mounted air conditioning vents in cars. It affords the user much greater personal contact of air flow quantity and direction at the workstation. Bob described the focussed method of delivery which allows for individuals to control the direction and volume of air and explained that the user benefits from having the first use of air. Bob explained that the energy efficient benefits of the Task Air product should be looked at holistically. Since users receive first use of air, there is less need to compensate for air which has been heated by bodies and machinery before it reaches the user. Bob further explained that by having the Task Air system in place, conventional air conditioning systems can be configured differently allowing for greater energy efficiencies to be achieved.
Brett Sorensen
Benefits of Preventative Maintenance
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Brett Sorensen, AE Smith Services (SEQ) Pty Ltd
AE Smith Services provides several HVAC related services including preventative maintenance. Brett spoke about preventative maintenance as an entry level maintenance program that should be tailored to suit the client's equipment. Preventative maintenance does not guarantee that things won't go wrong but gives the client every chance of early detection. Brett discussed the extensive benefits of preventative maintenance.
Brett suggested that the best ways to ensure a system is working to its maximum efficiency is to engage a maintenance professional for advice, identify what the equipment needs are, budget to carry out quality maintenance and constantly review equipment requirements.
Case Studies
Graeme Standfield
Large Scale Reticulated Chilled Water with Thermal Energy Storage
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Graeme Standfield, MGF Consultants (NQ)
James Cook University (JCU) has decided to totally overhaul its 28 year old Douglas (Townsville) campus air conditioning system. Graeme explained the reasons for this overhaul. Air conditioning represents approximately 50 - 60% of the total electricity consumed thus incurring high cost to the university. The analysis of factors such as the multitude of chiller plants of varying ages, types, efficiencies and capacities provided strong evidence that substantial savings were possible by eliminating all the individual chiller plants in major campus buildings, and providing a new chilled water supply from a single large chiller plant. The Douglas campus also needs to reduce peak daily electrical demand otherwise a very expensive upgrade to Ergon Energy's supply infrastructure will be needed.
Running a central campus chiller plant at night to charge a thermal energy storage (TES) tank with chilled water will allow the plant to be throttled back during the day, producing a very flat power demand. The TES system therefore aims to reduce costs and maximise efficiency. The new central system comprises 4 x 4,200 kW water cooled 11 kV centrifugal chillers, approximately 7 km of direct buried MDPE pipe work, upgraded and extended HV electrical service and 12 Ml stratified chilled water thermal storage tank. The system will reduce the expected 2010 maximum electrical demand (MD) from an estimated 10 MW to 5.4 MW. The 2007 MD reaches nearly 8 MW.
Ron Woolley
Down to Earth Air Conditioning
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Pastor Ron Woolley, Christian Outreach College Brisbane (COCB)
COCB is an independent Preparatory to Year 12 school of around 1520 students, including an International College. The college was facing the problem of very hot classrooms during the recent, sustained, drought turning classrooms into mini "pressure-cookers" for their students. Although regular fans are available in the classrooms, the school was looking for an effective, cost efficient method which would take the edge off the heat. The school formulated a development plan to "cool the school".
Pastor Woolley discussed COCB's decision to use geothermal cooling. He described the problems they faced with the implementation of the system, with many being 'liveware' (people) related rather than of the actual principle of geothermal air conditioning. Being a school, the health and safety issues associated with the implementation required ETA to carry out the work during school holidays. As it was a new project there were some teething problems and it took longer than expected. Other problems included the drilling (by external contractors) damaging the school field and the use of some American equipment which proved to be incompatible with the system.
Despite these problems, Pastor Woolley concluded that geothermal air conditioning had been proven commercially and that the school would be using the technology again with a much larger and more complex project to cool another of their buildings.
Craig Pinder
Supplementary cooling using the Brisbane River Water - How Green was it?
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Craig Pinder, AE Smith and Son (SEQ) Pty. Ltd
Marine cooling systems are not uncommon in Australia however, according to AE Smith, this is the first project of which they are aware that uses the Brisbane River for cooling. Craig described the Brisbane Square cooling system using the river as a supplementary system to the conventional cooling tower system in the building. He explained how it has been designed to run at times determined by the building owner.
Craig described some of the project's unique and problematic learnings. He discussed a departmental requirement that return water not be more than 2 ° C above the river water temperature at a location of 1m from the discharge point. This requires 270% more water to be pumped through the system when compared to a cooling tower system. Bigger pipes, pumps and subsequently more power are the result. However, the use of an innovatively designed eductor allows for the circulation of return water at approximately a 5 ° C temperature rise, therefore the water flow penalty is reduced to a minimum whilst still achieving a 2 ° C rise at the discharge point.
Other issues which the project faced include the high pressure of plate heat exchangers as a result of being subjected to the entire head of building' and the difficulties of operating in a river environment posed by sediment and marine growth.
Craig compared the operating costs of a conventional 5.4MW cooling system vs. 5.4 MW (i.e. 2 heat exchangers) of river cooling system. This revealed an excess of $14 000/ yr in power costs for the river cooling system as a result of the pumping costs associated with the primary river water pumps . However, the river cooling system results in water savings of 12,9ML /yr amounting to a $25 800 saving per annum.
Edgy Info
Andrew Chamberlin
Improving the Eco-Efficiency of Your Business?
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Andrew Chamberlin, ecoBiz - Department of Environment & Resource Management
ecoBiz is a partnership program to help Queensland businesses adopt eco efficient practices and take businesses along the first steps to sustainability. Andrew explained how businesses can become involved as a participating company or as an ecoBiz facilitator. He described how the program looks at the whole business including production efficiency as well as developing networks within industries and promoting good or best practices. ecoBiz acts on the measure, act, re-measure philosophy with a DIY focus on energy and water use efficiency and waste minimisation throughout the business. There is also the possibility of rebates for projects identified in the action plan. Free training for participating businesses is available and accredited facilitators (consultants) are able to assist (fee-based). Participating businesses are rewarded with ecoBiz partnership status. Andrew mentioned that ecoBiz would be bringing in a small business addition for office, retail and cafes.
John Monico
Current Initiatives from the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry
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John Monico, ecoBiz Manager on behalf of Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry (DTRDI)
John mentioned the recent announcement of the Smart Industry Policy which includes environmental technologies and advance manufacturing. He explained how it is DTRDI's role to develop an action plan for environmental technologies and services within the state. This will involve an industry reference group and the development of a capability directory. The directory is an opportunity for businesses to be listed receiving exposure both nationally and internationally.
John discussed the range of the other projects which DTRDI are leading. He also talked about organisations such as the Australian Institute for Commercialisation and QMISolutions which also receive significant DTRDI funding.
Matthew Dodson
A Trial Underway to Manage Electricity Network Loads
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Matthew Dodson, Energex
Queensland electricity peak demand is continuing to grow at a strong rate. Peak demand is a key driver of capital expenditure and capital expenditure is the key driver of the price of electricity network services. Matthew demonstrated graphically to the audience how consumer electricity demand is not slowing. And growth in peak demand is twice the rate of growth in energy demand. The traditional approach to manage this is to spend capital and operational costs on the network. Load management technologies such as air conditioning load control are an important ingredient to addressing these issues. Energex is currently trialling such a system
The major benefit of this control is in reducing peak demand, therefore delaying capital expenditure on the network, which means prices are under control in the longer term. Matthew noted that demand patterns are getting worse and conservation can make a difference.
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Last reviewed 24 November 2011
Last updated 6 October 2010