 Building Science at UC Berkeley: Research
Federal Energy Management Program: Short-Term Chiller Performance Evaluation Tool Edward Arens, Department of Architecture
& Director, CEDR Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory The Department of Energy In-House Energy Management Program (IHEM) is charged with implementing energy-efficiency measures in over 14,000 buildings throughout the United States. In order to assist IHEM in evaluating and prioritizing potential chiller retrofits, a low-cost toolkit has been developed. The toolkit consists of application notes for monitoring protocols, instrumentation specifications and spreadsheet-based software to automate much of the analysis. The monitoring approach can vary depending on the complexity of the cooling plant and the resources available to the user. The protocols include false-load testing and short-term (four or more weeks) monitoring of chillers, cooling towers and associated pumps. Wherever possible, routine manipulation and analysis have been automated to reduce the user’s effort significantly. Standardized graphs and reports are produced that include estimations of chiller efficiency, load distribution, weather sensitivity, weekly operational profiles, run hours and energy consumption. Although the accuracy of the monitoring provided by this toolkit may not be sufficient to provide data for comparison to manufacturer’s curves or for performance contract baseline data, the information the toolkit can provide is useful in screening projects, understanding the size and nature of the cooling loads, estimating annual energy use and costs, and evaluating potential retrofits.
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