Making changes a breeze

Property owners and managers could be forgiven for feeling bogged down by what may be viewed as a constant bombardment of changing carbon reduction legislation. What with EPCs, DECs and Energy Performance in Buildings legislation, as well as imminent changes to Building Regulations, there is a continual raft of new rules and regulations that needs to be understood and addressed in the battle to reduce energy use and carbon production by our buildings.

The extent of the inertia – or even antipathy – towards this wave of legislation can be illustrated by statistics showing the high levels of non-compliance towards air conditioning assessment in commercial buildings. In fact, compliance with Energy Performance in Buildings and F-gas legislation is estimated by the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers to be minimal and poses a real threat to the chances of the UK meeting its carbon reduction requirements.

Only five percent of air conditioning systems are thought to have been inspected in line with the legislation – a figure that compares with 80 percent for Display Energy Certificates and 70 to 75 percent for Energy Performance Certificates.

Now there is yet more legislation afoot – namely a draft Energy using Product (EuP) directive from the European Commission – that means air conditioning equipment will soon need to demonstrate “seasonal efficiency” on energy labels.

However, far from receiving news of this new legislation with a feeling of foreboding, it is possible to turn legislative requirements into a positive opportunity to bring extra performance to a property portfolio. By complying with the changing legislation, property owners have the opportunity to reduce energy usage and costs for tenants, thus offering a real USP and – most importantly – increasing their bottom line.

By viewing energy assessment of air conditioning systems as a route by which information can be gathered to improve thermal efficiency, property owners can achieve significant energy performance improvements that will set them apart from their competitors in today’s financially sensitive market place. As well as assessing how an air conditioning system is functioning at the point of inspection, the role of the assessor is to offer advice on how improvements in performance can be made going forward – vital information in providing even higher reductions in a building’s energy usage.

One such area of improvement is how real life performance of an air conditioning system might vary from its predicted performance. Generally this is expressed in terms of nominal performance, however this can hide the significant differences that exist between rated and actual performance. By assessing and then improving real-life performance, huge increases in efficiency are possible.

With the proposed new EuP legislation, seasonal efficiency ratings will be required for all air conditioning equipment, meaning that performance will be calculated and expressed according to its seasonal efficiency rating over the year.

This seasonal efficiency rating will eventually appear on a new energy label, giving users a better idea of anticipated real life performance. Once the new regulations come into force, all new units purchased after that date that are unable to meet EuP requirements, will be banned.

In order to stay one step ahead, Daikin have already launched technology to address this legislation. Our new designs have optimised inverter control for improved energy performance all year round – delivering higher annual seasonal efficiencies than the latest super inverters and offering major improvements over contemporary non inverter systems. This new seasonal inverter energy rating takes account multiple cooling and heating temperatures, as well as the unit operation at partial load instead of just at full capacity. It will also consider the power consumed by equipment in auxiliary mode when the compressor is off.

As well as advising on improving seasonal efficiencies, a good air conditioning assessor should be able to offer advice on other ways that energy efficiency can be improved such as remote monitoring or the use of “intelligent systems”.

Take remote monitoring. The operating efficiency of an air conditioning system not only has an impact on emissions and energy consumption; it also affects the reliability, cost of maintenance and the life expectancy of the system. If air conditioning systems can be kept running at an optimum level, it results in a longer lasting, cheaper to run system that produces fewer emissions.

Remote monitoring involves the gathering and analysing of data from a particular system, usually by the air conditioning provider via specialist equipment using an internet connection. Such a service should provide a malfunction prediction service by the constant monitoring and analysis of data from the equipment in order that any abnormalities can be picked up at an early stage – before the malfunction occurs. In this way, failures can be prevented and possible down time reduced to an absolute minimum.

Ideally this service will also flag certain operational issues such as blocked or contaminated air filters or heat exchangers so that performance and efficiency can be improved. This optimization will also result in an increased lifespan of the equipment.

The very best remote monitoring will also offer an energy saving function.

These are designed to remotely adjust the operating parameters of air conditioners to ensure optimum energy efficiency.

Energy saving can be obtained by using remote weather forecast information, local to the specific site. This information is combined with the data that is collected from the air conditioners. Judgements are then made according to this information. If energy saving measures are possible they will be made remotely. This system will also account for occupancy levels and variations in installation (piping lengths and so on) when calculating energy saving potential.

If a building is looking to achieve really impressive energy efficiencies, then the use of heat recovery in balanced mode within a system can also be employed. The measure of air conditioning efficiency, the ratio of energy used compared to the change in temperature of a room, is known as Coefficient of Performance, or COP. Previously impressive COP ratings of around four now pale by comparison with the exceptionally high COPs available when employing this technology.

This intelligent approach to heat recovery can deliver exceptional COPs of up to nine or even 10. Yet while heat recovery is already being embraced in other areas of the world, it is still not widely realised in the UK market that a heat recovery system operating in a balanced mode can increase energy efficiency levels massively.

Achieving balanced mode operation might involve cooling one area of the building which is experiencing the highest heat gains and transferring that reclaimed heat to other areas of the building that require heating or hot water, which is now also possible within a heat reclaim system.

To do so, the indoor units need to be arranged to maximise the occasions when this balanced operation can take place, with the heat recovery system diverting recovered heat to wherever it is needed, thus contributing significantly
to the goal of zero heat rejection.

However, to achieve these industry beating COPs of nine and 10, it’s vital to analyse right from the start a building’s multiple requirements, usage patterns and varying occupancy levels, in order to design a fully integrated system that optimises energy efficiency and heat recovery.

Although efficiency levels of up to 1000 percent may seem out of reach for many, it is a very real possibility. The principle is sound that by examining how air conditioning efficiencies can be improved in our commercial buildings, it is possible to achieve much higher levels of energy efficiency and carbon reduction than previously envisaged. Not only will this help meet the country’s carbon reduction targets but it will deliver energy cost savings that will make a real difference to a property portfolio’s unique selling proposition.