Showing posts with label Case Study: Factory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Case Study: Factory. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 March 2012

Peerless Pump Turns To AmbiRad





Peerless Pump of Indianapolis has a long history of success and corporate responsibility in the Indianapolis market.  Its origins go back to the purchase of its existing facility from the US army in 1946.  Peerless Pump is a subsidiary of Grundfos who is one of the world's largest pump manufacturers, based in Denmark with more than 18,000 employees globally.  It is through the parent companies global commitment to the reduction of energy consumption and overall carbon footprint that facilitated this project.  When Energy and Safety Coordinator, Todd Walterman was tasked with this challenge he reached out locally to Freiji Engineered Systems.  Frieji has a long history of leading the market in technology and performance in industrial facilities. 

The building had minimal insulation and provided little resistance to infiltration.   The prior system utilized 34 gas unit heaters.  These units are estimated to be operating at less than 65% efficiency.  The unit heaters were controlled with independent non-programmable thermostats and were in need of repair. 

Mr. Walterman and Freiji’s energy specialist, Mark Montgomery, investigated two different system types when considering the proposed upgrade of the heating system.  Forced air heat and radiant heaters were analyzed. The analysis showed that radiant heat was the better solution based on the leaky nature of the building and the increased fan horsepower required with forced air. Once the determination was made what the best course of action would be, Mr. Montgomery contacted Craig Hale with Advanced Radiant Systems of Fishers.  Advanced Radiant Systems is the National Distributor for Ambirad.  Energy projects with Advanced Radiant’s input have won US Department of Energy Recognition.  Ambirad manufactures the highest efficiency heater of its type in all of North America.  The proposed upgrades included installing new ultra high efficiency gas fired radiant tube heaters with overall thermal efficiency greater than 90% and radiant efficiency in excess of 76%.  To take advantage of occupancy schedules, these units included controllers with programmable schedules, password protection, holiday override and network capability.  The units were grouped into eleven zones to allow for maximum turn down during light shifts and unoccupied periods.

Citizens Energy participated by providing a $25,000 rebate in support of the Peerless project.  Citizens would like to congratulate Peerless Pump, Mr. Walterman and his associates for being leaders in energy conservation.  Through energy conservation and rebates this project will have a return on investment of less than 4 years! Through investment in their own facility Peerless Pump has benefitted the entire community.  Peerless’s recognition of locally based energy experts in partnering to reach their goals continues to demonstrate their commitment in doing what’s best for the Indianapolis community just like they’ve been doing since 1946.

Monday, 23 May 2011

AmbiRad's Radiant Heaters Achieve an 80% Reduction in Fuel Consumption at Volvo

Volvo is world renown for its environmental consciousness, recently established a corporate goal to make all of its manufacturing facilities carbon neutral by 2012.  Additionally Volvo trucks have the U. S. Department of Energy Industrial Technologies Save Energy Now LEADER initiative which requires manufacturers to reduce their facilities energy intensity by 2.5% per year over a 10 year timeframe.

AmbiRad installed  60 High Efficiency VSX heaters in Volvo's Truck's NRV plant shipping building, replacing their warm air system.  The building is an ideal choice for radiant heating with it's high ceilings and high air change, as the radiant heater have a very quick response time.

The radiant heaters resulted in a headline 80% reduction in natural gas consumption, but the complete performance can be summarised as:

  • Saving  61,000 therms natural gas per year.
  • Saving 70,000 kWh electricity per year
  • Saving  54 tons CO2 per year
  • Saving $45,000-$50,000 per year
  • Payback period 2.5 years
For details of this project please see the Volvo case study at the Department of Energy website.