by Shane Henson — February 22, 2012—Building owners seeking to further curb their energy costs may benefit from learning more about utiliVisor’s new portable service aimed at increasing energy plant performance.
utiliVisor, a nationwide provider of energy plant monitoring and verification systems for mission-critical facilities and large multi-use commercial offices, recently launched its service, called Intelligent Performance Testing (IPT), to enable building owners to optimize chiller plant equipment to achieve significant energy savings with a minimal capital investment. According to the company, typical cost savings between 12 percent and 20 percent are achievable from adjustments to equipment that are identified during the IPT operation.
With the IPT portable service, utiliVisor energy technicians install non-obtrusive, portable BTU meters, electric meters and a Web server to gather five-minute incremental interval data on chiller plant equipment. The data is collected in “real time” and analyzed by utiliVisor energy engineers to evaluate equipment performance and identify energy-saving opportunities, says the company.
The IPT process allows owners to establish the true operating cost of chilled water generation. It identifies excessive kilowatt usage at part load conditions, improper water flows that might cause heat transfer problems, inefficient compressor control, and chiller inefficiencies verses the manufacturer’s design specifications. Also, the service provides the basis for implementing optimal chiller sequencing and creates baseline operating efficiency for future chiller plant upgrades.
