In year 2013, one of our clients who had been incurring an extremely high utilities bill for a period of time, approached PowerQ to review their billing.
The Biosafety Level 3 Lab was a research facility with more than 24 ACH. Based on the design, air was not reticulated to protect the scientists safe from any hazards such as chemicals, virus and bacteria.
PowerQ reviewed the billing in comparison with other similar facilities and had proposed to:
The challenge was to save energy while not interrupting lab operations and the hardware or control systems.
PowerQ performed the following tasks:
Task A – Brief Review Of Specification and Construction As-Built Drawing
PowerQ reviewed the following specifications for mechanical and electrical systems. These include:
Task B – Site Verification of Performance Operation
Performance evaluation of energy systems such as environmental control laboratory. This is to determine the actual performance of the current running unit against the design value. Air volume measurement and pressure profiling in comparison with the design were done. Spot reading of selective AHU, operating current, air flow static pressures and supply/return temperature, review of current BMS data, operational data and operating hours of fume hood and lab system were evaluated.
Task C – Implementation of Energy Saving Measures
The Following were implemented to reduce energy consumption:
After implementation of the energy saving measures, the energy bills were monitored for 6 months. It was established that more than 20% reduction in energy billing was achieved.