By taking a good look at how you heat and cool your building, you can save a lot of energy and money. See below some tips that will help you with this and ask local partners or professionals for practical advice and expertise.
Check the settings of the installation each year
Sometimes a heating system in buildings is switched on unnecessarily. For example, because the person who has turned on the heating forgets to turn it off again. This situation can be prevented by making the radiator knobs or the thermostat more visible. And by making employees aware of the benefits of energy savings. A temperature reduction on average yields a cost saving of 6% per degree Celsius.
Note the settings
Central heating boilers and air conditioners are installed with the regular basic settings. Often these settings are not optimal. The activities of your company also change over the years (think of more employees, different shift system, opening hours). That is why it is smart to readjust those installation-settings at least once a year. That only takes a few hours of work from an installer. The average saving is up to 9%.
Replace doorseals of cold stores and freezers
Doors of cold stores and freezers do not always close properly due to damaged door seals. Replace these rubbers so that the doors close properly again and thus keep the cold inside. That saves energy. A poorly closing door will generate 2 to 5% more energy consumption on an annual basis.
Demand driven heating, cooling and ventilation
You can arrange the energy-use in a commercial building depending on demand. This means that heat and cold is only released in those rooms where people are and that the amount is adjusted to the requirements for that space. This is based on presence detection and preferably in combination with an adjustable temperature control per room. The ventilation per room can be integrated into the control at the same time. This is certainly profitable when building an office (payback period < 5 years).
Heat recovery systems
With heat recovery, the fresh air blown in is heated with the heat from the extracted ventilation air. This is only applicable in buildings with a mechanical supply and extraction of ventilation air (balanced ventilation). The amount of ventilation must be greater than 6,000 m3 per hour. The heat released during certain processes, such as spray booths or powder coating ovens, can also be used for heat recovery.
Note that a heat recovery system must also be regularly adjusted.
Infra red heating panels
Heat panels with infrared radiation do not heat the air, as with traditional heating, but only the surface it is aimed at. This means that you are not unnecessarily heating the air above you. It can be used for indoor and outdoor areas. For example for offices, houses, industrial halls, but also for animal shelters or terraces. Because there is no air circulation with this heating method, less dust circulates in the room. Depending on the provider, the panels can be switched on and off remotely with a wireless thermostat or via an app.
By irradiating the objects directly with infrared heating, you have a much more efficient heating than with convection, where the air must first be heated. This is obvious in high industrial areas, but can also be used for separate (work) places where heating is required. With infrared panels you can create one homogeneous room or just heat it where you need comfort. This way you can save a lot on your energy costs.
This heating technology does not require natural gas, but electricity. And when that power is generated with your own solar energy, wind energy or fed with green electricity, the infrared solar panels work completely carbon neutral.
Energy efficient ventilation
Ventilation is necessary for the supply of fresh air and the removal of polluted air. When there is no need for ventilation (because there is no one in the room or building), the ventilation can of course be turned off or to a lower level. This saves electricity for the ventilation system and energy for cooling or heating.
There are several options to let the ventilation-system be energy efficient:
Link with lighting
A simple form is to link the ventilation to the lighting switch. This can be used in rooms without windows, such as toilets and showers. Optionally, a timer can be built in, so that it stays on a little longer after the space is empty again.
Timer during operating times
Switch on the ventilation about thirty minutes before the first employee arrives and off when the alarm is switched on again. Check annually whether the timer is in accordance with the usage times of the building.
Overtime timer
In situations with occasional deviating operating times, set an overtime timer. If there is a need for ventilation outside the normal operating hours, the ventilation can be switched on for a certain (extra) period by operating the overtime timer.
CO2 control
With this setting, the installation ventilates based on the amount of CO2 in the air. This is especially applicable in schools and offices.
Use residual heat and cold
Energy savings can be achieved by reusing residual heat or cold. For example, from one company building to another. Or from the south facade to the north facade (winter) or vice versa (summer). Or the residual heat from a production process (for example a compressor) for heating a building. For example, place a heat exchanger in a transport-aircanal to the outside, so that the heat can be used to heat the rooms, or blow the warm air directly into the rooms to be heated.
If the ingoing and outgoing transport-aircanals are close to each other, install a cross flow heat exchanger so that the heat from the exhaust can be transferred to a central air supply of the dryer. Heat released by cooling products can also be usefully used elsewhere in the building, for space heating or domestic hot water.