the confidence in our operators to
overcome the fear of failure, the savings
would never have been realized,” says
Bill Geiling, CEM, Pfizer’s manager of
plant engineering and maintenance,
chiller plant operations.
Training Makes a Difference
Whether they are identifying if a system needs optimization or maintaining
an optimized system so it stays on track,
system operators are critical to district
cooling system success. Unfortunately,
not all of them have received the training
they need to optimize the operation of
their plants – facilities that cost millions
of dollars to build and millions more
to run. Without thorough knowledge of
their entire system and its capabilities,
these operators may not be prepared to
make the best operational decisions. As
an industry, we need to step up to the
plate and ensure the proper training of
our operators on an ongoing basis. We
need to empower them to make good
operating decisions that provide top
service reliability while delivering savings
to the bottom line.
Getting the Best
Possible Design
The fear factor can be powerful. It
can result in overdesigned systems or the
specification of technologies that aren’t
the right fit. Either way, significant energy
inefficiencies and higher costs result.
To avoid these pitfalls, system
owners who are building a new plant or
renovating an old one need to do their
homework as they hire their consultants.
Does that particular consultant have a
‘signature’ design? What can be learned
by evaluating the consultant’s past
designs? Once the consultant is hired,
clients need to ask detailed questions
during the design process: What calculations brought them to their design conclusions? Why are they specifying what
they are? What options have they evaluated? Could a peer review be conducted?
Owners with existing plants that are
not undergoing a major build or renova-
tion should take a look at what they
might do better. They could save hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars each year
through system optimization. In fact,
most could reduce energy requirements
by 20 percent to 50 percent with a pay-
back of less than two years. And once the
system is fixed, a good operator training
program could help maintain optimal
system efficiency year after year.
Hemant R. Mehta, PE, is presi-
dent and chief executive officer
of WM Group Engineers PC.
Mehta’s experience in optimizing
the performance and improving
efficiencies of existing utility plants
has enabled many facilities to save millions in
capital and operating costs. Mehta cofounded
WM Group Engineers in 2000, after working
at Syska Hennessy from 1975 to 2000. He has
a master of science in mechanical engineering
from Oklahoma State University and a bachelor
of science from Heald Engineering College. In
June 2010, Mehta was named Energy Engineer
of the Year by the New York Chapter of the
Association of Energy Engineers. He may be
reached at hmehta@wmgroupeng.com.
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Review your physical plant chilled water load problems
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Learn about heat recovery and thermal storage
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