Water Treatment programs for HVAC Systems can have a major impact on how efficiently facilities use energy and water while reducing their impact on health and the environment.
ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY
The return on investment for Environment Friendly building, (Green Building) is closely linked with increased energy and water efficiency. In a typical facility, the energy used to operate HVAC systems accounts for 60% of utility costs. Water can easily total 5% of utility costs. Although water treatment is a small fraction of utility costs, the results received from water treatment programs have far-reaching impact in terms of operating costs, resource conservation, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE CHEMICALS
Certain chemicals and technologies are considered more environmentally responsible than others. For example, treatment chemicals that more readily degrade when discharged into the environment are less hazardous to manufacture or use, or have lower usage/ packaging requirements can be considered environmentally responsible. Solid water treatment systems in particular offer several green benefits over the liquids traditionally used. Solids contain less hazardous chemicals and require less packaging material. This reduces both landfill waste and shipping weight along with the energy usage and CO2 emissions associated with product delivery. Combined with ease of use, these factors can make solids an attractive alternative to liquid chemicals.While it is important to minimize chemical usage and use environmentally responsible chemicals, it is essential that Green water treatment programs provide similar or better results in terms of system protection and energy/water efficiency. Otherwise, the environmental benefits from reducing chemical usage will be offset by increased energy, water, and material usage.
GREEN WATER TREATMENT
The following are some benefits of an effective water treatment program supporting green building objectives:
Maintain clean heat transfer surfaces. Consider pretreatment equipment, filtration, chemical cleaning, and treatment program upgrades to maintain and restore optimum heat transfer efficiency.
Maintain the minimum blowdown rate consistent with good deposit control in boiler and cooling tower systems. Install equipment upgrades that allow reduced blowdown.
Consider alternate makeup water sources like harvested rain water or air handler condensate.
Install automatic feed and control systems that precisely apply treatment chemicals.
Use web-enabled, data-logging controllers to monitor and log key treatment and system parameters.
Use concentrates to minimize handling, packaging, and shipping requirements.
Consider solid water treatment technologies
The water treatment program for a building’s HVAC system is integral to the operation of energy, water, and resource efficient facilities. Obtaining optimum results from a water treatment program has huge economic payoffs and helps meet green building objectives.