Application Note

3 Fluke Corporation Banding together to conserve resources
outside air adjustments and fea-
tures a Siemens control system
that feeds building operations
data to Pittis over the web.
Tenants who change ther-
mostat settings or use electric
space heaters for comfort
through what you might call
“tenant creativity” can hammer
energy savings. So Boge encour-
ages clients to educate users and
bring them on board as partici-
pants in the conservation drive.
For example, if an office needs
more warmth, use an infrared
radiant heat panel that con-
sumes 100 to 200 watts, instead
of a space heater using 1500.
Still, comfort is a very per-
sonal issue. Workers handling
and stacking books may feel
warm because they’re physi-
cally active, while those nearby
at computers cataloging books
feel cool. Pittis uses the Fluke
62 Infrared Thermometer to
verify the temperatures of vents,
supply air, and room surfaces,
and the Fluke 975 AirMeter
to confirm CO, CO
2
, air tem-
perature, and relative humidity
levels. (The best tool choices for
determining supply air tempera-
ture are the Fluke 975 and the
Fluke 971 Temperature Humid-
ity Meter.) When they see the
numbers even some complaining
tenants are convinced.
Together the changes have
cut thousands in energy costs,
which pleases chief librarian
Cynthia Harrison. Spending less
on electricity and natural gas
leaves more in her budget for
new books.
Trimming the spikes
Electric power bills are based
on more than the kilowatt
hours consumed. Peak loads are
also a factor, since the utility
must reserve sufficient capac-
ity to handle a spike in demand.
Using EIS, Boge and Burlington’s
Building and Grounds Supervisor
Paul Tingley identified a spike in
usage when building equipment
in the Burlington Public Library
fired up about 4 am. By delay-
ing and phasing the starting
times, they trimmed both the
spike and their bills. This sce-
nario has been replicated in a
number of facilities. Boge credits
operational changes and taking
control of thermostats with the
lion’s share of the program’s
overall energy reductions.
Such fine-tuning is typical.
As in many towns, budget cuts
in Anacortes and Burlington
have led to periodic employee
furloughs. Sounds like an oppor-
tunity to save, but it’s not that
simple. First, someone has to be
responsible for programming
thermostats and making sure
everything is shut down on a
day when the building normally
would have been open. Then
consideration has to be given to
the fact that as some facilities
close, demand for others—such
as recreation facilities—can
grow. And not all facilities are
closed at once. Police and fire,
for instance, stay open. By fine-
tuning exactly which facilities to
shut down when, Paul Tingley
estimates that 12 furlough days
will save his city $15,500 in gas
and power in 2011.
Water treatment plants are
a special challenge for Boge.
They run all the time and use
large motors to pump liquids
and aerate sewage. There’s little
to be done in scheduling to cut
energy use. But at the Anacortes
wastewater treatment plant,
sewer sludge is incinerated,
using diesel to aid combustion.
By fine-tuning the process, the
operators found a way to cut the
amount of diesel used, saving
a whopping $74,000 per year.
Again, operational changes at
the facility caused the overall
energy reduction. Boge’s role
here was simply to support the
operators’ efforts and confirm
with his data the great suc-
cess they were having, thereby
saving the city thousands of
dollars every year.
After two years working with
Boge and his team, Pittis and
Tingley feel they have imple-
mented the most obvious and
easiest conservation projects.
They have established inter-
nal conservation teams to help
educate building occupants on
what they can do to help. They
have picked the low-hanging
fruit. From here on it gets
tougher. With little free money
around, proving quick payback
periods (five year’s payback
for any city contribution) is
Shared Resource Conservation Manager Ric Boge (foreground)
and Paul Tingley, Building and Grounds Supervisor for the City of
Burlington, check HVAC facility performance with the Fluke Ti32
Thermal Imager.
The Fluke 62 Mini Infrared Thermometer helps Anacortes Facilities Manager Russ Pittis
search for hot spots that could signal equipment problems.