The recent issue of Scientific American (September, 2005) is a special issue focusing on the planetary future. This is a very fascinating set of articles.

The first inside page starts off with an advertisement from Chevron.

It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We'll use the next trillion in 30. So why should we care?
Pretty scary information.

There is an article in this issue titled "More Profit With Less Carbon" by Amory B. Lovins. I would highly recommend this for your review.

One point he makes in the article deals with losses in electricity generation. His example is for a power plant. The example states, if we consider the fuel energy input into the generating plant as 100 units, with the final output for pumping water, the net available output is 10 units. A 90% loss due to the system design and inefficiencies in power transmission and ultimate use.

The equivalent useful energy is only 10% of what it took to deliver this result. The author goes on to state, if the piping friction losses where reduced 1 unit of energy (with a larger pipe or better design), the initial input energy is reduced by 10 units. A significant increase.

You might be asking what in the world does this have to do with refrigeration?

My thoughts follow for two areas: package equipment and custom engineered systems.

Refrigeration systems are a large user of electricity. In this category I would include large central HVAC systems.

The packaged equipment from a manufacturer is pre-designed for a specific purpose and based on certain requirements. Some of these requirements are mandated by governmental legislation for energy conservation. You can only get what the manufacturer supplies. Large HVAC chilled & hot water piping systems are some areas for improvements.

Installation and commissioning are the two primary items under our control. A poor installation or bad commissioning practices can leave well designed system operating badly and inefficiently. We should be able to do something about this.

Custom engineered systems on the other hand add another level of complexity. In this situation, we need to not only design the system, but perform the installation properly and provide good commissioning principles.

An example, if the suction lines are sized too small to save some money (more competitive?) the compressors may become larger due to the loss of capacity associated with increased pressure losses.

Improper piping practices on liquid lines can contribute to increased flash gas and a subsequent loss of capacity. This can result in increased run-time for the system, or loss of temperature control.

The use of an unnecessary quantity of valves and pipe fittings compounds the pressure losses. You have probably seen this before on a new installation. The duct work is run first, then the electrical conduits and water plumbing. Who is usually the last person?

The refrigeration pipe-fitter. He has to run piping around all of the other obstructions. We can minimize this by requesting first choice of the installation.

What I am proposing is a whole system approach to engineering these systems. Some of this is applicable to your proposals. The owner is concerned with total costs. If the proposals are evaluated on your cost versus your competitor, the low cost usually wins.

Can you sell the whole system approach to the owner. Less cost for the electrician or plumber leaves more for you! How can you optimize your design for the proposal?

Less electrical input for the refrigeration system can reduce the wiring costs for the owner. Can you use the difference in the costs to sell your systems by designing them to be more efficient?

Can we design defrost systems that are more efficient? The short answer is YES. Do we need dozens of pressure regulators to do this. NO! Is electric defrost really cheaper to install. I don't think so.

Why can't we design systems that operate at 10C condensing in the winter time? We can, if we get creative. Can we get lower than this, I think so but it depends on what the process requires.

Heat recovery in HVAC systems. Heat pipes, or thermosiphon systems can be used. Do you need heat energy or temperature? These are different things.

I believe we are at a cross-roads. We either start taking the energy business serious and see how we can profit from it, or succumb to it.

What do you think about this?