Decarbonization

Decarbonization Success Stories

Good things are happening! We hope to add many more positive case studies in the future. If you’re an AHR Expo exhibitor and would like to submit a success story, please let us know.

Decarbonizing the heat supply of a thriving port city

Heating Homes with Zero Carbon Emissions: Parker’s Heatric Heat Exchanger (PCHE) is a key component in Electro-Thermal Energy Storage (ETES) systems. This technology is being used to decarbonize the heat supply of Esbjerg, Denmark, where the port city’s thriving offshore wind infrastructure enables the use of renewable power as a source for the generation of heating energy. Due to the location of Port of Esbjerg, renewable power from nearby wind farms and seawater will be used as a heat source for the generation of heating energy, guaranteeing an emission-free alternative to the city’s current coal-fired power plant. Featuring two ETES heat-pump systems, it will supply around 100,000 residences with approximately 235,000 MWh of heat annually. Parker’s Heatric PCHE enables commercial-scale, sustainable clean energy systems by maximizing the output generated by renewables. Compared to energy-related coal burning each year, it eliminates NOx /SOx pollutants and 100,000 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.

Water source heat pumps revamp an iconic Seattle building

Bosch Home Comfort is bringing its innovative water source heat pumps to one of the most iconic buildings in Seattle—the Columbia Center. All 2,500 units in the building are being replaced with Bosch QV Series and LM Series heat pumps over the course of 7-10 years. The installation team is replacing the equipment floor-by-floor for all 76 floors of the building, which boasts 1.5 million square feet. Two other recent examples include two solutions that we will be featuring at AHR: the GreenTronic 7000 T Hybrid Electric Water Heater and the IDS Ultra Heat Pump, which recently met the DOE’s Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge.

A holistic approach to healing a sick building

When it began ‘raining’ in the Towson Court House a leaky roof was assumed to be the culprit, according to project leaders at the Maryland Department of General Services (DGS), the state’s property manager.  For Courtney League, DGS’ Chief of the Facilities Engineering Division, and Harry Hughes, Project Manager for Design, Construction and Energy, the truth turned out to be much stranger.

There was such negative air pressure in the building from the HVAC system that outside water was literally being sucked in through the perimeter walls and joints,” said League. “Ceiling tiles were visibly billowing and warping even though the roof itself was fine.”  All of this hinted at the ongoing internal climate battle the building team faced.  With outside air constantly flowing into the building, it became impossible to maintain temperatures at comfortable levels; residents consistently complained about pockets of hot and cold air, as well as humidity and dampness throughout the building.

At first, DGS took a traditional approach to fixing the building, focusing on individual pieces of equipment like chillers, pumps and air handlers.  DGS’ maintenance team replaced air handling units, many of which were several decades old.  When that didn’t solve the comfort issues, the DGS engineering team invited Jae Chon, Director of Strategic Markets at Chesapeake Systems, a Maryland-based HVAC consultant and equipment distributor, to evaluate the building system.  Chon soon discovered it wasn’t a few pieces of old and faulty equipment; the entire HVAC system was completely unbalanced  - dampers blowing into empty ceiling spaces, vital equipment plated up, control switches inexplicably disconnected, tarps hidden in crawl spaces to redirect water and more. Each “fix” to a seemingly isolated part of the system was, in fact, impacting the entire building.  Chon, League and Hughes determined that simply replacing the existing equipment would not heal this sick building.  A more holistic approach was necessary, one in which each piece of equipment was viewed as a node in a larger, synergistic system.