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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The research conducted for this project directly supports the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan goals to accelerate marketplace penetration of climate appropriate air conditioning technologies. The work was executed by PG&E Applied Technology Services, with leadership, vision, project management, and funding provided by the PG&E Emerging Technologies program. This report records results of a detailed laboratory evaluation of several enhancements that can be made to an operational rooftop unitary air conditioner (RTU).
The project began as an evaluation of a package of products that attach to a RTU that was submitted as part of the Western Cooling Challenge, a program that encourages manufacturers to develop and commercialize climate appropriate unitary air conditioning equipment. The Western Cooling Challenge works to characterize and compare the performance of these technologies in order to better inform utility program planning, customer investments in energy efficiency, and industry planning related to low energy mechanical design strategies optimized for western climates.
At the time the evaluation project was begun, there was a parallel effort being conducted by other consultants under CPUC Work Order 32 to evaluate the potential for energy improvement on RTUs. Since this project also involved performance testing of an RTU, the scope was expanded to include tests that would supplement the CPUC effort, specifically in regards to the performance of economizers.
California IOUs have also recently begun an air conditioner service program referred to as Quality Maintenance, but there is a lack of backing evidence to support the energy savings claims. A series of tests were conducted in order to quantify the savings, which involved an outside contractor certified to conduct the QM service.
Finally, since the WCC submitted system included as one of its components a condenser air evaporative pre-cooler, three additional examples of this technology were also evaluated.
The testing of economizers, evaporative condenser air pre-coolers and ventilation air pre-coolers is not covered under any existing testing standard. Therefore, appropriate methods to evaluate these products needed to be developed, and could be considered contributions towards future standards development.
View the full report as a PDF (140 pages / 7.6MB)
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