Situation
Retail customers are becoming more environmentally conscious. They expect the companies they buy from to be sensitive to issues such as energy efficiency and sustainability.
A large global retailer wanted to open a high-efficiency store to demonstrate it could operate in a way that saves energy, lowers utility costs and reduces emissions while providing a great shopping experience for its customers.
A key consideration for the new store’s design was implementation of a cooling system that would help reduce energy costs and usage.
Challenge
Mechanisms for comfort cooling are big energy users; the retailer needed a cooling solution that required significantly less energy but would still meet its design requirements — including aesthetics and reduced noise.
Solution
Marley NC Class factory-assembled towers from SPX Cooling Technologies were specified for air conditioning the new store. Classified as “evaporative cooling towers,” they use the evaporation of a small volume of the recirculated water within the system to remove heat.
The towers’ design enables them to use less energy. Manufactured with 30% pre-consumer recycled content, they can also be recycled at the end of their lifecycle (by weight, approximately 90% of a steel tower can be recycled), further helping the retailer to meet its goals of establishing sustainable practices.
Evaporative Cooling Removes the Heat
Evaporative cooling uses naturally replenished water to enhance cooling. The technology used works much like the cooling effect felt when air blows across damp skin. The water evaporating from a person’s skin removes some of the body’s heat; the person feels cooler as a result.
This same process allows evaporative cooling equipment to cool below the ambient dry air temperature and is a long-term renewable process in areas where water is plentiful.
Depending on local weather, HVAC evaporative cooling systems can reduce energy consumption one-half to one-third of air-cooled equipment, thereby reducing the carbon footprint. Evaporative cooling can also provide about 95% effectiveness at cleaning the air that flows through the system.
Maximum Cooling, Minimum Energy Use
The Marley evaporative cooling towers’ gravity-flow water distribution and efficient mechanical drive systems work together to offer maximum cooling with minimum power use.
They are more efficient than air-cooled chillers or air-cooled condensers, and can cut energy use in half if not more. They can also be used in "free cooling" mode with plate and frame heat exchangers. This allows the end user to turn off the chiller completely in the spring and fall (shoulder seasons).
On a hot summer day, a typical store might operate its air conditioning and refrigeration systems with 95° or higher ambient air entering the condensers. In the integrated water-source format, the system instead operates with 85° water entering the condensers. The lower entering temperature of the water and its higher heat-carrying capacity results in less than half of energy consumption used by air-cooled equipment.
Built-in Bonuses
Aesthetics were a consideration for the retailer, so the cooling solution was custom engineered to feature more small towers rather than fewer large towers. In addition to providing a lower tower profile, the solution provides redundancy in the system and lower horsepower (HP) usage during operation.
The solution also provided increased sound reduction. All Marley NC Class cooling towers are designed for low sound levels using high efficiency fans and low splash noise heat transfer media.
What’s Next
SPX Cooling Technologies is continuing to work with this retailer as well as other customers to achieve greater cooling efficiencies throughout their facilities. By custom engineering cooling systems, SPX Cooling Technologies is able to develop solutions that meet specific customer objectives and needs.
To learn more about the benefits of evaporative cooling, download the SPX Cooling Technologies brochure here, or visit www.spxcooling.com