The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Rooftop Unit Campaign recognized seven organizations April 10 for their leadership in installing more energy-efficient RTUs in commercial buildings. As part of the Better Buildings Initiative, the Advanced RTU Campaign works with commercial building owners, managers and operators that wish to upgrade to high-efficiency RTU technologies and practices in commercial buildings, as well as utilities, energy-efficiency organizations, contractors and manufacturers that can assist.
Since its 2013 launch, more than 300 partners have replaced or upgraded close to 115,000 units, saving more than $90 million in energy costs annually.
This year’s seven award recipients, combined, replaced and/or retrofitted more than 10,000 units and installed 5,800 Automated Fault Detection and Diagnostics systems in a single year, realizing an annual savings of more than 50 million kilowatt hours (kWhs), equivalent to $5 million. New recognition categories for AFDD and intelligent controls were included this year to align with the campaign’s enhanced focus on operational efficiency. [https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/hear-ye-hear-ye-advanced-rtu-campaign-has-new-focus-intelligent-controls-and]
2018 Participant Award winners are:
• Walgreens. Recognized for the highest number of high-efficiency RTU installations and advanced RTU control retrofits. Walgreens replaced 3,988 RTUs with high-efficiency units, resulting in more than 35.7 million kWh annual savings.
• Davita Inc. Recognized for the highest number of automated fault detection and diagnostic installations on RTUs. DaVita installed 4,889 AFDD systems on their RTUs.
• Sheetz. Recognized for the most innovative intelligent control installations for RTUs. Sheetz applied innovative control strategies that save energy and improve occupant comfort in convenience stores.
• Life Time Fitness. Recognized for the largest RTU efficiency gain from the integration of multiple building systems. Life Time Fitness has implemented creative solutions to integrate several systems that resulted in significant reductions in RTU runtimes and improved performance.
2018 Supporter Award winners include:
• Mass Save (with Energy Solutions). Recognized for the highest number of high-efficiency RTU installations and advanced RTU control retrofits through an efficiency program. The Energy Solutions program reported 6,444 high-efficiency RTU installations in Massachusetts, resulting in more than 9.6 million kWh annual savings.
• Tri Pacific Heating & A/C. Recognized for the highest number of high-efficiency RTU installations and advanced RTU control retrofits by a contractor/service provider. Tri-Pacific reported 873 advanced RTU control retrofits in California, resulting in more than 5 million kWh annual savings.
• Transformative Wave. Recognized for the highest number of automated fault detection and diagnostic installations on RTUs. Transformative Wave supported 953 AFDD system installations.
In addition to the award recipients above, DOE also recognized the following campaign participants and supporters who demonstrated their leadership in RTU efficiency in 2017: H&M, Whole Foods, Adidas, Target, Walmart, Ulta Beauty, CLEAResult (Southern California Edison), Xcel Energy, Nexant (ComEd), NYSERDA (with Energy Solutions), IBEC and Climatek HVAC LLC. Together these organizations impacted about 22,000 RTUs and 6,000 AFDD installations in 2017.
Better Buildings Alliance technology campaigns, like the Advanced RTU Campaign, involve public and private sector organizations across the country working together to share and replicate positive gains in energy efficiency and catalyze change and investment in energy efficiency. Through Better Buildings, DOE is working to make commercial, public, industrial and residential buildings 20% more energy efficient over the next decade.