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The environment may have slipped down the agenda at the recent General Election, but at least one government department appears to be taking the subject seriously.
Three Earthcare EHS rooftop chillers using natural CARE 45 hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerant have been installed at the Department for Transport building, Great Minster House in Westminster. The total cooling duty of each chiller is 127kW.
The installation,building on ten years of experience with HC refrigerant chillers, is part of a project to replace and refurbish the existing air conditioning system of the office building.
The chillers were specified by consulting engineer, Operon and installed by M&E contractor, P&R Morson.
The Earthcare chillers were selected because of their suitability for the specific application and the fact that they conformed to government purchasing policy on equipment using refrigerants, according to Tony Marshall of Operon.
Current policy for the government estate is that the use of HFCs as refrigerants 'should be avoided wherever practicable' and no equipment using ozone-depleting HCFCs refrigerants should be purchased.
CARE 45 has zero ODP(Ozone Depletion Potential)and a GWP(Global Warming Potential) of just three. The three most commonly used HFC refrigerants, R134a, 407c and 410a, have GWPs of 1300,1600 and 1900 respectively. As well as its environmental advantages, CARE 45 is said to be better than the synthetic refrigerants it replaces by most measures of performance.
The EHS chillers have been designed to minimise the contribution to global warming: directly through limiting refrigerant emissions and indirectly through improved energy efficiency. The potential for refrigerant leakage is minimised by the elimination of on-site refrigeration pipework, copper-to-copper flared joints and copper capillary lines. The chillers also use conventional mineral oils, thus eliminating the higher risk of leakage from gaskets and shaft seals when using synthetic ester oils.
Earthcare said that installations such as Great Minster House show that HC chillers are a cost-effective alternative to those using synthetic refrigerants with the added advantage of a much reduced environmental impact.
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There is an obvious need for the industry to be more energy efficient and pay more attention to the ways in which energy is both used and wasted. Do you think we have the products on the market to meet our needs?
