Technology Specification Project: Rooftop Air Conditioning Units

BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM

Technology Specification Project: Rooftop Air Conditioning Units

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), its national laboratories, and Commercial Building Energy Alliance (CBEA) members are working to support technologies and strategies that make buildings more energy efficient. A CBEA Project Team is focused on advancing reliable, energyefficient, and competitively priced packaged rooftop air conditioning units (RTUs), aiming to make them widely available throughout the marketplace.

In addition to the performance specification for rooftop air conditioning units, a CBEA Project Team is improving an online Unitary Air Conditioner Cost Estimator (uac) to allow users to compare high-efficiency rooftop air conditioners to standard equipment in terms of life-cycle cost.

CBEAs can help reduce commercial building energy costs and consumption by working with appliance, heating, cooling, and lighting manufacturers to meet members' energy-efficiency needs. An effective and efficient approach to energy reduction is technology and system specification development. RTUs are a promising target for specifications because packaged unitary air conditioners--including RTUs-- account for 46 percent of the energy used for cooling conditioned commercial floor space.

A CBEA Project Team was formed in September 2009 to help speed the introduction of advanced, reliable, energy-efficient, and competitively priced RTUs that meet CBEA member performance requirements.

The Project Team is:

? Providing a forum for exchanging information

? Developing a performance specification

? Improving an online calculator to evaluate performance and life-cycle costs.

Performance Specification

Project Team members are working on a needs-and-wants assessment, which will guide the creation of a performance specification document. CBEA members will review and revise the specification until they agree on performance criteria. Manufacturers will also review the specification to ensure the requirements are realistic.

The specification will cover hardware, performance, and controls and will include information detailing basic RTU elements and various equipment options. The specification will break down various aspects of RTUs so that CBEA members can use the entire specification for a proposal solicitation or pieces of the document for a specification of their own design.

TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATION PROJECT: ROOFTOP AIR CONDITIONING UNITS FACT SHEET

Conditioned Commercial Floor Space: Heating Equipment

Other 72%

Packaged Units 28%

Conditioned Commercial Floor Space: Cooling Equipment

Other 54%

Packaged Units 46%

Information is from DOE's 2008 Buildings Energy Data Book ()

Unitary Air Conditioner

CBEA Member

Cost Estimator

Opportunities and

The Project Team is also improving an

online Unitary Air Conditioner (UAC)

Cost Estimator to complement the deOvetlhoepirng performance specification. A c5u4rr%ent version of this online tool

(available at uac/) allows

users to compare high-efficiency rooftop

air conditioners to standard equipment in

terms of life-cycle cost.

Benefits

There are several ways CBEA members can be involved in the development of performance specifications, including:

? Participate in the assessment of owner needs

? Suggest language and assist with specification review

The UAC Cost Estimator provides an Pa?ckTaegstefduture versions of the calculator

alternative to complicated building

Untoitosl during development.

simulation models, while offering more

46%

detail than simplified estimating tools that Participation in the RTU specification

are commonly available. The estimator

project also offers real benefits to CBEA

accounts for local climate and partial-

members, including the opportunity to

load, as well as full-load efficiencies. It

learn more about the equipment as well

also helps building owners and operators as best practices related to the efficient

as they purchase or replace packaged

operation and maintenance of it.

rooftop air conditioning equipment by

estimating a product's lifetime energy

cost savings at various efficiency levels.

September 2010

EERE Information Center 1-877-EERE-INF (1-877-337-3463) rmationcenter

For more information about the Commercial Building Energy Alliances, visit commercialbuildings. alliances.

A Strong Energy Portfolio for a Strong America

Energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy will mean a stronger economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy independence for America. Working with a wide array of state, community, industry, and university partners, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy invests in a diverse portfolio of energy technologies.

For more information, contact: Anne Wagner Pacific Northwest National Laboratory anne.wagner@ commercialbuildings.

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