CHICAGO — Rheem launched what the company says is a first-of-its-kind integrated air and water system that can substantially reduce utility costs for full-service restaurants. The Rheem H₂AC™ rooftop unit featuring eSync™ Integration Technology unites a restaurant’s HVAC and water heating systems to achieve significant efficiencies.

According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurants use five times more energy per square foot than other commercial buildings and five times more energy in the kitchen than in the rest of the building.

The Rheem unit works by using the heat removed from the restaurant by the HVAC system — which would normally be rejected into the atmosphere — as an efficient source for heating water. When a restaurant has a demand for air conditioning and hot water, this integrated solution switches over from a refrigerant-to-air system, to a refrigerant-to-water system. This is an energy efficient option because the heat of the refrigerant is transferred to the water instead of rejected outside as in a normal air conditioning cycle.