Van der Weerd noted that a significant amount of energy — up to 20 percent of all motor-driven electrical energy usage — is consumed by building pumping systems. He said that number could, and should, be much lower.

“It’s pretty scary, because energy is a finite resource, for the most part,” he said. “This (technology) is something we can and have done today, yesterday, and the day before that.”

David Lee, marketing manager at Armstrong Fluid Technology, said many pumping systems are designed to be most efficient at peak load, despite the fact that building pumping systems spend an average of less than 2 percent of their time operating at that load.

“Ninety percent of the time is spent at 60 percent or less of the peak-day requirements,” he said. “Our approach is that we should be designing our pumps for the best efficiency. If we’ve oversized our pump equipment, we’ve completely missed our pump curve.”

Sherif ElMaddah, global marketing manager at Armstrong Fluid Technology, agreed with Lee.

“Even across the same day, there is a different demand, and the pattern changes from weekdays to the weekend,” he said. “The most efficient pump is one that does not operate during no-flow times.”

Brent Ross, director of core/hydronics products at Armstrong Fluid Technology, said the design envelope technology offers an energy-saving solution for building owners that is affordable throughout its life cycle.

“Current thinking is that you’re going to pay a lot more for better performance, but with Armstrong’s design envelope, you’re going to pay a lot less,” Ross said. “There is very low-hanging fruit, and we can achieve very significant improvements in energy consumptions. We can give the lowest cost and lowest life cycle cost — the operative word being ‘and.’”

Future of Armstrong

At a lunchtime press conference for industry media members, van der Weerd further discussed Armstrong Fluid Technology’s decision to rebrand and unite under one name.

“We’re changing our brand identity and emphasizing the technology part of it,” he said. “We’re really trying to make a streamlined global organization.”

“We’re no longer going to be an undiscovered gem,” added Steve Lane, communications manager for Armstrong Fluid Technology.

The company is also revamping its training courses, putting many courses online, and redeveloping its website, which now includes a sustainability dashboard that displays a company’s energy savings and associated carbon emissions savings related to design envelope installations around the world, as well as the continuous improvements in energy performance of the company’s own global operations.

“It’s a life counter that shows how much we have saved in terms of kWh and carbon dioxide emissions, and in terms of taking cars off the road,” van der Weerd explained. He added that, while the company has made great strides in improving energy efficiency and lowering emissions in recent years, there is still much work to be done.

“I think we’re not even beginning to do justice to the power of the concept,” he said. “We really need to step on the gas and accelerate these counters, because I believe the design envelope concept is so powerful and unparalleled in the industry. There’s a lot more benefit we can give the world from this technology.”

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/15wqYCq

Publication date: 8/19/2013 

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