HVAC Contracting

Energy Efficiency Project Cuts Electric Consumption by Over 6 Percent

The site provided opportunities to supply energy savings improvements across multiple systems

MOOSIC, Pa. — SmartWatt Energy has completed a major sustainability project for wire rope manufacturer Bridon American at its Hanover, Pennsylvania, facility. UGI presented a $100,000 rebate check to Bridon American during an event at the facility. Bridon American qualified for the rebate through UGI's Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) Program.

The project began with an audit of all energy systems at Bridon American’s 130,000-square-foot campus facilities by engineering teams from SmartWatt, a national energy-efficiency contracting firm with an office in Moosic, Pennsylvania. Prior to this energy efficiency project, the facilities at the Hanover campus consumed over 13 million kWh per year. By implementing two major facility improvement measures (FIMs), Bridon American is reducing this site’s electric consumption by over 6 percent.

The Bridon American site provided opportunities to supply energy savings improvements across multiple systems. The comprehensive project FIMs included the installation of an energy management system and program to optimize set points, sequences, and operating schedules of equipment. Energy management controls were applied to plant space heating units, electrical room cooling systems, and heating and cooling environmental systems for plant and corporate offices. Boiler controls and electrical metering were also implemented to provide maintenance and operational benefits beyond energy savings. Variable frequency drives (VFDs) were installed to optimize the operation of large process motors where modulation and setback strategies could safely be applied. The three main cooling tower fan motors were retrofitted with VFDs.

“It was critical to implement savings strategies and sequences as part of the installation in order to ensure that savings would be realized,” said Tracey Jumper, LEED AP BD+C, project director at SmartWatt Energy. “Too often, controllers and VFDs are set in place, but are not set up properly to achieve savings.”

As a byproduct of the electric energy savings project, there will also be natural gas (therm) savings. Furthermore, Bridon American now has visibility into the operations of its systems that it did not have before. For example, temperature differentials can now be monitored and trended. Systems can be repaired and calibrated upon receiving automated alarms from the energy management system. And troubleshooting can be done remotely at the web dashboard first, then at the system.

SmartWatt Energy is the program administrator and implementation contractor for UGI’s Custom Incentive Program. For more information, or to participate, call 800-515-1376.

For more information about SmartWatt Energy, visit www.smartwattinc.com.

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