That’s the motto Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LA DWP) hvac supervisor Pat Breslin uses to give his job the right perspective. He oversees 86 of the LA DWP’s buildings and their 580 air conditioning units. Recommendations he makes regarding energy efficiency have the potential to save a great deal of power — power that can be sold to other utility companies.
In early 2001, when California’s first blackouts were just around the corner, Breslin met Samsung Air Conditioning’s technical rep Stu Taylor. Breslin wanted to safeguard the DWP’s critical operations from a complete cut-off of air conditioning during brown-outs. Taylor was looking for a test site for Samsung’s DVM (digital variable multi) variable refrigerant flow (VRF) technology.