WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has recognized six organizations for their leadership in replacing and upgrading HVAC rooftop units as part of the Better Buildings Alliance Advanced Rooftop Unit Campaign (ARC). Combined, these organizations in a single year have saved an estimated 1 trillion Btu or more than $11 million on utility costs with efficient rooftop unit (RTU) replacements, retrofits, and quality management and operations. Since 2013, 250 ARC partners have upgraded 59,500 RTUs for a total energy savings of 10 trillion Btu, or $93 million in cost savings.

DOE notes a building’s cooling and ventilating energy consumption can be reduced between 20-50 percent when aging equipment is replaced with high-efficiency units or retrofitted with advanced controls. In fact, a building owner can save as much as $3,700 per RTU — equivalent to $6.7 billion and 670 trillion Btu annually.

The following organizations are being recognized this year for their innovative RTU management approaches that led to significant energy savings in commercial buildings:

• Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. made 238 high-efficiency RTU replacements across 900 stores, resulting in an estimated savings of 1.4 million kWh, worth $140,000 annually. It’s the most innovative RTU management approach by a participating partner.

• Giant Tiger Stores Limited had the largest efficiency gain for a single building RTU replacement project, a 63 percent installed efficiency gain with 41 percent (30 tons) capacity reduction.

• Southern California Edison upgraded 4,679 RTUs and did 400 advanced RTU control retrofits, resulting in an estimated savings of 31 million kWh, worth $4.7 million annually.

• Target Corp. upgraded 532 RTUs, resulting in an estimated savings of 10 million KWh, worth $1 million annually. This is the most innovative, comprehensive RTU operations approach by a partner for enabling large reductions in installed capacity and includes centralized and optimized control of RTUs.

• Walmart Stores Inc. upgraded 5,919 RTUs — the highest number of high-efficiency RTU installations — resulting in an estimated savings of 50 million kWh, worth $5 million annually.

• Whole Foods Market performed 839 advanced control retrofits — the highest number of advanced RTU control retrofits — resulting in an estimated savings of 7.6 million kWh, worth $747,000 annually. Whole Foods had the highest number of RTU installations that meet and exceed RTU challenge specifications, 12 highest efficiency RTUs, with an estimated savings of 120,000 kWh, worth $12,000 annually.

For more information, visit www.advancedrtu.org.

Publication date: 5/9/2016

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