Rethinking the central plant for greater efficiency

© Anna Omelchenko – [[www.123rf.com 123RF.com]]</span>Almost 40% of the power required to run a building is consumed in one place: the central chilled water plant. A 20-60% saving in this energy use can be achieved by operating a facility's central plant - the chiller, the air handling units, and the terminal units - as a single, integrated system rather than a collection of independent components and controls. At the intersection of mechanical systems and networks, new solutions are emerging to make continuous dynamic optimisation of central plant systems a reality.