Improving Refrigerating and A-C Plant Performance: An easy-to-use tool for technicians, plant managers, suppliers, designers
Properly maintaining and operating refrigerating and air-conditioning (RAC) plants is a major challenge. New refrigerants are in the market, technicians are often not trained for their safe handling and storage, and systems that use them are more complex.
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Best practice checklists developed by a team of experts organized by ASHRAE and United Nations Environment Program OzonAction are helping technicians to successfully apply these new technologies. Plants are operating at lower cost, with improved up-time, reduced servicing expenses, lower refrigerant emissions and energy consumption, and in compliance with codes and regulations.
The Assessing RAC Plant Sustainability best practice checklists and guidance sheets are available for free download at:
ashrae.org/unep-RACchecklists
While the checklists and accompanying guidance sheets were designed for use by technicians, they also help plant managers, suppliers, and consulting engineers operate plants at the efficiency they were designed to achieve.
The tools empower plant managers to assess sustainability practices and implement improvements where needed. This includes evaluating performance across eight key dimensions of practice that are crucial for energy-efficient, safe, and environmentally sustainable operation. For example, they point out the recommended practices in day-to-day operations resulting in reducing refrigerant emissions, documenting refrigerant compliance, and reducing operating costs.
Equipment suppliers can use the materials to train customers on preventive maintenance, resulting in better-performing equipment rooms. Extensive guidance on energy-efficient operation helps identify parameters that impact the energy consumption of various RAC systems and provides methods to evaluate actual energy performance against design. The comprehensive preventive maintenance program described in the guidance sheets can help owners to realize life-cycle cost savings, which directly relates to wise equipment investment. The guidance sheets also identify the key performance indicators which can help plant managers and owners identify when their current equipment is underperforming and, consequently, when an investment in more efficient equipment is warranted. Wise equipment investment decisions prioritize energy savings and long-term sustainability.
Engineers can use the checklists in training documentation provided to the technicians who are charged with operating new systems. Operational guidance connects equipment investment with design objectives to close knowledge gaps among designers, suppliers and operating staff.
Together, the checklists and guidance sheets emphasize a proactive mindset, aiming to maximize equipment service life and protect the environment, workers, and community. They provide measures of success to indicate whether changes are leading to improvement, focusing on outcomes.
The Assessing RAC Plant Sustainability tools are a collaborative effort between ASHRAE and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) OzonAction. They are the latest in a series of resources developed by ASHRAE and UNEP for producing climate-conscious and environmentally responsible cooling. UNEP OzonAction works to strengthen the capacity of governments to develop and enforce policies required to implement international protocols like the Montreal Protocol. The portfolio of tools developed through the UNEP OzonAction / ASHRAE partnership is available at: www.ashrae.org/ashrae-unep-portal. The Assessing RAC Plant Sustainability checklists and guidance sheets are accessed through the ASHRAE-UNEP Portal.