Episode 172 | Holistic HVAC | Trane
Trane has been in the HVAC business since 1916. Back then, there wasn’t much talk of microgrids or decarbonization, but that’s exactly what my guest’s group is doing today.
Becky Wacker, Trane’s sales director for Energy Services, says their group grew out of a long history understanding the spaces they’re cooling. That comes in handy, despite an entire industry that specializes exclusively in energy efficiency.
“When we think about our right-to-play or the expertise that we bring to that space, it’s not enough to just have the data on your buildings,” says Becky, “especially in the commercial space.”
Becky says about 40% of a building’s energy consumption is HVAC. Of that, 30% is wasted. She says it is critical to understand how people use a building and consume the energy inside. From there, her team can go to work, saving energy in ways the people inside may never notice.
Energy savings can then be gained by expanding the “bands” a temperature can fluctuate, or by adjusting humidity. They also factor in what equipment is on site. I posed the scenario of a conference room that has to be used for an impromptu meeting. What if it’s 15 degrees warmer?
“If you have that ability to drop that temperature quickly, you can open up the band, but then you may have an oversized HVAC system, she says.”
There’s also the dimension of the changing ways buildings are being used. Post-COVID, many workers are on schedules that may not require them to visit the office 40 hours a week. This can open up possibilities for less energy usage but is more unpredictable. Becky says the industry is still not sure if these work habits have solidified. What they have seen is companies, especially offices, shrink square footage, but make it more attractive for its employees. “Lesser square footage, but nicer square footage,” says Becky.
I was also interested to learn more about Trane’s distributed energy resources and microgrid projects. Becky says these solutions were developed in-house at Trane. Many focus on resiliency or fluctuating energy prices. In addition, Trane works with clients to quantify their decarbonization efforts.
“At the end of the day, if we’re going to hit our decarbonization goals, we cannot out-renewable our way there,” says Becky. “We can’t out-renewable wasteful energy practices, and we can’t out-renewable fossil fuels. All those are going to be levers to pull to create a lot of the ideal scenarios and decarbonization practices that we’re aiming for.”
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