Engineering Insights for Your Facilities
Buildings are one of the top generators of greenhouse gases. Some studies say they account for 39% of the world’s total global carbon emissions. For years, there’s been talk about achieving net zero emissions in commercial buildings. Recently in the past 12 months, talk has turned to action.
More than 130 American cities have joined the Cities Race to Zero, a United Nations-backed campaign to rally urban leaders to achieve zero carbon. Cities in bell-weather states like California and New York have started creating plans and instituting requirements.
For example, San Francisco’s Climate Action Plan calls for eliminating onsite fossil fuel emissions in large existing buildings by 2035. And a study commissioned by New York City, which committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, found that achieving a net zero target would require making energy efficiency improvements to more than 900,000 buildings as well as electrification of heating and hot water in up to 642,000 buildings.
Even if you’re not in one of the cities that has already committed to reducing carbon emissions, it’s likely that at some point sooner than you think, your city will jump on board.
It All Boils Down to Boilers
Replacing the commercial sector’s predominantly gas-fueled boilers with electric equipment is a critical step on the path. It’s also difficult, costly, and time-consuming. Your ability to transition – and minimize the impact on facility operations – is directly tied to actions your organization takes now. That’s why I advise facility executives to start planning today for inevitable electrification.
1. Use Preventative Maintenance to Extend Existing Boiler Life
Boilers have a life expectancy of about 20 years. Replacing or upgrading them can cost up to $2 million. Preventative maintenance is key to maximizing the time and value you get from the equipment. It should be part of your daily, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual maintenance programs, as specified by manufacturing guidelines.
You want to avoid having to replace/upgrade your gas boiler in the next several years, when perhaps five more years down the road you’ll be required by law to change to electric boilers. And go through another replacement.
Field engineers should gather temperature and load data on their daily rounds and use that data for performance trend analyses – which should be done regularly. If, for instance, a boiler that has been running at 70% load now has to run at 85% to hit a 30-degree delta between supply and return temperature, problems are clearly afoot and need to be addressed.
Make sure to also conduct Flue Gas Analysis for testing boiler emissions. This will also reveal information about corrosion, scale, and leaks.
2. Assess Options for Electric Boilers
Your goal should be to wait as close as possible to your city’s emission-reduction mandate date before replacing your existing boiler. Because electric boiler technology is rapidly advancing, if you transition too soon you risk installing a boiler that is out of date by the time the mandate arrives – and, therefore, not as efficient or cost-effective as it could be.
However, you do need to start educating yourself on the latest technologies, and which would be best for your facility. Fully electric heat/cool chillers may make the most sense, but they require a larger footprint and the hot water output is 120-130 degrees at best. If your building’s heating load can handle 180 degrees output, you may be able to justify an electronic boiler. Keep in mind that electric boilers are lower cost and smaller footprint but could draw too much energy for larger facilities.
Before you make any decisions, make sure you know the building owner’s objective for the property, and whether it’s a long- or short-term hold. If short-term, they may opt for the less expensive new equipment. If they plan to sell even sooner, they’ll want to avoid replacements by doubling down on preventative maintenance.
3. Plan Ahead
Capital budgets are set 5 to 10 years out, which makes planning now for this expensive transition even more critical. In addition to capital expenses, keep these considerations top of mind:
- Stay close to engineering: Work with professional engineers to understand your building’s amperage capacity and limitations. You need to know exactly what is feasible for the new boiler. For instance, if you have to up your amperage, can the building’s existing wiring handle it?
- Budget for readying your facility: You may need to add in the time and cost it takes to replace Bus Duct and other downstream components to enable the new equipment. Also remember it could easily take six months to receive the equipment you’ve ordered, so plan accordingly.
- Summer time: Any time there’s a major equipment change-over, there will be downtime. Best practice is to do this in warmer months, so you don’t have to shut down heating equipment when it’s cold outside.
- Contingency plan: Make sure to include everything from technology and training to timing of everything so that you maximize the opportunity for success and minimize the impact on operations.