Efficiency of building related pump and fan operation - Application and system solutions

Doctoral thesis, 2011

The electric energy use in Swedish non-industrial buildings is 71 TWh per year out of which 30 TWh per year is used for the operation of technical systems. A significant part of those 30 TWh/year is used for pump and fan operation. The Swedish parliament decided in 2009 on a national energy and climate plan. By the year 2050 the energy use per unit conditioned floor area in the Swedish building stock must be halved compared to the year of 1995. The objective of this thesis is to find means to reduce pump and fan energy in the non-industrial buildings. The aim is to find systems and components that can provide energy reduction in pump and fan systems by 50 %. In the thesis the current situation in non-industrial buildings regarding pump and fan systems has been described and the energy saving potentials, both at component and at system level, have been identified and discussed. Furthermore, the possibility of decentralized pump and fan systems has been examined. The calculated saving potential is 50 % and 40 % respectively for pump and fan operation in non-industrial buildings. This may be achieved by improving pump efficiency and specific fan power to state-of-the-art efficiency and recommended SFP values. System changes can also provide major additional energy savings in pump and fan operation. A decentralized pump heating system has been implemented in real life and results show a reduction of pump energy by 70 %. The theoretical parts of the thesis are supported by four case studies in real buildings and by three laboratory studies.