The Greater Boston Food Bank has announced a 75% reduction in energy use during targeted peak hours and substantial cost savings thanks to a partnership with Eversource and the installation of a new Viking Cold Solutions thermal energy storage (TES) system. The TES system for the Food Bank’s refrigeration units was installed at its 117,000 square-foot, high-efficiency Yawkey Distribution Center in South Boston.
According to Eversource, thermal energy storage systems serve as a storage medium for a building's refrigeration system and is a cost-effective solution to store and dispatch the large amount of energy required by refrigeration equipment in cold storage facilities.
The new TES system, developed by Viking Cold Solutions, has reduced electrical consumption at the Greater Boston Food Bank’s energy-intensive, cold storage facility while improving temperature stability inside their freezer. Cold storage facilities, such as frozen food warehouses and grocery store walk-in freezers, have the highest energy demand per cubic foot of any category. During peak energy use periods, they can account for up to 70% of the total electric bill for commercial and industrial organizations.
The energy cost savings delivered by the TES system will allow the Food Bank to provide an additional 10,500 meals per year.
Thermal energy was also recently used in a new residential high-rise building in Ottawa, Canada. Local developer Claridge Homes contracted Hamilton, Ontario-based Argus Environmental Inc. to install Sharc Energy System’s Piranha T10 in the high-rise at 70 Gloucester Street in Ottawa. Sharc describes the Piranha system as a self-contained heat pump that uses a proprietary direct expansion heat exchanger to extract thermal energy.
The building is projected to have an energy-efficiency savings of 50% from a thermal recovery system that reuses wastewater energy to preheat domestic hot water.
The 4th Annual Environmental Leader & Energy Manager Conference takes place May 13 – 15, 2019 in Denver. Learn more here.
