SYSTEMS INSTALLED
Two 1,000-ton and one 500-ton Earthwise™ CenTraVac™ liquid chillers.
Trane Takes The Challenge – Low Initial Costs And 5% Energy Savings
When planning an HVAC system for the 38-story China Insurance Building, indoor air quality expectations were very clear to
Trane. The building would need a flow of fresh air during all four seasons, and it would have to cope with long operating hours at high
demand. Trane’s challenge was to supply a highly efficient reliable system with low initial costs. And success was not going to be hard to
quantify – the expectation was an energy savings of 5% when compared to comparable buildings.
It turned out that Trane had the perfect solution for this lofty challenge—Trane’s EarthWise™ system. It employed a large
delta-T and low flow system design which not only lowers the initial investment costs by using smaller valves, pipes, and water pump
capacity, but also lowers total life cycle costs while maintaining optimum indoor comfort. The system employed two 1,000-ton and one
500-ton centrifugal chillers that are 15% more efficient than other brands of chillers. The overall energy consumption of the HVAC system
was significantly reduced by a sharp decrease in energy consumption by both the water pumps and cooling tower, despite a slight increase in the energy consumption of the chillers.
The operation of the HVAC system was monitored via Trane’s System Analyzer™ software for an initial 6-month period. Not only
did it meet the goal of 5% energy savings, it exceeded it with an energy savings of 6.9%. This amounted to a cost savings of about
158,000 RBM within the initial 6-month period with an occupancy rate of only 30%. It is estimated that with the building’s current full
occupancy rate, the cost savings will increase to 526,000 RBM annually. Smart choices like Trane’s EarthWise design helped contribute to
the China Insurance Building achieving the rating of a “5A” intelligent building.
Trane’s energy saving system has been fully optimized, and allowed us to achieve a high level of efficiency."
Engineering Department, China Insurance Building
The 38-storey China Insurance Building stands on 73,000 sqm of land with the Grand Hyatt and the
Shanghai Stock Exchange as its neighbors in the Lujiazui financial district of Shanghai, China. Completed
in April 1999 and rated as a “5A” intelligent building, it overlooks the Huangpu River and boasts of a list
of prestigious tenants.