Untapped Energy Savings from Cooling Towers

Abstract

A cooling tower is often an overlooked source of easy energy savings. As long as it's running not much thought is usually given to it, but when numbers are applied to how much a degree of colder water is worth it can become a valuable and ready source of energy and monetary savings. Many of these savings can come from simple maintenance or by changing the way the tower is operated. The more dramatic savings can come from changing to advanced fill concepts. Over our 40 years of working in the cooling tower industry we have measured the effects of doing simple maintenance, the effects of blocking air flow with seemingly good ideas like maintenance walkways, the effects of nearby heat sources, and what fill changes are likely to get. We have put numbers to what a degree is worth to a large petrochemical company so you can get an idea of the magnitude of what these sometimes simple changes are actually worth. Also, we've included a way to monitor your tower for changes in performance.