Groundwater cooling and recycling water from a decorative fountain are two examples of creative ways to save money and energy on a facility's cooling, according to an article on ChemicalProcessing.com.
In the Great Lakes region, groundwater sits at a regular 60°F. Rather than simply rejecting heat to water circulating in a cooling tower (pictured), many plants in Michigan have found that this groundwater can be used as low-cost, low-energy single-use cooling water and then moved on to other applications in the plant, the web site reports.
The article also discusses a health care provider in Virginia that recycles water from a fountain in its courtyard as cooling water. This process reduced the use of a cooling tower installed exclusively to service the air conditioner, saving energy and money.
Maintaining cooling water quality and stopping circulating cooling water when not needed are two other ways the article suggests energy can be saved during the cooling process.
An energy efficient cooling tower installed in a Michelin plant in Dundee, Scotland, has drastically reduced the plant's energy consumption.
The new cooling tower includes two 30 kW cooling fans, three 22 kW pumps to move hot water to the tower and three 90 kW, 4.4 bar pumps to transport chilled water out of the tower. It saves the company 1,500 MWh of electricity and when idle uses less energy than a tea kettle.
