Cooling large buildings typically requires the use of air or water-cooled chillers that produce chilled water, which then cools the air. About 39% of buildings larger than 100,000 square feet use chilled-water systems employing various compressor designs. Selecting the right chiller and compressor requires a specifying engineer to determine the building’s cooling load and the proper chiller capacity.1 Calculations are also done to determine the return on investment between different systems by comparing the energy cost per ton of refrigeration along with the operational costs.
When buying a new chiller, specifying engineers and facility owners naturally focus on efficiency ratings to estimate the chiller’s annual energy costs.