BY RICK CULLWELL, DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING
MACURCO, INC.
One of the most overlooked ways for companies to save energy costs is by minimizing fan runtime in enclosed parking facilities. Parking garage energy use is surprisingly high. According to the Department of Energy, parking garages consume about the same amount of electricity per square foot as commercial buildings whose purpose is education, public assembly and public order and safety, and significantly more than warehouses or churches.
Both OSHA and the UBC mandate that carbon monoxide (CO) in parking garages is vented to maintain levels below 50 ppm. The most common method facility managers use is to run their fans continuously. Much of the time the fans are running when there is not a presence of CO. By using automatic exhaust fan controllers to run the fans only when CO is present, fan runtime can be reduced considerably.
Studies conducted by contractors have shown that automatic ventilation controllers can reduce fan runtime by 75-80%. This reduction can significantly lower utility costs and pay for the cost of the fan controller(s) within just a few months.