Btu Air Conditioners

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BTUs and Energy Efficient Air Conditioners

You can be sure every single commercial building in Florida has some type of air conditioning system. You can also be sure they don’t all have the most energy efficient air conditioners for their space. If you own or manage a commercial building you should be aware of the impact energy efficient air conditioners can have on your bottom line. In some buildings energy use can account for up to 50% of your operational costs. In Florida a sizeable amount of that can be attributed to air conditioning. If the BTU air conditioners you current have installed are either too large or too small they will not produce optimum efficiency. Understanding which BTU air conditioners are right for your space can help save you money and have a positive impact on the environment.

BTU Air Conditioners and Efficiency Ratings

Air conditioner size or capacity in the U.S. is measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units) per hour. A BTU is the amount of heat energy it takes to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. EER (energy efficiency ratio) and ...
... SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) are the ratings that measure an air conditioners efficiency. SEER is calculated by dividing the unit’s cooling capacity in BTUs by the energy input in watt-hours. The SEER rating makes seasonal adjustments in usage while EER measures efficiency at fixed outdoor temperature of 95oF. More energy efficient air conditioners will have higher SEER or EER ratings. If you decide to retrofit more energy efficient air conditioners in your building with higher SEER and EER ratings you can expect your initial investment to be off set but long-term energy savings.

Energy Efficient Air Conditioners and Cooling Load

In order to determine the right size BTU air conditioners to install you’ll first have to determine the cooling load for your space. Cooling load is the amount of cooling an air conditioner will have to perform to adequately cool a space. A professional HVAC company can perform very specific cooling load calculations for you. Cooling load calculations take into account things like:

* The size of your space
* The layout of your space
* The size, number and position of the windows
* The amount of insulation present
* The number of occupants

Once your HVAC company finishes their cooling load calculations they can tell you if you have the most energy efficient air conditioners for your space or if a retrofitting more appropriately sized units would be a wise investment. Unitary package air conditioning units, which include the ever-present commercial rooftop air conditioners, are the most commonly found in Florida commercial buildings. These type of BTU air conditioners utilizes more energy than any other commercial air conditioning product in the United States. Commercial unitary air conditioners are package air-cooled air conditioning units with cooling capacities between $65,000 Btu/h and 240,000 Btu/h.

If you decide to retrofit new energy efficient air conditioners you’ll want to have an experienced HVAC company help you choose the units that are right for your space.

Source

*Information on Energy Efficient Air Conditioners and BTU Air Conditioners from the U.S. Department of Energy