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The State
Of the Nation’s
Energy Economy, and
Our Take on Industrial Power,
Its Efficient Conversion to Work,
And What We’re Doing With It Currently

The Fabulous Power Maven

The State
Of the Nation’s
Energy Economy, and
Our Take on Industrial Power,
Its Efficient Conversion to Work,
And What We’re Doing With It Currently

Article:

Maximizing Cooling Tower Efficiency: How Fans and Pumps Can Cut Energy Costs

The 3 kEys

  • Variable frequency drives (VFDs) allow fans to adjust their speed based on real-time cooling needs, and can reduce energy use by over 80% when fan speed is lowered by 50%.
  • Implementing variable speed pumping to reduce energy consumption as much as 45%, simply by allowing pumps to match flow rates to cooling demand.
  • Legacy cooling systems that rely on DC-driven motors may also utilize DC-based VSDs rather than AC-based VFDs. In these cases, a DC VSD helps regulate motor speed while maintaining compatibility with existing infrastructure, avoiding costly upgrades to an entirely new AC-driven system.

Cooling towers are essential to industrial and food processing operations, providing critical heat rejection to maintain system performance. However, they are often among the most energy-intensive components in a facility, consuming excessive electricity due to outdated technology, inefficie...

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The Maven publishes these pearls weekly, or more frequently if we feel like it, because we believe America is already great, and poised to be even greater if we commit to doing our part towards cooling the planet. Publisher Ron Motsch can be reached at (616) 570-9319.

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