1900 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA
Wilo Pumps & HydroTherm Boilers
Commissioned June, 2014
Building Owner Gets $65,000 Rebate by Replacing Central Utility with Own System
Topa Management Company is the owner and manager of this facility. They were seeking expert guidance on reducing their HVAC expenses and contracted with WM Group for study and design. WM Group brought in the DB Sales team because of their long track record and vast experience on these types of projects.
Topa had been using the Century City central utility steam plant for many years. However, the cost of buying BTUs from the utility was continually increasing. Topa decided to take control of their energy costs and install a central plant for its own building.
High Efficiency System Cuts Costs
Working with consulting engineers WM Group Engineers and with DB Sales, Topa concluded that they could reduce energy costs by putting in their own high efficiency system. Savings would come in two ways:
- Reduced cost per BTU by bringing equipment in house;
- Lower electrical and gas costs to run the new system.
8 New Boilers; Maximum Efficiency
The system that was designed included 8 Hydrotherm/ Advanced Thermal Hydronics (ATH) model KN20 boilers (2 million BTU/hr. each.) These boilers qualified for the SoCal Gas rebate program, and resulted in about $65K in rebates paid to Topa.
The 8 boilers were installed with a boiler system optimization controller (HydroTherm HeatNet Control System) to control the sequences of the boilers and optimize the operating point of each boiler. This maximizes the efficiency of the boiler system.
All of the boilers were pre-certified at the HydroTherm/ ATH factory by the South Coast AQMD, so when the boilers were installed they were ready to go. DB Sales performed the commissioning on all units.
More Energy Savings with Wilo ECM Pumps
The solution for Topa Management extended beyond boilers and controllers. They also purchased Wilo high efficiency ECM pumps, which feature electronically commutated motors. Steve Mertz of DB Sales & Service said that these ECM pumps are a highly popular part of energy efficiency systems being supplied by DB Sales.
1900 Avenue of the Stars now has its own central plant that is as elegantly designed and well run as the customer-facing elements of the building. With energy costs directly under their control, Topa Management Company has reduced a major element of uncertainty in the demanding business of property ownership and management
Results
- Gained direct control of energy costs
- $65,000 in So Cal Gas rebates
- Reduced cost per BTU by bringing equipment in house;
- Lower electrical and gas costs to run the new system.