Heat Recovery 229

Chapter 14

Heat Recovery

he objective of heat-recovery systems is to reduce the energy con-

T sumption and cost of operating a building by transferring heat

between two fluids, such as exhaust air and outside air. In many
cases, the proper application of heat-recovery systems can result in re-
duced energy consumption and lower energy bills, while adding little or
no additional cost to building maintenance or operations. However, if it
cannot be shown that the benefits of a heat recovery system outweigh the
costs, building owners will not be motivated to make a financial invest-
ment in such a system.

During the past 40 years, building owners and other com-

mercial energy end-users have had to find ways to cope with
increasing uncertainty about the supply and economic volatility
of fossil fuels used to generate energy for their facilities. In-
deed, weather, politics, and market forces play a significant role
in determining the availability of energy and its cost. End-users
need only to recall the power shortages in the last few years
that plagued sections of the U.S. crimping supplies, and send-
ing energy prices soaring. Those with a greater sense of history
are aware of the oil shortages of the mid-1970s. For today’s
building owners and end-users, the continuing oil crisis is an-
other wake-up call that energy created by fossil fuels will not
always be readily accessible. It also serves notice about the
need to reduce our reliance on such energy sources to better
insulate business from forces beyond our control. Achieving the
latter means that designers and facility managers of commercial

229
230 HVAC Fundamentals

buildings need to shift their approach away from just maximiz-

ing occupant comfort to energy conservation as well. Instead of
centralizing and increasing capacity and usage of heating, ven-
tilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and increasing
the illumination levels of electric lamps, facility managers need
to focus on using alternative energy sources and finding energy
conservation opportunities for their systems and then imple-
menting energy conservation measures. While many of the con-
servation measures implemented are voluntary, regulators will
also continue to mandate energy-conservation strategies.
One energy conservation measurement worth considering is
heat-recovery systems, which capture waste heat, such as exhaust
air, and transfer it to a fluid, such as water. In doing so, the system
reduces energy consumption by eliminating the need to generate
new heat, and in turn lowers building operating costs. Typically,
heat-recovery systems work by capturing waste heat from the flue
gas of a steam boiler, and then reusing that heat, or energy, to
preheat the boiler input water. In doing so, the amount of heat
required to generate steam or hot water is reduced. Waste heat
from large ovens that operate 24 hours a day can be used for
comfort heating. In addition, heat-recovery systems (also known
as “heat energy” or “energy” recovery systems) can be used to
provide reserve energy capacity.
The reason for having reserve capacity is that many times the
implemented energy-conservation measures substantially reduce
the capacities of HVAC equipment. Therefore, the installed equip-
ment capacities now closely match the design load and less re-
serve capacity is available for new projects that may substantially
change the building HVAC systems. For example, many installed
systems may not have enough reserve capacity to make needed
changes to accommodate increased outdoor air requirements in
order to satisfy indoor air quality (IAQ) concerns. When more
outside air is needed, a heat-recovery system can help to offset the
increased energy cost to heat up or cool down the increased vol-
ume of outside air.