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Hong Kong Building Energy Code 2018 adopts VSD (frequency inverters) for cooling tower fans8 August 2019
John Herbert
Director
More than a decade ago John Herbert wrote a technical article for
the BEAM society newsletter, published in 2006, now you have to
remember at that time, cooling towers were still relatively "new" in
Hong Kong.
John Herbert
The moratorium had only been lifted six years earlier in 2000,
and then, limited to certain districts. Gradually, new districts
were included expanding the possibilities for water based cooling
towers, and very slowly, gained popularity.
The 2006 cooling tower article focused on, and advocated
best practice for efficient operation of cooling towers,
and that included Variable Speed Drives (frquency invertors) for
cooling tower fan speed control. There are several reasons
to change the cooling tower motor speed, including better
control and the most obvious being energy saving.
BEAM Society newsletter 2006 Cooling Towers by John Herbert (pdf)
Fast foward to 2019, in the latest version of the Building Energy
Code (BEC) 2018 version, that came in to effect in 2019, including
a new cooling tower fan efficiency requirement and clause 6.12.5.
Translating that clause into plain english, essentially it means
variable speed drive (frequency inverters) are mandatory for
cooling tower fans installations, nearly twenty years after the
cooling tower moratorium was lifted.
Coincidentally, the HKSAR Government also recently launched its
Decarbonising Hong Kong public consultation in 2019. Let's
hope, given the urgency and leadership opportunities, it
doesn't take as many years again to implement and adopt
obvious energy saving measures.
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About the Author
John Herbert is a
veteran chief engineer with more than 30 years international engineering experience, educated in
the United Kingdom, he has worked in the United Kingdom and then across Asia for more than two
decades engaged by international and local companies. He is a Hong Kong Registered Energy
Assessor (REA), a BEAM Professional, and stationed in Hong Kong.
