The Cool $ense program was started at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in response to the phase-out of CFC refrigerants in January of 1996. Since an estimated 60,000 chillers in the United States still used CFC refrigerants, there was an immediate need for commercial building owners and managers to deal with this issue.

The aim of the Cool $ense program is to promote a more effective "integrated" retrofit when upgrading chillers to respond to the CFC phase-out. We encourage building owners and managers to not just update their chillers, but to reduce building loads and upgrade cooling systems using proven energy-efficient technologies.

The Cool $ense program consists of three components:

Funding for Cool $ense comes from the United States Department of Energy’s Rebuild America, Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), and In-House Energy Management (IHEM) programs, from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Division, and from the United States General Service Administration.

During our first year of work we set up the web site, ran the national forum, developed a successful workshop format, and planned several workshops. For our second year of work, we’re reaching out to energy-related associations and companies throughout the United States and asking them to organize a Cool $ense Workshop.

This planning guide is structured to help you put on a workshop in your area. It spells out the logistics of workshop planning, and supplies planning notes to help keep track of the process. It explains and gives examples of integrated retrofit case studies, and helps you begin finding your own local case studies and assembling their workshop presentation. It lists the resources to search for in your region, where to find them, and how to incorporate them into an effective panel during your workshop. Contents of the workshop resource book are also laid out for you. Finally, we outline marketing strategies and supply you with templates for mailings and advertisements.

back to top

An integrated building and chiller retrofit reduces the total building load and improves the cooling system in combination with replacement or retrofit of a CFC-based chiller. Many buildings can benefit from new technologies which reduce cooling loads, such as efficient lighting, occupancy sensors, and window films. Other technologies can improve the efficiency of the cooling system, such as using variable frequency drives, direct digital controls, and "free" cooling systems, installing new cooling towers, or re-commissioning existing systems.

These building upgrades are done most effectively in conjunction with a chiller upgrade, to take advantage of any potential for downsizing a building’s cooling capacity. In fact, replacing or retrofitting a chiller without addressing the rest of the building loads and systems is a lost opportunity to greatly improve the efficiency and functionality of a building.

back to top

Simply replacing an older, CFC-based chiller with a newer, more energy-efficient chiller will save energy and reduce utility bills. But combining the chiller replacement with other building energy efficiency projects can give significantly higher savings. The CFC phase-out is an opportunity to address and fix problems in your building and cooling system. These problems may not only waste energy, but could be wasting time and money in maintenance hassles, and be contributing to poor air quality and tenant discomfort. An integrated retrofit can streamline building operation and improve tenant satisfaction, as well as save energy and money.

The added energy savings from an integrated retrofit also makes chiller replacements more economically viable. Chiller work is generally one of the most expensive measures you can undertake, so combining it with less expensive measures which provide larger energy savings improves the economics of the project. Integrated retrofits take a larger capital investment, but the energy and operational savings they provide generally shortens the overall project payback period. With the right project financing, an integrated retrofit can even generate positive cash flow from your building’s operation and maintenance account.

Incorporating the latest technology in conditioning and lighting systems also increases a building’s asset value. This can lead to lower tenant turnover, higher worker productivity, and potentially higher rental values.

On a larger scale, lowering energy usage and eliminating CFC refrigerants reduce air pollution and ozone depletion, and help to lessen the impacts of global warming. An integrated retrofit adds to your savings as well as to the world’s health. In short, performing an integrated retrofit turns the problem of CFC phase-outs into a solution where both you and the environment can win.

back to top

Government agencies, energy offices, utilities, and manufacturers with an interest in or mission to foster building energy efficiency should consider organizing a "Cool $ense" workshop. Promoting an integrated approach to CFC phaseouts will help your constituency or customers save money and energy, utilize the latest technologies, and increase the asset value of your area’s buildings. Customers who perform integrated retrofits will have larger initial capital expenditures, but will reap greater returns in the future, while also stimulating your region’s market for energy efficient products and services. This will improve your area’s economic base.

You can ease the task of organizing a workshop by teaming with other organizations interested in energy efficiency and CFC phaseout issues. Each team participant can help out with different responsibilities. A team not only puts on a Cool $ense workshop more easily, but helps you make contacts in your area that you can work with in the future.

back to top

The primary audience for the workshop is facilities managers, building operators, building owners, and other decision-makers in charge of equipment using CFC refrigerants. These people are responsible for deciding what type of retrofit will be done to address CFC phaseouts. The secondary target audience is consultants, utilities, manufacturers, and government agencies, in order to make them aware of higher standards for retrofit work. After seeing speakers explain the concepts, benefits, and examples of an integrated approach to chiller retrofits or replacements, we hope to convince these audiences to perform integrated retrofits.

back to top

The workshop program consists of:

This format can certainly vary, but it has worked well in previous workshops and is recommended as a logical flow of events.

back to top

This guide is broken into six sections dealing with the workshop Logistics, Case Studies, Resource Panel, Speakers, Resource Book, and Marketing. Extensive appendices contain the workshop agenda and planning aides (Appendix A), workshop presentations ("CFC Phase-Out Implications for Commercial Cooling" and "Introduction to Integrated Chiller and Building Retrofits" in Appendix B), case study examples and templates for presentation (Appendix C), examples of resource book information (table of contents, speaker biographies, energy service yellow pages, and information about the national Cool $ense program in Appendix D), and marketing aides (brochure, postcard and advertisement templates in Appendix E).

In addition, you can download electronic versions of the following files by clicking on the links below:

back to top