Behind the hustle and bustle of teachers and administrators getting things ready for the start of a new school year are a number of behind the scenes activities that are just as important as lesson plans and classroom decorations. In fact, some would say that the maintenance work that goes on in the before the teachers walk in the door is every bit as important as the plans that are made by the teachers. For example, when the maintenance staff is tasked with replacing 1,300 door handles with a defective part, the safety of the entire student body is at stake.
Aside from the safety features that are addressed at a school, of course, there are many other important maintenance tasks that have to do with comfort. From air conditioning at the start of the school year to heating during the winter, maintaining an efficient system is important. And as more and more school districts upgrade to newer and more green systems, it should come as no surprise that there are an added amount of technicians who are needed. Whether it is the staff to manage steam condensers and tank coil heaters at individual school buildings or new hires for the management of thermal energy storage, school district maintenance crews are important year round, but especially at the opening of a new year.

Thermal Energy Storage Is an Efficient Heating and Cooling Approach for Many Businesses and Industries
Although not all school districts, or hospitals and other buildings, have switched to thermal energy systems, this is an efficient method that plays the role of a battery for the air-conditioning system in a building. Thermal energy storage makes use of a cooling equipment that is otherwise standard, but also employs an energy storage tank to shift a portion or all of the cooling needs of a building to other or off peak hours. During these off peak hours, some of the systems are capable of making ice and storing that ice inside energy storage tanks known as IceBanks to be used at a later date.

Energy Systems and Thermal Energy Storage Provide Efficient Cooling for Buildings of All Size

Many times when we enter a building we are thinking about the service or care that we are going to receive in that building. When we enter a school, for instance, we are thinking about which teachers will teach our children, which classroom our children will be in. Likewise, when we enter a hospital we are focused on the doctor who we will be seeing and the care that we need. Behind all of our immediate needs, however, is a complex system of heat exchange designs and advanced engineering chillers that are making sure that the building itself is comfortable. Even when we are shopping at a large mall or eating at our favorite restaurant, the comfort and success of our visit is often determined by the temperature of the building.

As engineers continue to come up with new and more efficient ways to make sure that buildings of all size are both cool in the summer and warm in the winter it becomes even more important that there is a staff of people making sure that all of this equipment is running they way it should.

Consider some of these facts and figures about the many ways that a heating and cooling system like a thermal energy storage solution affects the lives that we live:

• Water-cooled chillers are typically installed indoors and, as a result, last longer than chillers that are air-cooled.
• Parallel-flow or counterflow configuration, cross-flow configuration, and shell-and-tube configuration are the three types of heat exchangers.
• $7 billion was the 2013 revenue of boiler and heat exchanger manufacturing in the U.S.
• Chiller systems are the single largest consumers of electrical usage in most facilities as they consume more than 50% of the total usage.

On the hottest days of the summer, air conditioning is nothing to be taken for granted. Knowing that a business is using the energy efficient method of cooling, however, may not be the first thing on your mind, but it is an important part of making sure that many businesses are profitable and that buildings are safe and comfortable.