Quote:
Originally Posted by McBane
Right but if window ACs are inefficient and more polluting than a modern HVAC, that's a legitimate reason. But I agree that for cosmetic purposes alone (4-5 months out of the year), it's not a worthwhile expenditure.
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The ROI would not be favorable- thats the bottom line. AC units don't pollute, they use electricity so the only savings you would garner would be in the power bill for City Hall (which is probably lumped in with other City buildings anyway) and my guess is the payback period would be multiple decades. There may be some miniscule savings in emissions at PECO if CH uses less power for cooling but it wouldn't amount to a drop in a bucket. To put all of City Hall on a chilled water system would probably cost $20-$30m because of all the ancillary costs to install ducts, air handlers, controls, power, new ceilings, piping, etc. Again, the layout and age of the building make it a very inefficient place to install centralized AC vs a modern office building which has huge open floorplates and open plenum ceilings. City Hall doesn't even have room for a chiller plant which is why it gets its chilled water from the Criminal Justice Center. There are major compromises involved in operating a building that opened 121 years ago.