Cleanroom Energy Benchmarking Results

A utility market transformation project studied energy use and identified energy efficiency opportunities in cleanroom HVAC design and operation for fourteen cleanrooms. This paper presents the results of this work and relevant observations. Cleanroom owners and operators know that cleanrooms are energy intensive but have little information to compare their cleanrooms performance over time, or to others. Direct comparison of energy performance by traditional means, such as watts/ft², is not a good indicator with the wide range of industrial processes and cleanliness levels occurring in cleanrooms.

In this project, metrics allow direct comparison of the efficiency of HVAC systems and components. Energy and flow measurements were taken to determine actual HVAC system energy efficiency. The results confirm a wide variation in operating efficiency and they identify other non-energy operating problems. Improvement opportunities were identified at each of the benchmarked facilities. Analysis of the best performing systems and components is summarized, as are areas for additional investigation.