Characteristics and Performance of Commercial Rooftop Units
Summary of report
Packaged roof-top units (RTUs) are ubiquitous on commercial buildings throughout the United States because of their low capital cost, reliability and well-developed service and distribution network. There is anecdotal evidence, however, that these systems tend to operate inefficiently and sub-optimally. To validate or refute this evidence, we conducted a multi-level field study to characterize the RTUs in Minnesota. The objective of this study is to characterize the existing RTUs and the new/replacement market as well as monitor existing RTU energy performance. This characterization and associated monitored data can be used to inform the improvement or development of utility conservation improvement programs (CIPs) whose goal is to reduce the energy consumption of new and existing RTUs.
Prepared for Minnesota Department of Commerce Division of Energy Resources
Prepared by Seventhwave and Center for Energy and Environment