The offshore and marine industry operates under a particularly different environment than traditional companies in part because of its location and the products it handles. Unlike manufacturing plants and commercial warehouses on the mainland, offshore firms must deal with a higher level of inherent danger related to weather conditions and remoteness. If a company works directly in the water, whether through transportation, offshore drilling or energy production, hazards and emergencies can be harder to address relative to other industries.
In addition, many companies that work offshore do so to extract materials from miles deep in the ground and must ferry products to and from the nearest coasts. Oil and gas, specifically, can be combustible and highly flammable, not to mention, malfunctioning equipment can cause massive spills into the ocean, which not only hurts business operations but can have a sizeable effect on energy supply and the surrounding environment.
These types of companies also rely on industrial HVAC systems to regulate airflow and temperature levels within large rigs, carriers, tankers, barges and other vessels that are vital to the storage and transportation of valuable resources. In general, oil and gas must be refined through a complex process under optimal conditions before they can be used for consumption. If an HVAC system is not working properly during the handling of these materials, then the product can be negatively affected.
Energy consumption
In many instances, more than 50 percent of a company’s operating expense can come from its utility bill. Of this amount, half of the bill can come as a result of a poorly working HVAC system. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that roughly 31,154 British thermal units (Btu) of energy was consumed by the industrial sector in 2013. More than one-fifth of that consumption came from unnecessary loss of energy due to problems with electrical systems.
With such a high level of consumption and an accompanying level of energy loss, having an optimized HVAC system can save billions throughout the entire industrial sector. In the offshore industry in particular, hundreds of thousands of people are employed every year in the fields of extraction, transportation and exploration, with total output and productivity on the rise, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
HVAC systems are critical to the overall performance of workers and the machines they use while on the job. By updating HVAC coils, productivity can increase and total energy consumption will decline for companies working offshore. The savings possibilities that come with a more energy-efficient HVAC unit are an added benefit to the unit’s ability to manage the potentially dangerous extremes of the working environment.
New coils from Rahn Industries help keep HVAC systems working at maximum efficiency.