Update on our Energy Savings Project | South Carolina Aquarium

Update on our Energy Savings Project

Mar 22

Update on our Energy Savings Project

It takes a lot of energy to run an Aquarium. Working hard behind the scenes, water pumps, heaters, chillers, lighting, HVAC, water filters, computers, servers, and digital displays support our exhibits. These systems make the Aquarium experience possible for our visitors and more than 5000 animals.

Fifteen years after opening, the Aquarium undertook an Energy Performance Upgrade that we anticipate will reduce our energy usage by approximately 35 percent. Here’s what we did:

We swapped out incandescent lighting with energy-efficient LED lighting. This change will not only reduce the Aquarium’s electrical power usage but also reduce maintenance and improve the quality of light in our exhibits, offices and back-of-house areas.

We upgraded many of our HVAC systems with high efficiency components.  In addition, we optimized our control strategy for maximum efficiency. Some highlights include a state of the art magnetic bearing chiller, fan array air handler technology, high efficiency condensing boilers and direct digital controls to replace existing pneumatic controls.

These upgrades help make it possible to maintain the proper water temperature year-round in exterior exhibits such as Shark Shallows while providing vital redundancy for our critical systems.

We anticipate that the Energy Performance Upgrade will generate over $230,000 annually in energy and operational savings – funds that the Aquarium will use to educate children, promote conservation research and provide you, our guests, with amazing new experiences.

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