Past Winner 2014 NSERC Synergy Awards for Innovation

Dr. Carey Simonson and Prof. Robert W. Besant, University of Saskatchewan

Manfred Gerber, Venmar CES Inc.

Category 1: Small and Medium-Sized Companies

High-tech HVAC units cut heating and cooling costs by up to half

Canadians spend up to 90 per cent of their time indoors. It’s not surprising then that nearly 40% of national energy consumption is used to heat and cool buildings. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A longstanding partnership between the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon-based Venmar CES, Inc. has developed a novel energy exchanger for Venmar CES’ STATEPOINT TECHNOLOGY® commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, which significantly reduces both the costs and greenhouse gas emissions of heating and cooling systems in buildings worldwide.

The partnership, which builds on the university’s long history of expertise in heating, cooling and humidity control technology and Venmar CES’ expertise in designing, manufacturing and marketing energy recovery HVAC systems, has developed an efficient energy exchanger for the Venmar CES STATEPOINT TECHNOLOGY HVAC system. The system can cut building heating and cooling costs by up to 50%. It is the first product of its kind that can be easily installed in both new and existing buildings.

Venmar CES has been collaborating with Prof. Carey Simonson, Prof. Robert Besant and their mechanical engineering students to test and develop a liquid-to-air energy exchanger—a new method for heat and moisture exchange between ventilation and exhaust air flows. This proprietary energy exchanger is an important part of what makes this HVAC system from Venmar CES globally unique.