BYD North America – ABDULLAH ALSULAIMAN – 2018

Goals

BYD, a prominent international battery and electric vehicle manufacturer, enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Abdullah Alsulaiman to assess the energy consumption structures of their newly expanded Coach and Bus manufacturing facility in Lancaster, CA and recommend ways to reduce energy usage and costs. He was also tasked with evaluating energy efficiency measures in the production line and renewable energy projects such as rooftop solar.

Solutions

After analyzing operational and energy use data, it became clear that the HVAC and compressed air systems offered the greatest opportunities for operational efficiencies, given the extreme desert climate in Lancaster. Alsulaiman recommended solutions that would impact energy use associated with temperature control such as:

• Retrofitting loading docks and doorways with efficient systems to minimize air exchange

• Putting the HVAC system on a timer to operate only when necessary

• Implementing a heat recovery system for the air compressors

He also noted that lugging air leaks and reconfiguring the compressed air system to run with the most energy efficient units as lead compressors would significantly decrease the costs of compressed air.

Alsulaiman presented another opportunity which involved investigating the efficacy of the in-place lighting motion sensors, as birds and other movement sent false occupancy signals. Given the predictable working hours in the facility, lighting timers were recommended as the more effective option. In addition to these operational recommendations, he confirmed the viability of rooftop solar at the facility and developed a proposal for a two-phase solar development that would meet the full energy demand of the facility.

Potential Impact

Alsulaiman’s projects have an NPV of $3.2 million over their lifetimes. Annually, they could save 5.8 MegaWatt hours of electricity, nearly 20,000 therms of natural gas and 2,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Plans have been made to move forward with the solar development, as well as install HVAC and lighting timers and reconfigure the air compressors. With these projects, BYD Coach and Bus should be able to reduce energy usage and expenditures substantially while still meeting increasing production levels.