Installing a new system in the cramped equip­ment rooms was impos­sible.

The century-old concourse in Copenhagen’s central train station is an attrac­tive Art Nouveau building in the city center. To preserve the building for posterity, the Danes subjected it regu­la­tions that limit modi­fi­ca­tions to histor­ical build­ings. But that step taken to ensure that both locals and tourists could enjoy the building for a long time to come caused prob­lems for the oper­ator of the approx­i­mately 20 stores and restau­rants in the station. When Steen & Strøm looked for solu­tions to reduce their energy consump­tion, measures such as addi­tional insu­la­tion or installing a venti­lation system in the ceiling were out of the ques­tion as they were not allowed to make changes to the building. The venti­lation system had to stay in the two cramped equip­ment rooms between the tracks.

EC-venti­la­tors replace AC-venti­la­tors

Steen & Strøm asked the service provider Energi & Miljøteknik for help; the latter called in ebm-papst. “Installing a new system was impos­sible because of the small rooms,” says Kim Jensen, a facility manager with Steen & Strøm. Henrik Dahl Thomsen, product manager at ebm-papst in Denmark, suggested another way: modern­izing the old fans. Energi & Miljøteknik removed the old AC fans and replaced them with five new EC fans. “The solu­tion from ebm-papst is bril­liant,” says Jensen enthu­si­as­ti­cally. “After all, what’s a venti­lation system made of? Just boxes, and when you put new fans in them, you basi­cally get a completely new system.”

Modern­izing the old fans has resulted in energy savings of 66 percent.

With the EC tech­nology, Steen & Strøm has cut its energy costs in the station by 66 percent, so the invest­ment will pay for itself in less than a year. It also helps that the output of the fans can be regu­lated. Whereas the AC fans ran at full power 24 hours a day, now the oper­a­tors can regu­late the output as needed. Thanks to the good results in the Copen­hagen station, Steen & Strøm have since engaged ebm-papst to modernize the systems in two shop­ping centers.