Melink Fumehoods Makes Green Sense

Credit: Carol Healy Kim Devonnish, Sue Olsen, & Phil Wilkins enjoy the fumehood at Mather Kitchen!

After a one-year pilot run of Melink kitchen ventilation controls in 2005, HUHDS facilities manager, Bob Leandro, was impressed with the observed energy savings. As a result, HUHDS retrofitted all kitchen hoods with the Melink systems. The last of the retrofits were completed this January. This ongoing project has proven to save HUHDS some green and will help the University in its efforts to go green.

Measuring both temperature and smoke in the hood, the Melink system adjusts the fan speed accordingly to save both fan energy and conditioned air. During slow times, the Melink system operates the supply and exhaust fans at a minimum speed of 10-50%. During actual cooking, the speed increases as needed up to 100% until smoke and vapors are removed, keeping the ambient temperature comfortable.

The HUHDS Melink project is expected to save roughly $308,570 per year. In addition to the energy savings, HUHDS received $60,000 in rebates from Nstar for the energy conservation project. The project is projected to avert roughly 800 Metric tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalents from being admitted into the atmosphere annually (MTDCE is a greenhouse gas emissions factor). Given the University’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30% from 2006 levels by 2016, (including growth) the project’s impact for HUHDS GHG emissions is significant.