Solar Improvements for Increased Energy Efficiency and Lower Carbon Emissions

ATAS BRIGHTSMITH Coaters InSpire HP Installation

From left to right: Bill Brady, past chair (2003-2004) of Lower Bucks County Chamber of Commerce; Mark Bus, national sales manager of ATAS International, Inc.; Randall Beaman, executive board member of Lower Bucks County Chamber of Commerce; Anna Bogiatzis, board member of Lower Bucks County Chamber of Commerce; Ryan Gordan, executive board member of Lower Bucks County Chamber of Commerce; Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, 1st Congressional District of Pennsylvania; Jim Bus, president of BRIGHTSMITH Coaters and vice president of ATAS International Inc.; Dick Bus, president of ATAS International Inc. and vice president of BRIGHTSMITH Coaters; Representative of Falls Township Police Department; Tiffany Hutcheson, general manager of BRIGHTSMITH Coaters; and Tony Bus, operations manager of BRIGHTSMITH Coaters

Photo courtesy of ATAS International

On May 2, BRIGHTSMITH Coaters in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the installation of InSpire HP solar air-heating metal wall panels and a rooftop solar photovoltaic array on their building. BRIGHTSMITH is a state-of-the-art coil coating and post-painting company. Their post-painting facility is in Trenton, New Jersey. The ribbon-cutting was attended by Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, the Falls Township Police Department and members of the executive committee of the Lower Bucks County Chamber of Commerce, along with many BRIGHTSMITH customers and employees.

A total of 27,000 square feet of InSpire HP solar air-heating panels (manufactured by ATAS) were installed on the south-facing wall of the building. The high-performing panels were mounted a few inches from the building’s outer wall. The precision perforations in the wall panels allow outside air to travel through the face of the panel. Solar-heated air at the surface of the panel is drawn through the perforations, where it rises between the newly created plenum and enters the building’s central ventilation system or supply fan. InSpire HP utilizes a unique selective surface that has high solar absorption and low emittance ratings, which makes the system even more effective than traditional InSpire panels, which have a 70 percent PVDF painted finish. The Select Blue color of InSpire HP was chosen by BRIGHTSMITH for their building. The system also shades the building structure in the summer months, thereby reducing internal temperatures of the building.

The maximum air flow for the InSpire HP system is 226,000 cubic feet per minute, with a peak efficiency of 89.5 percent. The yearly output of 1,210,000 kilowatt-hours has a natural gas equivalent of 9,526 million British thermal units per year, resulting in an annual savings of $90,620. The InSpire HP solar air-heating system will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 602 tons of CO² per year (equivalent to removing 110 cars off the road).

To further increase the energy efficiency of this building, a 647.8-kilowatt-direct-current (562.5-kilowatt-alternating-current) solar photovoltaic array was installed on the roof. The annual solar production is expected to generate 847,200 kilowatt hours of electricity, saving the company over $38,000 annually in electric generation charges. Since Dec. 1, 2022, 156,547 kilowatt hours have been generated, resulting in $7,200 in electric savings since that time. The rooftop solar photovoltaic array and the solar air-heating panels were installed by Scalo Solar Solutions of Pittsburgh.

Currently, a 30 percent federal tax credit is being offered for certain building improvements, such as the addition of solar air-heating and/or solar photovoltaics systems, and many states also offer incentives. To learn more, visit www.dsireusa.org, which is a database of state incentives for renewables and efficiency. With this recent improvement to BRIGHTSMITH’s headquarters, it demonstrates how rooftop solar photovoltaics and InSpire HP solar air-heating wall panels can work together, resulting in an energy-efficient building with lower carbon emissions.