Environmental Leader

Aimed at lowering the amount of energy needed to power the blowers and distributors of commercial and institutional air conditioning systems, Trane has rolled out its new Performance Climate Changer air handling units at its Lexington, Ky., manufacturing facility,  reports Business Lexington.

Trane’s new line will phase out two of its major project lines at the Lexington facility, which is touted as the company’s and the world’s largest manufacturing center for air handlers.

Dave Magner, general manger of the Lexington operation, told Business Lexington that given that the new system is certified for LEED energy-efficient buildings, and that many of the Lexington facility’s customers are publicly funded, his products have and should continue to be buoyed by the president’s stimulus package.

Magner said in the article that business at the Lexington facility has remained stable in 2009, although parent company Ingersoll-Rand, has experienced a decline of 20 to 25 percent.

The Lexington facility expects to ship 600 of the Performance Climate Changer units a month by year’s end and to double that by the end of 2010.

The air handling units, which cost from a few thousand to more than $120,000, are sold largely to schools, universities, hospitals and other large commercial users. The owner of the first Performance Climate Changer system to roll off the line is a municipality in Florida, according to the newspaper.