# Can free cooling cut chiller electricity in a factory?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/free-cooling-for-process-chillers-energy-saving

Yes, when outside air or cooling tower water is colder than the return water you need. In cooler months or at night, a free cooling heat exchanger can carry part or all of the load with only pumps and fans running. Measure chiller kWh before and after over the same season.

## Where it works

- Process water needed above about 15 C.
- Sites with cool nights or winters.
- Plants already running cooling towers.

## Proving the saving

Log chiller and pump kWh and outside temperature. Compare like months, or normalise with degree days.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills and applies IPCC 2006 factors and the CEA grid factor (0.710 kg CO2 per kWh), so you can compare Scope 1 and 2 before and after a change from the documents themselves.

- [Chiller plant per TR-hour](https://senseible.earth/answers/chiller-plant-emissions-per-tr-hour)
- [Cooling tower savings](https://senseible.earth/answers/cooling-tower-energy-savings-factory)
- [Raise chilled water temperature](https://senseible.earth/answers/chilled-water-temperature-raise-energy-saving)

Sources: [Bureau of Energy Efficiency](https://beeindia.gov.in), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-23.