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Hello Jim; full disclosure, I only have personal experience with these little fans but wanted to give my thoughts on your questions from a general perspective :)

Personal comfort, from a cooling standpoint, is more sensitive to air speed than air temperature. It's conduction versus natural convection versus forced convection. It's likely that the small fans are a more efficient way to provide comfort as compared to reducing the thermostat setpoint temperature.

From a device standpoint, large fans, which spin more slowly to move a given volume of air, are more efficient than the small personal fans. From a usage standpoint, small fans can be more efficient than large fans because they are used at the point of need and will likely be turned ON only as required. Replacing many little fans with a few big ones may or may not be better...could be a small advantage electrically and likely to aggravate people who are used to controlling there own comfort.

Just some thoughts; perhaps a mix of small fans and large space fans is the most efficient way to keep everyone cool without inflaming folks. Maybe hooking the fans to power strips that turn off automatically at night is a way to save some kWs over time. Cooling all the air in a manufacturing space down further is unlikely, in my opinion, to be cheaper than moving the air.

Best, Nick

Hello Jim; full disclosure, I only have personal experience with these little fans but wanted to give my thoughts on your questions from a general perspective :)

Personal comfort, from a cooling standpoint, is more sensitive to air speed than air temperature. It's conduction versus natural convection versus forced convection. It's likely that the small fans are a more efficient way to provide comfort as compared to reducing the thermostat setpoint temperature.

From a device standpoint, large fans, which spin more slowly to move a given volume of air, are more efficient than the small personal fans. From a usage standpoint, small fans can be more efficient than large fans because they are used at the point of need and will likely be turned ON only as required. Replacing many little fans with a few big ones may or may not be better...could be a small advantage electrically and likely to aggravate people who are used to controlling there their own comfort.

Just some thoughts; perhaps a mix of small fans and large space fans is the most efficient way to keep everyone cool without inflaming folks. Maybe hooking the fans to power strips that turn off automatically at night is a way to save some kWs over time. Cooling all the air in a manufacturing space down further is unlikely, in my opinion, to be cheaper than moving the air.

Best, Nick

Hello Jim; full disclosure, I only have personal experience with these little fans but wanted to give my thoughts on your questions from a general perspective :)

Personal comfort, from a cooling standpoint, is more sensitive to air speed than air temperature. It's conduction versus natural convection versus forced convection. It's likely that the small fans are a more efficient way to provide comfort as compared to reducing the thermostat setpoint temperature.

From a device standpoint, large fans, which spin more slowly to move a given volume of air, are more efficient than the small personal fans. From a usage standpoint, small fans can be more efficient than large fans because they are used at the point of need and will likely be turned ON only as required. Replacing many little fans with a few big ones may or may not be better...could be a small advantage electrically and likely to aggravate people who are used to controlling their own comfort.

Just some thoughts; perhaps a mix of small fans and large space fans is the most efficient way to keep everyone cool without inflaming folks. Maybe hooking the fans to power strips that turn off automatically at night is a way to save some kWs over time. Cooling all the air in a manufacturing space down further is unlikely, in my opinion, to be cheaper than moving the air.

Best, Nick