As an energy efficiency consultant, my primary job is to recommend energy projects to my clients. More often than not, they base their decision to implement the project on its cost-effectiveness. For energy retrofit projects, establishing payback is fairly easy – the project costs $X,...
Trust, but verify. Seems reasonable, but sometimes in commissioning I think ‘always verify’ is a better phrase. Investigation is key in retro-commissioning We were completing a retro-commissioning project on community college building in Southern California and noticed something off in the trend data. The economizer on two...
You can evaluate energy performance and target energy saving projects using graphics like in the case of one of our portfolio clients where we evaluated lighting control system performance looking at lighting power density (LPD) and energy use intensity (EUI). Data visualization is one of...
A big focus for maintenance staff is minimizing complaints to relieve occupant discomfort. People who are consistently too hot or too cold make it known and we’ve seen many buildings where the entire building operation was off kilter due to the needs of a few,...
Sole sourcing for an HVAC control system is an unquestioned norm but has not been widely accepted in the lighting control system world. There are many reasons why sole sourcing benefits you. A single lighting control system can not only be networked, but it also...
If you’re looking to significantly reduce your electric and gas utility bills, and don’t want to shell out hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for new HVAC and lighting equipment, then chances are you’ve considered Retro-Commissioning (RCx) – and if you haven’t, you should! With...
What you don’t see or know about your building operation can cost you. We’ve found countless times, in virtually every building type, equipment or control system operations gone awry. Sometimes problems can’t be solved relying on data analysis. Today we’re going under the hood of...
Utilizing the full capabilities of your control system is one of the most cost-effective ways to save energy. We find very few facilities maximize the full capabilities of already installed systems. Nowhere is this more detrimental than in grocery stores where controls operate the commercial...
Just as the PC industry faced consolidation in the late 80’s, the lighting industry is also consolidating. Legrand started it off when it bought WattStopper and Vantage/Equinox/LCAP decades ago. Philips is now Signify. Siemens recently purchased Enlighted. GE has begun the process to sell their lighting and control...
As energy engineers looking for potential energy savings during energy audits, retro-commissioning investigations and ongoing commissioning, we typically use trend reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of control logic. Trends offer a window into what the controls accomplished in the past. They need to be interpreted...