Monitoring and maintaining building ventilation rates are now more relevant than ever for occupant health and safety. In this article, I share how our team diagnosed an underperforming supply fan and underscore the importance of routine fan system maintenance. In March of this year, I conducted...
Small business owners may often find themselves left out in the cold when it comes to cost effective approaches to saving money on air conditioning (AC) expenses. With a significantly lower price point than a building automation system, smart thermostats may provide a cost-effective controls...
The importance of a healthy workplace in now a top priority as businesses seek to operate safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinics and hospitals around the world utilize ultraviolet (UV) light to kill pathogens like tuberculosis (TB), which stills run rampant in parts of the...
When seeking and improved occupant comfort, health and safety, businesses, and institutions may find energy consultants a valuable resource for achieving these goals. Implementing energy saving projects and reducing energy waste in buildings, facilities, and across portfolios, can lower utility bills which results in increased...
As states eye removing coronavirus shelter in place restrictions, businesses face reopening vacant facilities and must follow healthy building practices for the sake of employees and the public. Typically these tasks fall upon building and facility engineers. These vital employees can follow the cleaning and...
EC plug fan retrofits are one of the most common and impactful ways that I find to reduce data center energy consumption. This article is meant for data center owners and operators of facilities served by CRACs or CRAHs[1] with constant speed fans. Here are...
We recently released an update to our R package, nmecr, used for NMEC analysis. This version provides a bug fix and vignettes for the R code. is an open-source set of tools for analyzing commercial building energy consumption using a meter-based, whole-building approach for measurement...
If you reside outside the world of energy efficiency, you might not be familiar with an energy audit. Perhaps you just want to reduce operating expenses by lowering your utility bills? Maybe you need to meet corporate sustainability goals? An energy audit can be the...
Your employees may be on vacation but your computers and office equipment don’t get one, unless you give them one. With sparsely occupied offices over the holidays, it’s the perfect time to think about how your business can save energy and help the planet by...
Commercial building heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems commonly use variable air volume (VAV) systems for their heating and cooling needs. VAV systems can be more energy efficient when properly controlled and operated. We frequently find these systems performing less than optimally and recommend...