Building Energy Resilience

In my last blog post, I discussed the short- to medium-term hiring of an Energy Auditor. But if your firm is dedicated to energy efficiency as a matter of doing business, you are looking for a person to act in a long-term role of an Energy Manager. This position doesn't have to be full-time and it can be held by an outside consultant, but you want someone who will learn your facility, your equipment, your employees’ needs and your process needs. This can’t be a tactical strike as the energy audit is, because an audit is only a snapshot. If energy management is a goal, you need someone who will stay with your business and keep abreast of the changing needs and circumstances. This takes a high level, managerial decision to invest in the efficiency of the facility.

In my last blog post, I described the fact that there are a number of energy professionals, each with their own credentials and each of whom brings a different skill to the table. For a business owner, the variety of these professions may be a bit daunting. What type of professional do I hire to address my energy concerns?

The job description of an Energy Manager has been quite loose since its inception, because it can mean something different depending on the needs of the recipient and the qualifications of the provider. To date, there are no standardized credentials of an Energy Manager and it is “buyers beware” within the industry. As a building owner or facilities manager, it's difficult to know what level of energy management options there are and what type of professional to hire for the task.

With the hot, humid weather behind us, it’s time to review the status of our HVAC systems and ensure they are prepared to operate efficiently in the shoulder season and winter months.

In one of Cx Associates’ latest blog posts, Energy Metering Devices: What’s New, Katie Mason describes data loggers (aka energy metering devices) used in the industry to diagnose building system issues and calculate energy consumption. This data collection technology has come of age in that the loggers themselves are not outrageously expensive and modeling software has developed into a strong analysis tool. For a building owner, this means data loggers can clearly diagnose where equipment is operating poorly, triggering increased energy and maintenance costs. Data loggers are also instrumental to managers of local, state or regional energy efficiency programs in order to accurately calculate energy savings attributable to efficiency improvements. Let's look in more detail at these two applications of the new energy metering technologies.

We often write about retrocommissioning of existing buildings in this blog and the benefits to the building owners. To put this in context, I thought I would highlight a recent success story. The following project was the retrocommissioning of an existing four-story 100-year-old building. The building houses retail space on the bottom floor and office space on the upper floors. The measures were driven by comfort issues, control issues and an astute building owner who acted on the utility’s audit of opportunities. After two months of monitoring, this HVAC system’s consumption is showing savings of 80% and payback of the project is approximately 2.5 years. Here are the key elements of this retrocommissioning project.

One of the most challenging parts of my job is when despite identifying cost-effective energy saving opportunities that have additional benefits, such as equipment lifetime extension and reduced maintenance costs, a company decides not to follow through with the project. Whatever the cost or the payback period, sometimes companies remain reticent to make a capital investment in even the simplest and most inexpensive improvements during volatile economic times. So, I herald the concept of “green banks” and revolving loan funds that states and utilities are implementing as another tool to make it easier for businesses to make smart investments in energy efficiency measures.

Outside air economizers are one of the most cost-effective, common, promising and troubled energy efficiency components you can find on a commercial air handling system. The concept is simple and beautiful – use outside air instead of expensive mechanical cooling when possible. When outside air is at the right temperature and humidity levels, turn off chillers, cooling towers and pumps, and bring in free air. In reality, however, while our firm has commissioned hundreds of outside air economizers (new construction and retrocommissioning projects), more than 50% of them have not functioned properly, causing significant energy penalties to the building operating costs.

Building Commissioning is formally defined as the “art of analyzing a building’s current performance and implementing measures to reduce the operating cost while improving the functionality of the building’s systems.” Referred to as retrocommissioning when performed for an existing building, the process is designed to ensure the building operates more smoothly, occupants are more comfortable, equipment maintenance problems are reduced and the building owner saves money. In a recent informal survey of commercial building owners our firm has worked with, we were intrigued to find that some owners of existing buildings see the concept of “building commissioning” as too lofty of a goal for an existing building. They seemed to be looking for short-term, practical solutions to their immediate building problems such as occupant comfort complaints and the high cost of emergency maintenance calls. They also often reported not knowing what their HVAC Preventative Maintenance contractor is actually doing, and whether they were receiving the value that they are paying for.

This engineer recently attended a seminar on “Innovation Implementation: Developing Sales Strategies and Tactics for Growth,” which spent most of its eight hours discussing sales. I found it interesting that this word – sales – caused such a visceral negative reaction in me as well as in some of the other attendees. We did not want to talk about sales and we certainly didn't want to be categorized as “salespeople.” By the middle of the seminar, however, I had a totally different opinion of this word and now realize I am a salesperson! So I better get over my stigmatizing and figure out how I can change this involuntary negative reaction to the idea of “sales.”