News & Events.
Over the last several years, more and more facility owners are embracing the idea of building commissioning/re-commissioning. Indeed any facility with hopes of obtaining any degree of LEED certification must perform re-commissioning at least once every two years. The commissioning/re-commissioning process requires one to:
1. Collect building system data
2. Review existing operational parameters
3. Evaluate actual operations vs. operational requirements
4. Develop specific recommendations for improved operational efficiency
5. Develop a measurement and verification plan
6. Monitor for sustainable savings
Automated Continuous Commissioning (ACC) delivers many definable benefits to the commissioning process. Below are examples of how a commissioning agent and the end-user customer can leverage ACC to improve both the value of the commissioning while improving the sustainability of the operational efficiency.
1. Collecting building system data – SCIWatch acts as a data warehouse for the raw building system information including a list of equipment and key operating characteristics. As a result, facility operators no longer have to hunt down this information on the job site. The SCIwatch software aggregates all available energy and control information, typically without need for gateways or additional hardware at the site.
2. Review existing operational parameters – In combination with the legwork done by the commissioning agent, SCIwatch provides a deeper “dive” by generating trend logs that run 24/7 vs. the very narrow time slice a commissioning agent sees while at the site. We often describe the difference as looking at a movie rather than a snap shot. The resulting operational information allows SCI to:
a. Establish a traceable baseline
b. Confirm operational conditions
c. Rapidly identify sensor, control and schedule anomalies
3. Evaluate actual vs. required operating parameters – Aggregation and analysis of site data allows SCIwatch to identify the part load efficiency of mechanical equipment on a 24/7 basis. This allows the commissioning agent and the customer to make sizing and operating decisions based on actual performance vs. rules of thumb.
4. Develop specific recommendations for improved operational efficiency – As an aggregation source for building specific data, SCIwatch lends its database to the commissioning agent as a source of actual building simulation source data. Using this data, the commissioning agent can accurately assess the true economics of an energy efficiency improvement. This takes the guesswork out of using assumptions input into building simulation systems by providing actual energy use data for every single system for an entire year along with actual interval weather data that matches the same period.
5. Develop a measurement and verification plan – Monitoring system and facility operations is integrated into the SCIwatch implementation. The commissioning agent only needs to identify the variables relevant to the specific efficiency improvement to track the performance. SCIwatch automatically issues alerts if there is degradation of operational efficiency.
6. Monitor for sustaining savings – The SCIwatch platform is designed to identify and predict degradation in operational efficiency. By doing so the equipment is maintained at maximum energy efficiency while minimizing operational costs.
These are a few examples of how the SCIwatch ACC solution helps the commissioning agent deliver an accurate, sustainable, easy to execute commissioning solution for buildings.
