How Smart is Your Building?

A "smart building" has become a common term in the energy efficiency and conservation industry. But, what exactly makes one building smarter than another? Is a new building smarter than an old building? Can an average building become smarter?

The Smart Buildings Institute, a non-profit organization in Austin that has developed a smart building certification process, provides a four-part definition of a smart building:

1. Provides actionable information regarding the performance of building systems and facilities.
2. Proactively monitors and detects errors or deficiencies in building systems.
3. Integrates systems to an enterprise business level for real-time reporting and management utilization of operations, energy and occupant comfort.
4. Incorporates the tools, technologies, resources and practices to contribute to energy conservation and environmental sustainability.

It seems that it takes a lot for a building to have smarts, the most important being automation  ̶  meaning a system(s) in place that makes things run smoothly. However, there is not one characteristic or component that makes a building smart, but rather it is a combination of technologies and skilled human management. While there are many measurements, we believe the best indicators of a building's performance are tenant comfort and the bottom line.

Give Your Building an I.Q. Test

To determine your building's intelligence, evaluate its performance in the following categories:

• Physical infrastructure
• Communication/data infrastructure
• Network and security
• System integration
• Energy management system
• HVAC
• Electrical
• Lighting controls
• Access control
• Audio and visual system
• Video surveillance
• Water usage monitoring
• Fire alarm
• Metering
• Wireless systems

Common myths about smart buildings are that they are more expensive, too complicated to operate, and can only be new buildings  ̶  all of which are false. Like smart people, smart buildings are innovative, productive, efficient and adept at avoiding failure. This translates into reduced costs, improved operations and greater tenant productivity. What grade does your building deserve?

Saving Water Makes Good Business Sense

As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas. This also applies to its statewide water shortage crisis, which recently made national news when the West Texas town of Barnhart ran out of water due to fracking. Even more frightening was the prediction that 30 more Texas cities could be without water by the end of the year for the same reason, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. What?!

However, the problem is not isolated to West Texas and a result of the oil and gas industry. The bigger issue is due to the historic drought that has plagued the state since 2010 and a rapidly growing population. If the state's water resources are not managed, experts predict faucets everywhere could run dry by 2060.

Fortunately, state leaders sat up and took notice during the 53rd legislative session with the passing of House Bill 4, which authorizes $2 billion to be transferred from the state's Rainy Day Fund (how ironic!) and used to create the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas. If approved by voters in the November 5 election, the fund will provide low-interest loans for local and regional water projects such as reservoirs and pipelines.

Although the biggest consumption of the state's water resources are agriculture irrigation and municipality purposes, commercial and industrial facilities are another significant user. Thanks to the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Act, which was signed into law by Governor Perry June 14, commercial and industrial owners can now access tax exempt, low interest financing for water conservation and energy-efficiency improvements. As long as the savings generated every year cover the financing payment, these projects become neutral cash flow propositions.

Conserving water can help increase profits, reduce costs, improve efficiency, and garner tax benefits. Below are tips that every business can implement now to save water:

Water Saving Checklist for Businesses:

Maintenance

• Sweep instead of using a hose
• Use a high-pressure nozzle when a hose is necessary
• Clean windows only when needed

Building Operations

• Check for and repair leaks
• Meter all major uses separately
•  Read water meters regularly to track potential leaks
• Shut off water to unused areas
• Use automatic shut-off valves for equipment that is not in operation 
• Install self-closing, air-cooled water fountains 
• Use gray water for irrigating landscape

Restrooms 

• Check for and repair leaks 
• Install low-flow showerheads and faucets 
• Install metered or sensor faucets 
• Install high-efficiency toilets and waterless urinals 
• Consider foam flush or waterless toilets

Cooling Systems and Towers

• Install a recirculating system
• Reuse blowdown for irrigation
• Reuse treated water for makeup water
• Use air cooling where possible
• Consider evaporative cooling
• Consider hybrid cooling towers
• Consider side-stream filtration or pulse power treatment

Boilers and Heaters

• Check and replace steam traps regularly 
• Reuse condensate and blowdown

Landscape

• Check for and repair irrigation system leaks
• Use drought-tolerant native plants and turf
•  Adjust sprinklers to irrigate landscape only
• Water deeply but infrequently
•  Water during early morning or evening hours
•  Install timers and moisture sensors
• Use drip irrigation
•  Use fertilizer sparingly
•  Install shut-off nozzles on hoses

Source: Texas Water Development Board

For more information about ways to save water and energy, or PACE financing for commercial and industrial users, contact us at 972-325-1919.

Energy Conservation 101: Get Back to Basics this School Year

It's Labor Day and you can hear the school bells ringing  ̶  welcoming teachers and students back to the classroom. In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, energy conservation should also be on the curriculum. Not just the responsibility of the operations team and custodial staff, but everyone can help reduce energy usage and make school facilities energy efficient with a few simple activities. Not only will this effort save school districts money, which can be used for other educational needs, but a comfortable environment improves learning and productivity…after all, who wants to study in a hot building during the summer and cold building in the winter?

The nation’s approximate 17,000 K-12 school districts spend more than $6 billion annually on energy — more than is spent on computers and textbooks combined. More significantly, as much as 30% of a district’s total energy is used inefficiently or unnecessarily. Not surprisingly, the biggest energy users on school campuses are HVAC equipment and lighting, which account for approximately 70%. Coming in third place is energy consumed by computers, appliances, office equipment and other plug-in devices.

To help you get an A+ in energy conservation this school year, here is an energy conservation checklist for teachers and students:

Energy Conservation Checklist:

• Turn off lights when not in use—lighting accounts for nearly 50% of the electric bill in most schools. This also applies to the new energy-efficient fluorescent lights.
• Form a student energy patrol to ensure lights are out when rooms are empty (check classrooms, the cafeteria, the auditorium, etc.).
• Have students make signs and stickers to remind people to turn off lights when they leave a room.
• Bump up the thermostat in the hallways and keep classroom doors closed. Otherwise, the cold air runs down the hall and outside where it is wasted to the outdoors.
• Don’t block the airflow around vents. Keep bookcases and other bulky items away from the heating and cooling units so they don’t block and/or absorb the cold (or warm) air that should be coming into the room.
• Students should turn off monitors that will not be used for the next class period. All computer equipment should be turned off at the end of the day and on weekends (unless your network technicians specifically instruct otherwise).
• Form a student energy patrol to make sure monitors are off when computers are not in use and to turn computers off at the end of the day.
• Have students conduct a survey of the number of appliances in each classroom and encourage teachers to take away unneeded appliances.
• Have students come up with a weekly energy conservation tip to share with the class.

Energy conservation can be educational and fun by getting the entire school involved!  And, energy savings add up when the entire school joins together in conservation efforts.  Schools with effective conservation programs have reported reductions of as much as 25% in utility bills. That is something to cheer about!

Sources: Alliance to Save Energy, Energy Star

Tune Up Your Building Through Retro-Commissioning

Imagine a car that was designed and built, but never road tested before being put into production. The malfunctions would be plenty, and recalls would be inevitable. Customer complaints would skyrocket, and whatever car company engaged in such a lousy business plan would soon go bankrupt. Sounds crazy right? In reality, that absurd scenario would never play out, yet that is exactly what happens every time a building is built, but not properly commissioned – a building’s equivalent of road testing and fine tuning

Even buildings that were properly commissioned need an occasional tune-up to be sure all the parts are working correctly and to prevent expensive repairs. But what do you do with a building that was never properly "road tested" or commissioned at all?  A simple tune up won’t work, and unlike a car, we can’t send it back under protection of the “lemon laws!"

The answer is what is commonly referred to as “retro-commissioning”, which is a process that addresses problems that have developed throughout the building’s life, or problems that were there from the very beginning. Many issues uncovered by the retro-commissioning process are a result of the design itself, not just the way systems were installed.  Whatever the culprit, even the smallest problems have big impact on performance. The ultimate result is uncomfortable buildings, unhappy tenants, and substantial energy and maintenance costs.

Get Your Building Running at Peak Performance
Through a simple, multi-step process, retro-commissioning provides for systematically evaluating all aspects of a building and its energy-using systems. Problems can range from simple to complicated, so it is important the team performing the retro-commissioning understands how the systems are supposed to work.

According to “A Practical Guide for Commissioning Existing Buildings,” by Haasl and Terry Sharp of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, some basic items often targeted for retro-commissioning include:

• Adjustable speed drives that may not be operating appropriately.
• Time clocks that may have been circumvented or set up improperly.
• Energy management systems that were not installed or programmed or that may have degraded.
• Equipment running more than necessary or inefficiently.
• Controls that are out of calibration or are improperly sequencing.

Entegral Solutions recently completed a $9.5 million energy efficiency project at Mercedes ISD, in which we upgraded equipment and lighting, added control systems, and other conservation measures. There were many instances, however, where equipment was relatively new and in good condition, yet comfort was lacking and energy use was high. In those cases, we used retro-commissioning to bring the systems into optimal performance, both for comfort and efficiency. The general idea is to understand how the system was designed and intended to operate, and then fix the issues preventing it from operating as intended. Sometimes, we find that the design intent is the problem, and we make adjustments or modifications to the design that will produce more optimal performance. In the end, the retro-commissioning effort alone accounted for $75,000 in annual utility cost reductions, all while making the buildings much more comfortable for students and teachers.  

Energy and Non-Energy Benefits of Retro-Commissioning

For existing commercial buildings, retro-commissioning is one of the most cost-effective means of improving energy efficiency. There are several energy and non-energy benefits resulting from retro-commissioning which include:

• Cost savings
• Energy savings
• Improved equipment performance
• Better occupant comfort and indoor air quality
• Increased O&M staff capabilities and expertise
• Increased asset value

If this wasn't enough of a case for retro-commissioning, it is reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration that if all existing U.S. commercial buildings were retro-commissioned and all new buildings were commissioned, their collective energy bill would be reduced by $18 billion a year! Although cars are mass produced, buildings are one-of-a-kind, which makes it even more important to "kick the tires" before signing on the dotted line. Don't get stuck with a lemon!