How to Identify Opportunities for Improvement

Each season is like a history lesson of your building — allowing building owners and managers to capture a snapshot of equipment performance, efficiency, energy use and opportunities for improvement. Taking stock of issues as summer wraps up — and getting a clear picture of the health of your systems and equipment — will help you prepare for the next summer season.

Know your building’s base load

Just as the peak demand typically climbs higher in the summer, a building’s base load — or the minimum running load — also increases in the hotter summer months. This is because your chiller runs more frequently to keep up with demand, even on nights and weekends when a typical building setpoint may be 78 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Knowing your building’s base load, and when and why it fluctuates, can help you better manage it.

Trust the controls

To help you better manage your building’s load and implement setpoints and schedules that optimize equipment and system efficiency, it’s important to trust your automated building controls. Let these systems work as they are designed, and avoid the temptation to intervene with frequent system overrides.

Conduct a seasonal review

Gather staff involved in day-to-day operation of your facility for a review of the summer period can help you measure and analyze building performance. This process allows you to address building performance or efficiency issues during the fall, winter and spring, so you’ll be ready when the high demand of next summer rolls around.

Join us next week, when we discuss what projects you should consider to improve building performance and efficiency as summer winds down.