Retro-Cx Is like Mining for Gold

Murray Guy, Integrated Designs

$5000 Retro Investment avoids a $1.8M Air Quality Improvement Project

Retro-Cx hits the Mother Load

6 Ounces Sierra County, California

Can Retro-C Save the Planet?“What is that all about?”

BUILDINGS1/3 of Canada’s Energy Use50% of extracted materials25% of our landfill waste

10% of our airborne particulates

40% of our greenhouse gases

Reference: A Business Case for Green Buildings in Canada

If the entire stock of existing non-residential buildings in the U.S. were retro-

commissioned, as much as $30 billion of energy savings and 340 million tons of

CO2 could be avoided annually. (LBL Study)

What if we TUNED all non-Residential Buildings?

Should BOMA tell Justin about this?

Energy Saving (Less than 2 Yr Payback)

Environmental Quality (Productivity $500 psf)

Less Stress (# of Fires to Put Out)

Building Renewal Opportunities (POS)

Capital Cost Avoidance (Young Offenders)

Water Saving (Getting to be a Bigger Issue)

Lots of Different Nuggets

I especially like the Less Stress Nugget

Retro-Commissioning must be TOP SECRET

Where else can you do you get a low risk >50% return on Investment?

WHY isn’t everyone doing it?

• Business Case• No Commitment

No Money • No Time

What are the Barriers?

Great strides have been made in advancing the knowledge and awareness about commissioning by such groups, as ASHRAE and the Building Commissioning Association,

however there are still many barriers to overcome before the commissioning industry gets recognition for being a

GREAT investment.The REALITY is that “Commissioning is arguably the Single-Most-Cost Effective

strategy for reducing energy costs and green house case emissions in buildings today”

Retro-Commissioning

We just Made the Business Case

Its up to Stakeholders to make “the Claim”

No Commitment

Make the Pitch

No Money

Lease? or Finance?

No Time

Hire a Retro-Cx Provider

How to Mine the Claim Stage 1

• Benchmark the Facility (MJ/M2)

• Compare to other Facilities

• Cowboy Math Analysis (Go no Go)

• What is the current Energy Usage?

• How does it compare to industry averages?

• Cowboy Math• Savings (10% of $5.00 psf) = $.50

• Cost $0.50 psf

• Payback 1 Year

• Make the Pitch

Determine how big of a Gold Deposit Try the IDI Energy Use Assessment Tool

www.i-designs.ca

• Assemble a Team

• Define Project Requirements

• Plan, Budget and Funding

• Implement, Verify and Repeat

How to Mine the Claim Stage 2

Who should be on “the Team”1.Facilities Manager

2.Cx Manager

3.Tenant or Occupant Rep

4.Building Operator(s)

5.Finance Guy

6.Specialized consultants depending on measures to be taken (Controls trades, balancers, M&E Engineers, etc.)

Define the Project Requirements

• What are issues?

• What are the opportunities?

• Where is the VALUE?

• What are the priorities?

What Issues?• Critical problems

• Occupant complaints

• Seasonal problems

• Peak loads problems

• Environmental quality problems

• Safety/Regulatory

• Energy Costs above expectation or growing over time

• Frequent equipment failures

Collect the Easy Nuggets First

• Filters/Belts

• Deferred Maintenance (leaks, etc.)

• Known broken “stuff”

• Balancing

• Bad Habits (open windows in winter, space heaters for over-cooling, etc)

• Control Setpoint & Sequences

• Are sequences known and documented?

• Are systems being overridden to resolve sequence issues?

• Schedules & Set points

• Demand control ventilation

• Daylighting Control

• Additional Metering

No More Half Dead Zombie Controls

Tune the Building then Dig Deeper

• Full Building Energy Audit?

• Systems Upgrade?

• Space Utilization?

• Building Renewal?

Lessons Learned Getting Retro-Cx Done

• Understanding Owner Requirements is key

• Studies and audits are OK, but action needs to be taken and changes need to be sustained

Innovation Place Case StudyMake me Money

High Performance Building Program

Re-Commissioning process helped reduce energyuse from 900 MJ/m2 to 600 MJ/m2 (30% Reduction)

Retro or Re-commissioning can reduce GHG in buildings by 15% to 40%

Energy Performance

Annual Energy Saving: $500,000/yr Savings to Date: $5,000,000

SRC ANALYTICAL LABORATORY

Renewal Project

What are the Priorities?

100/10/1

People Production Facilities

$500/sq.ft/yr $500/sq.ft $5/sq.ft/yr

Operating Cost

Enough Energy Savings to fund a $5M Building Renewal

City of Saskatoon Electrical Operations

Center

Need more Evidence?

IDI Blog

• Retro-Cx Mining for Gold

• Do you need a Cx Agent to Discover the Truth?

Thank YOU&

?’s

mguy@i-designs.cawww.i-designs.ca

Retro-Cx Is like Mining for Gold