The forgotten solution:
Forward thinking and creative Professionals are engineering solutions to mitigate global warming and climate change. In the heating, cooling and ventilation sector many Professionals are implementing the use of high efficiency boilers, air conditioners, fans, pumps, variable speed drives, and constructing energy-efficient energy neutral buildings.
Automated controls for these systems are affordable, along with remote monitoring to ensure systems operate at peak efficiency as the designer intended.
While the ability to extract energy savings from HVAC systems has increased significantly over the past decade, the retention of those initial design savings has not. Typically, when one audits energy conservation systems 3 years after the date of implementation, energy savings will be 30% less than that designed and approximately 50% less after 5 years.
There are many reasons for this, such as automated settings placed in manual override, altered business use, but the one most prevalent forgotten solution is the maintenance of the controls system.
Sadly, no one is given responsibility long term for retaining design operational energy savings deliverables. The valued ROI promised at time of purchase as well as environmental stewardship intrinsic to the initial energy conservation program is diminished when priority is SOLEY given to maintaining operation relating to comfort conditions.
Knowing and understanding the benefits of managing energy savings systems while providing comfort conditions will ensure the systems function effectively for the long term. Cost of having energy savings systems retro commissioned is dwarfed by the much higher cost for not retaining the total energy savings.
