Retro-Commissioning case studies: office buildings
Aug 23, 2013
Since the peak occupancy of office buildings usually occurs during business hours on weekdays, Retro-Commissioning can offer massive energy savings by timing lighting and other systems to coincide with occupancy. Review the following case studies to learn more about the potential cost and energy savings available through Retro-Commissioning.
Crown Plaza, Portland, Oregon
In 2005, the owner of the Crown Plaza office building in Portland, Oregon, applied to participate in a local Retro-Commissioning incentive program that promised not only a Retro-Commissioning investigation, but incentives that would support implementation of the changes.
Crown Plaza was originally built in 1979 and has a total of 311,000 square feet. Upon inspection, it was found that the building could benefit from a number of changes, including having the supply fan duct static pressure set points optimized, having impellers trimmed on oversized chilled water pumps, and shutting down terminal units on certain floors during the weekends. Additionally, the 24/7 parking garage lights could be timed to shut off during hours of unoccupancy.
The cost of the project was estimated to be $47,100, but the annual energy savings alone amounted to $53,967. Crown Plaza was able to pay back its investment within a year due to having high savings in energy costs.
Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building, Oakland, California
In 2001, the U.S. General Services Administration hired a Retro-Commissioning provider to improve energy efficiency in the federal building by installing new software for the building’s control system. The building was constructed in 1994 and measured 1.2 million square feet.
During the investigation, the Retro-Commissioning provider found that air handlers were running inefficiently, which was contributing to the massive consumption of energy. After implementing changes to the building’s operation systems, such as relocating sensors and repairing the economizer dampers, the federal building ended up saving a total of $66,981 in annual energy costs.
The total cost of the Retro-Commissioning project for the federal building was only $35,000, yet the owner was able to save nearly double that amount on an annual basis after making the necessary changes to cut back on energy costs.
Sys-tek provides commissioning and Retro-Commissioning services for office buildings and can identify problems that may have occurred at the time the building was initially constructed. Contact sys-tek today to learn more about Retro-Commissioning and about how it can help your building save thousands on energy costs per year.
