Building Operations

Written by Anthony Martin, P.E., LEED AP

Many of us have read many articles or seen many newscasts depicting current economic conditions and the residual effects on building construction, the nationwide energy crisis, and the resources becoming available to “cure” our existing building inventory.  And because of this, you have probably had one of your existing clients or building owner’s call you and ask about LEED for Existing Buildings – Operations and Management.  Now you are probably asking yourself, where do I start?  One short answer is to look into the existing building commissioning process.

 

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

A fundamental element of the existing building energy improvement process is to understand the importance of commissioning within any given LEED project.  Commissioning within the LEED for New Construction is the first Prerequisite within the Energy and Atmosphere section because it plays a vital role in ensuring that our buildings operate efficiently upon turnover to a building owner.  Since Commissioning is the means and method to which LEED ensures that buildings are operating efficiently within the New Construction platform, we can plainly see that commissioning is at the forefront of any Existing Buildings platform as well.  Published reports state that the commissioning process can lead to a 5-10% energy reduction for new construction projects and yield up to 30% savings on existing buildings.  Therefore, implementing a successful commissioning process will increase the chances of providing a high level of LEED certification.

PRELIMINARY STEPS

So how do we begin a LEED for Existing Buildings commissioning process?  As commissioning agents have experience looking at building energy systems to evaluate and troubleshoot issues, their expertise also lends them to providing the Energy Audit requirements found within the LEED-EB O&M rating system.  The first commissioning step in any project, whether new or existing, is to ensure that basic prerequisite requirements are met.  

Therefore, the first step of any existing building certification requires that the commissioning agent review where the building performance efficiency stands today.  The agent begins by performing a Water Efficiency and Level 1 ASHRAE Energy Audit.  Through this process the commissioning agent reviews actual utility bills, performs a walk-thru of the major building energy systems components, and examines an inventory of the plumbing fixtures found in the building.

Upon this initial review, the commissioning agent provides the owner a snapshot of building performance compared to the baselines found in the LEED-EB O&M rating system and provides preliminary capital investment opportunities with return on investment calculations.  Additionally, at this point of the process, the owner and commissioning agent should be able to determine a “go-no go” decision to continue the certification process.  Once the owner and commissioning agent decide to pursue a LEED-EB O&M certification, the commissioning agent will become a major player towards providing the highest level of certification.

INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS

The Energy and Atmosphere section of LEED-EB Operations & Management has a complete section regarding Commissioning associated credits, the first of which is Existing Building Investigation and Analysis.   This level of Investigation is above and beyond those performed under the initial walk-thru investigation.  At this point of the certification process, the existing building is typically slotted into two categories: those currently meeting a high level of Energy Star Rating or those falling short of the Owner’s expectations in regards to energy usage.

Buildings within the high level of Energy Star Rating are typically not in need of major modifications to the operations of the building; however, a retro-commissioning or re-commissioning event may improve energy savings over those currently being seen in energy costs.  A building may be a candidate for Re-commissioning if a commissioning event took place during the original construction.

Building operators must meet their building occupants’ needs, and because of this, sometimes short term indoor quality benefits are required at the expense of long term energy usage.  Hence, the re-commissioning process is an attempt to correct these changes from the optimum performance of the building energy systems back to the level at which they were originally commissioned.  Retro-commissioning is applied when a building has never been through a commissioning process and requires a systematic, documented process to indentify low-cost operational and maintenance improvements in existing buildings to bring them back to the original design intentions.  

A third option—typically applied to those buildings falling well short of the owner’s energy usage goals—is to provide a Level 2 ASHRAE Energy Audit.  As the Level 1 Audit provided a quick walk-thru of the major building energy systems, this level of energy audit attempts to break down each individual component within the building utilizing energy.  Upon this level of energy audit, the commissioning agent should be performing an in-depth study of past utility bills and interviewing the facility personnel.  A series of diagnostic monitoring and functional tests of building systems are executed and analyzed for areas of improvement.

In many instances, building systems are retested and re-monitored, upon minor modifications to the systems, to identify the exact issue that may be causing a drop off in building performance and possibly repair operational problems.  At the conclusion of the energy audit, the identification of more complex problems is presented with potential capital investments required and ROI analysis to the owner.  An Energy Audit report should also include a potential retrofit schedule and follow up Commissioning Plan.  

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT

Upon completion of the retro-commissioning, re-commissioning, or energy audit process, areas of improvement will undoubtedly present themselves to the commissioning agent and building owner. Subsequently, the second credit found within the Commissioning Section of Energy and Atmosphere deals with the Implementation of these energy conservation measures.  A commissioning agent, possibly in coordination with a MEP consultant, design building contractor or equipment manufacturer, may implement a set of design changes to the building energy system components as identified in the investigation process.  After completing the capital improvements, the Commissioning Agent’s responsibilities take on the role of Enhanced Commissioning duties outlined in the New Construction LEED Platform.

First and foremost, the Commissioning Agent, to correct each individual energy conservation method implemented, will commission the improvements, ensuring accurateness of the construction intent.  He will ensure that the facilities engineer is trained on the new equipment and control operations, making sure that the engineer knows where modifications can be made to improve occupant comfort issues without resulting in an increase of energy usage.  Additionally, to ensure that everyone within the building understands the goals of energy conservation, he should present potential supplementary training or awareness documentation to the building occupants.  The Commissioning Agent should identify a Measurement and Verification Plan for the capital improvements and review with the owner the changes made to occupancy schedules, setpoints and more to ensure that the returns on investment presented are met.

ONGOING COMMISSIONING

However, the goal of the LEED-EB O&M program is not to merely fix past mistakes with the building operation, but also set a standard for a new ongoing operations and maintenance, ensuring future high efficient building energy systems performance.   The final commissioning process that may be incorporated into a LEED-EB project is Ongoing Commissioning.

Ongoing commissioning involves regularly scheduled sessions with the building occupants along with operation and maintenance personnel. This process incorporates monitoring and analysis of building performance data through permanently installed metering equipment to verify building performance, facilities management and staff satisfaction, and the extent of actual savings.

An ongoing Commissioning Plan, broken up by building energy conservation measure, should identify the intervals for providing commissioning activities.  For example, ongoing commissioning for controls may require a two month cycle to ensure operations are consistent with the energy reduction goals, while re-commissioning of the chiller plant may only require a 12 month cycle.  The Commissioning Agent should review these issues with the building owner and facilities engineer to ensure that the owner’s energy utility cost requirements are being met.  The ongoing Commissioning Plan should include identifying potential issues that may arise over the course of the performance period and actions that may be required to implement changes back to the optimum energy performance operations.  

HIGH EFFICIENCY

Unlike the LEED for New Construction platform which creates a sustainable snapshot of a particular building, the LEED-EB O&M Certification program intends to ensure that buildings continue to perform at a highly efficient energy level.

By first indentifying possible issues with current operations and taking measures to improve building energy consumption, a building owner can expect to see continual energy cost savings over the standard existing building stock.  The Commissioning Processes can help identify the path towards lower utility costs, and the Commissioning Agent is the orchestrator to make these efforts as seamless as possible.  Remember that the energy crisis will not be handled simply by building new sustainable buildings, but rather repairing the buildings that we have today for a brighter future.